Sculptor, born in Bologna, N Italy. His chief work is in St Peter's, Rome, a colossal relief showing Pope Leo I restraining Attila from marching on the city.
Alessandro Algardi (July 31, 1598 – June 10, 1654) was an Italian Baroque sculptor, the major rival of Bernini in his field.
Biography
Early years
Algardi was born in Bologna.
After a short residence in Venice, he went to Rome in 1625 with an introduction from the Duke of Mantua to the late pope's nephew, Ludovico Cardinal Ludovisi, who employed him for a time in the restoration of ancient statues, which still form the core of the Bonacorsi-Ludovisi collection in Palazzo Altemps. Gian Lorenzo Bernini, in the first flush of his fame, had the pick of the best available commissions in Rome, and the duke's death left Algardi to his own meagre resources: for several years he earned a precarious living from these restorations and commissions of goldsmiths and jewellers. [[ His first major commission for a public work in marble, in 1635, was for the wall tomb of Pope Leo XI in St Peter's. Pietro Buoncompagni in 1640 commisioned from Algardi a colossal statue of Philip Neri with kneeling angels for Santa Maria in Vallicelli. These proficient works, which expressed Baroque dramatic attitudes and immediacy of expression, at once established Algardi's reputation;
Papal favour under Innocent X
For two decades Bernini had dominated the most prominent commissions in Rome, however, with the accession of the Bolognese Pamphilj Pope Innocent X in 1644, Algardi was employed by the Pope and the pope's nephew, Camillo Pamphilj. Algardi's official portrait statue of Innocent, of 1645, is preserved in the Palazzo dei Conservatori in the Campidoglio. There one has the ability to contrast the more formal statue of Innocent X with Bernini's more dramatic Urban VIII.For example, he was asked to design the Villa Doria Pamphili outside the San Pancrazio gate, a project in which he depended on the professional aid of the architect/engineer Girolamo Rainaldi, while Algardi and his studio executed the sculpture-encrusted exteriors and interiors. A church façade sometimes attributed to Algardi is that of Sant' Ignazio di Loyola in Campo Marzio.
In 1650 Algardi met Diego Velasquez, who obtained commissions for Spain. There are four chimney-pieces by Algardi in the palace of Aranjuez, where the figures on the fountain of Neptune were also by him. The Augustine monastery at Salamanca contains the tomb of the count and countess de Monterey, another work by Algardi.
Relief of Fuga d'Attila in St. Peter's Basilica
Algardi's masterpiece is the large dramatic marble high-relief panel of Pope Leo and Attila (image)(1646–53) for St Peter's Basilica, which reinvigorated the use of marble in reliefs. Algardi's patron Leo XI hoped all viewers would be sternly reminded of the papal capacity to invoke divine retribution against enemies.
Algardi died in Rome within a year of completing his famous relief, which was admired by contemporaries.
Critical assessment and legacy
Algardi was also known for his portraiture which shows an obsessive attention to details of psychologically revealing physiognomy in a sober but immediate naturalism, and minute attention to costume and draperies, such as in the busts of Laudivio Zacchia, Camillo Pamphilj, and of Muzio Frangipane and his two sons Lello and Roberto. In St. Peter's Basilica, Algardi was also responsible for the prominent tomb of Leo XI (completed 1644).
In his later years Algardi controlled a large studio and amassed a great fortune. His students (including Ercole Ferrata and Domenico Guidi) and their followers carried forward their versions of Algardi's classicizing bravura manner well into the 18th century.
The latter two students completed his altarpiece at Vision of Saint Nicholas (San Nicola de Tolentino, Rome) using two separate marble pieces linked together in one event and place, yet successfully separating the divine and earthly spheres.
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