This engraving is part of the series Effigies nomina et cognomina ... S.R.E. Cardinalium published for the first time in Rome in 1658, by Giovanni Giacomo De Rossi (1627-1691). The work is an important collection of over eight hundred portraits of Catholic cardinals engraved on copperplates. The series was updated after each consistory, and was reprinted until 1868. The main feature of this collation is the standardization of all the portraits of the cardinals of the Roman Catholic Church: portraits are half-length, within an oval frame, with an inscription providing the cardinal's essential biographical information, including each cardinal's coat of arms along with the one of the pontiff reigning at the time of his elevation to the College of Cardinals. This engraving portrays Charles Thomas Maillard de Tournon (in Chinese 多樂). Born in Turin on December 21, 1668, he was the second son of a noble family from Savoy. His ecclesiastical career started with his ordination in June 1695. In December of 1701, he was named the Latin Patriarch of Antioch. In 1702, he was named the Apostolic Visitor for China and the East Indies by Pope Clement XI in the hopes of solving the issue of the Chinese Rites Controversy. He arrived in Macao on April 2, 1705. Later that year, he went to Beijing where he was initially well-received by the Emperor Kangxi. However, when the emperor realized that the intention of the Roman Curia was to abolish local customs, he issued a decree that obliged all missionaries to have an imperial authorization to remain in China and to practice the Christian faith. Those who did not comply with such regulations were to be banished from China. After the failure of the negotiations, Tournon returned to Guangdong Province. On January 25, 1707, he issued a decree according to which all missionaries who practiced Chinese Rites would be excommunicated. For this reason, he was exiled to Macao. Pope Clement XI named him a cardinal in the consistory of August 1, 1707. He died in Macao, on June 8, 1710, while still in confinement. He was buried in Macao, but his body was brought to Rome many years later, and was buried in the church of the Sacred Congregation of the Propaganda Fide.

Reference:

^[1]. Ott, M. (1912). Charles-Thomas Maillard De Tournon. In The Catholic Encyclopedia, 15. New York: Robert Appleton Company.

^[2]. Di Fiore, G. (2007). Maillard de Tournon, Carlo Tommaso. In Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani, 67. Roma: Istituto Treccani.

^[3]. De Crescenzo, S.; Diotallevi, A. (2008). Le Effigies Nomina et Cognomina S.R.E. Cardinalium nella Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana. In Documenti e riproduzioni (8, nr. 250). Città del Vaticano: Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana.