The Fresco fragment coverup

BBC:

A fresco painting by a Renaissance master which once decorated the bedroom of Pope Alexander VI in the Vatican has gone on show in Rome.

A leading Italian art historian and curator says he has documentary proof that it was once part of a much larger painting depicting the aged Pope kneeling in front of his youthful mistress, Giulia Farnese.

This is an unusual example of "damnatio memoriae" - a Latin phrase meaning "damnation of memory".

It refers to a custom dating back to antiquity - the attempted removal of a famous person from the historical record for reasons of dishonour.

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Pope Alexander VI, the notorious Borgia Pope from Spain, discredited the Church by his debauched lifestyle.

He fathered seven children including Lucrezia and Cesare Borgia by at least two mistresses.

His surname became a byword for the debased standards of the Renaissance papacy.

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Pope Alexander's portrait, commissioned from Pinturicchio to decorate the papal bedchamber inside the Apostolic Palace at the Vatican, was later hacked away from the wall, most likely during the 17th Century, and was believed lost until very recently.

The painting showed Alexander kneeling in front of the Child Jesus and the Virgin Mary, whose face, according to documentary evidence from several contemporary sources, was that of one of his mistresses, a handsome young Roman noblewoman called Giulia Farnese.

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We know exactly what the picture in the Pope's bedroom looked like. It was copied by a 17th Century artist called Pietro Facchetti while still in situ.

This copy is now in the possession of another Roman noble family. Professor Nucciarelli's proof that this fragment belongs to the lost masterpiece of Pinturicchio looks very convincing.

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Pope Alexander VI's first and best known mistress was called Vanozza dei Cattanei.

She was the mother of Lucrezia and Cesare Borgia and several portraits of her are in existence.

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Vanozza had three husbands in addition to her relationship with Pope Alexander, by whom she bore four children altogether.

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I am sure most Catholics are relieved that they don't make popes like that anymore. The history of this time period is pretty "colorful" if you take the time to study it.