Chigi, Agostino (1465–1520)

Italian banker and patron of the arts. He founded his bank in Rome in 1485 and soon played a leading role in the finances of the Roman Catholic Church. His Villa Farnesina near Rome was built by the architect Peruzzi (1508–11) and decorated with a cycle of frescoes by Raphael (c. 1518).

Chigi was a member of a noted Sienese family. In 1500 he became lessor of the papal alum mines and church treasurer. His position enabled him to exert financial influence in several European countries and also allowed him to patronize the leading artists and architects of his day, notably Peruzzi, Perugino, Sebastiano del Piombo, and Raphael, who designed a private chapel for him in the Church of Santa Maria del Popolo.

Chigi was also a patron of scholarship and literature, and with his support the Cretan-born publisher Zacharias Calliergis (c. 1473–c. 1524) set up the first Greek press in Rome and published an important edition of Pindar in 1515.