Monsignor Chigo

A pencilled inscription verso in a period hand identifies the sitter as ‘Mgr. Chigi / nuncio du Pape.’ Flavio Chigi was sent to France as Papal Nuncio on 1 October 1861, so his name does not appear in Disdéri’s catalogue of March 1861.

Born in Rome on 31 May 1810, the son of Agostino Chigi and Carlotta Colonna Barberini, Flavio Chigi came from a family of Siennese banks. He is sometimes called Flavio III to distinguish him from other members of the family who shared his name and who also became cardinals.

He was ordained on 17 December 1853 and on 19 June 1856 was elected the titular archbishop of Mira. From 24 April 1857 he was the Nuncio in Bavaria and on 1 October 1861 he was sent to France as Nuncio. He received the red hat on 15 March 1877 and died in Rome on 15 February 1885.

Photographed by Disdéri of Paris.