The Sobieskis and Stuarts. Palazzo del Re (Palazzo Muti) viewed from Piazza dei Santi Apostoli, Rome, Giovanni Battista Piranesi, 1753

copperplate on paper, Rome, 1753
private collection

The Palazzo del Re is the building whose southern wing closes the far end of the square. The king’s apartment was on the first floor, with the queen’s apartment immediately above it on the second floor, connected by a small secret staircase. The building contained a central courtyard, and a garden on the north side.

On the right, beyond the Palazzo Colonna, is the entrance to the Church of the Twelve Apostles (Basilica dei Santi XII Apostoli), where the Stuart family and their Catholic courtiers prayed and where there is a monument by Filippo della Valle (1698-1768) containing the viscera of Queen Clementina. With the Pope’s permission, King James had her heart put in an urn and kept in the chapel royal within the Palazzo del Re; it is now lost.

Although the palace used by the Stuarts was commonly known in Rome as Palazzo del Re (the King’s Palace), Piranesi (1720–1778) preferred to use the old name of the Palazzo Muti so as not to cause British supporters of the Stuarts who bought his engravings whilst in Rome to be charged with treason upon returning to their country, ruled since 1714 by the Hanoverian dynasty.