The Sobieskis and Stuarts. Clementina Sobieska, Miguel de Sorelló, 1737

engraved by Miguel de Sorelló after a drawing by Agostino Masucci
copperplate on paper, 1737
National Museum in Warsaw

The artist used a series of attributes to depict Clementina’s devotion to the Catholic faith. The queen kneels on the steps of the altar, holding a prayer book in her right hand and pressing her left hand to her heart. She looks up at the monstrance with the Christogram standing on the altar in a flash of supernatural light. To the side, a candle burns in a tall candlestick, symbolising the queen's fervent faith.

The engraving adorned a commemorative print by Filippo d’Azona, prepared for the second anniversary of the queen’s death, published in Rome in the same year under the title Accademia Funebre nel giorno anniversario della morte di Maria Clementina Regina di Gran Brettagna. This engraving was also sometimes attached to another print by the same author, published the preceding year on the first anniversary of the funeral of Clementina: Parentalia in anniversario funere….

The copperplate engraving, based on a drawing by Agostino Masucci (c.1691–1758), Carlo Maratta’s final student, was made by Miguel de Sorelló (c.1700–c.1765), a Spanish engraver, student of Jakob Frey, who worked in Rome between 1724 and 1739.