Beata Ludovica Albertoni

Blessed Ludovica Albertoni
Artist	Gian Lorenzo Bernini
Year	1671–74 (1671–74)
Catalogue	76
Type	Sculpture
Medium	Marble
Subject	Ludovica Albertoni
Dimensions	Over life-size
Location	Church of San Francesco a Ripa, Rome
Coordinates	Coordinates: 41°53′05″N 12°28′22″E / 41.88472°N 12.47278°E / 41.88472; 12.47278

Blessed Ludovica Albertoni (Italian: Beata Ludovica Albertoni) is a funerary monument by the Italian Baroque artist Gian Lorenzo Bernini. The trastevere sculpture is located in the specially designed Altieri Chapel in the Church of San Francesco a Ripa in Rome, Italy. Bernini started the project in 1671, but his work on two other major works—The Tomb of Pope Alexander VII and the Altar of the Blessed Sacrament in St. Peter's Basilica—delayed his work on the funerary monument. Bernini completed the sculpture in 1674; it was installed by August 31, 1674.

The subject of the sculpture, Ludovica Albertoni, was a Roman noblewoman who entered the Third Order of St. Francis following the death of her husband. She lived a pious life, working for the poor of the Trastevere neighborhood, under the guidance of the Franciscan friars of San Francesco Church, where she was buried in 1533. One of her descendants, Cardinal Paluzzo Paluzzi degli Albertoni, had a nephew who married the niece of Pope Clement X, who in turn formally adopted the cardinal as his own nephew and allowed him to take the pontiff's own surname, "Altieri". Pope Clement beatified Cardinal Albertoni's ancestor, granting her the title of "Blessed". The cardinal then commissioned major improvements to her chapel in the Church of San Francesco, which had become the site of her cultus. After several artists competed to do the work, Bernini was awarded the commission, and took on the project without pay. He was 71 years old when he began the work, and it was one of his last sculptures.

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