From the United States to Italy: this journey was recently taken by the portrait bust of Prospero Farinacci, donated to the National Museum of Castel Sant’Angelo by the non-profit organization American Friends of LoveItaly. The sculpture was previously donated to AFLI by Marilyn Aronberg Lavin in honor of her husband Irving Lavin, professor emeritus of the Institute for Advanced Study and Grand Officer of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic (2019).

Attributed to Bernini by Professor Lavin himself, the commemorative bust depicts the Roman jurist and intellectual Prospero Farinacci (1544-1618), Papal Datario, Uditore Generale of the Apostolic Chamber and Councilor of the Sacra Consulta under Popes Clement VIII and Paul V. An active jurist, his extensive literary notations are considered to have made a major contribution to the advancement of legal practice.