Among the artworks displayed at Palazzo Barberini in Rome, headquarter of the National Galleries of Ancient Art, in the exhibition The sovereign image. Urban VIII and the Barberini, curated by Maurizia Cicconi, Flaminia Gennari Santori, Sebastian Schütze, there are also eight outstanding loans from the United States. The Sovereign Image celebrates the cultural and political personality of the pope who had the most incisive impact on 17th century philosophical thought, scientific knowledge and the arts in an attempt to illustrate the ways in which the pope afforded priority to the tool of cultural hegemony to further his political and government agenda. Photo: Alberto Novelli.