An engraved portrait on silk of Cardinal Francesco Barberini. Bust length, in cleric's hat and mantle, with Latin inscription at bottom. Cassiano Dal Pozzo served as secretary to Cardinal Francesco Barberini, nephew of Urban VIII. The portrait of the Pope, also by Leoni (see RCIN 809550) was mounted together with this one of the cardinal by Cassiano. Cassiano presumably received this print – the only portrait on silk in the collection – through his association with the Cardinal. The print is related to a drawing dated 1624 now in the British Museum. This print is lettered along the bottom: "FRANCISC' S.R.E. CARD. BARBERINVS. // Supior pm. 1624. Eques Octaui' Leo Rom.s pictor fecit."

The print formed part of an album of portrait prints assembled by Cassiano dal Pozzo in Rome and described in an early nineteenth-century inventory of prints in George III's library as Portraits of Popes and Cardinals. The album was arranged hierarchically from popes to cardinals and thence on to archbishops and bishops, and within each category chronologically (starting from St Peter, according to tradition the first pope). The album was dismantled later in the nineteenth century and the prints that were retained were integrated with others in the collection.

For more information see Mark McDonald, The Print Collection of Cassiano dal Pozzo. I: Ceremonies, Costumes, Portraits and Genre, 3 vols, Royal Collection Trust 2017, part of The Paper Museum of Cassiano dal Pozzo: A Catalogue Raisonné, cat. no. 1198.