This bust of the Saint Apollinaris of Ravenna was completed in 1821, commissioned for Clemente Cardinali di Velletri. Thorvaldsen received high praise for this bust, as shown in this letter.
Apollinaris of Ravenna (Italian: Apollinare) is a Syrian saint, whom the Roman Martyrology describes as “a bishop who, according to tradition, while spreading among the nations the unsearchable riches of Christ, led his flock as a good shepherd and honoured the Church of Classis near Ravenna by a glorious martyrdom.”






