Alessandro Algardi
Alessandro Algardi (Bologna, Papal States, July 31, 1595 - Rome, Papal States, June 10, 1654) was an Italian High Baroque sculptor, active almost exclusively in Rome, where during the last decades of his life, he was the main rival of Gian Lorenzo Bernini.
Early Years
Algardi was born in Bologna, where at an early age he apprenticed in the studio of Ludovico Carracci, a painter with a classicist tendency. However, his aptitude for sculpture made him work for Julio Cesar Conventi (1577-1640), a minor artist.
At the age of twenty, in 1608, he entered the service of Fernando I Gonzaga, Duke of Mantua, who began to commission works from him; he was also employed by local jewelers to make figurative designs. After a short period in Venice, he moved to Rome in 1625, with an introduction by the Duke of Mantua to the nephew of Pope Gregory XV|last pope, Ludovico Cardinal Ludovisi, who employed him for a time restoring ancient statues. ref These restored statues still form the core of the Bonacorsi-Ludovisi Collection in the Altemps Palace. Restoring sculptures was standard work for even the most prominent sculptors of the day, including Bernini and Ercole Ferrata.
Tomb of Pope Leo XI
But the duke's death left him in a precarious financial position. Thanks to the patronage of the Borghese and the Barberini, Gian Lorenzo Bernini and his workshop obtained most of the sculptural commissions in Rome. For almost a decade, Algardi fought for recognition. In Rome friends helped him, among them Pietro da Cortona and his Bolognese countryman, Domenichino. Early Roman commissions from him included terracotta portraits and some marble busts, while he supported himself with small works such as crucifixes.
Algardi's first major commission came around 1634, when Cardinal Ubaldini (Médici) commissioned him a funerary monument for his great-uncle, Pope Leo XI, the third of the Medici family popes, who had served for less than a month in 1605. The monument was begun in 1640, and was largely finished by 1644. The composition is analogous to that designed by Bernini for the Tomb of Urban VIII (1627-8), with a central hieratic sculpture of the pope seated with all his attributes and blessing with his hand, while at his feet, two allegorical female figures flank his sarcophagus. In Bernini's tomb, however, the vigorously raised arm and posture of the pope are balanced by the active drama below, where the figures of Charity and Justice are either distracted by putti or absorbed in contemplation, while a skeletal Death actively writes the epitaph.
Algardi's tomb, executed in white marble, is much less dynamic. The allegorical figures of Magnanimity and Liberality have an impassive, ethereal dignity. Some have identified the helmeted figure of Magnanimity with that of Athena and iconic images of Wisdom. The Liberality resembles the famous Saint Susanna by François Duquesnoy, but more elegant. The tomb is grimly monotonous and lacks the polychromatic turmoil that detracts from the elegiac mood of Urban VIII's tomb.
In 1635-38, Pietro Boncompagni commissioned Algardi for a colossal statue of Philip Neri with kneeling angels, for Santa Maria in Vallicella, completed in 1640. Immediately after this work, Algardi produced The Decapitation (or Decapitation) of Saint Paul[1], considered one of his masterpieces, together with the bas-relief of Pope Leo and Attila; It is a sculptural group that represents the beheading of Saint Paul with two figures: a kneeling and resigned saint and the executioner ready to strike with the sword, for the church of Saint Paul in Bologna (1641-1647). These works created his reputation. Like Bernini, they often conform to the Baroque aesthetic of depicting dramatic poses and emotional expressions, though Algardi's sculpture has a restrained sobriety that contrasts with the works of his rival.
Papal favor under Innocent X
With the accession to the papacy, in 1644, of Innocent X, of the Bolognese Pamphili family, both Barberini and his favorite artist, Bernini, fell into disrepute. Algardi, for his part, was welcomed by the pope and the pope's nephew, Camillo Pamphilj. Algardi's portraits were highly prized, their formal severity contrasting with Bernini's livelier images. A large hieratic bronze of Innocent X work by Algardi is currently in the Capitoline Museums.
Algardi was not known for his architecture. In 1644 he was entrusted with the construction on the slopes of the Janiculum (one of the hills of Rome on the right bank of the Tiber) of the Villa Doria-Panfili, whose plan is inspired by Palladio's villas completed with a rich decoration with stuccoes and exterior reliefs. He helped design the façade of this Villa outside the gate of San Pancracio, a project in which he relied on the professional help of the architect-engineer Girolamo Rainaldi, while Algardi and his workshop executed the inlaid fountains of sculptures and other works. from the garden, where many of his free-standing sculptures and bas-reliefs still remain.
In 1650 he met Diego Velázquez, who provided him with commissions from Spain, where he made the figures for the Fountain of Neptune in Aranjuez, as well as two chimneys in the Aranjuez Palace itself. The Convent of the Augustinians of Salamanca contains the Tomb of the Counts of Monterrey, another work by Algardi.
Pope Saint Leo arresting Attila
The Beheading of Saint Paul and above all the enormous and dramatic high-relief marble panel by Algardi depicting Pope Saint Leo stopping Attila (1646– 53) for St. Peter's Basilica are his main masterpieces. Previously, large marble reliefs had been used in Roman churches, but for most patrons, marble-carved altarpieces were too expensive. In this relief, the two main figures, the stern and courageous pope and the dismayed and frightened Attila, emerge and jut out from the center into three dimensions. The two of them are the only ones who see the angelic warriors who come to the defense of the Pope descend, while the rest remain in the reliefs in the background, carrying out their earthly obligations.
The theme was apt for a papal state seeking influence, since it represents the historical legend regarding the greatest of the popes named Leo, who with supernatural help, defeated the Huns and prevented them from sacking Rome. From a baroque point of view there is no doubt, the message from his patron would be that all viewers would be seriously reminded of the pope's ability to invoke divine retribution against his enemies. There is a small-scale replica of this relief, in silver, preserved in the Royal Palace of Madrid, and considered an autograph work.
Algardi died in Rome the year after completing this famous relief, which was much admired by contemporaries. In his last years, Algardi controlled a large workshop and amassed a large fortune. Algardi's classicist style was followed by his disciples (including Ercole Ferrata and Domenico Guidi). Antonio Raggi initially trained with him. The latter two completed their design for an altarpiece titled the Vision of Saint Nicholas (San Nicola of Tolentino, Rome) using two separate pieces of marble joined at the same event and place, yet still successfully separating the divine and earthly spheres. Other lesser-known workshop assistants of his were Francesco Barrata, Girolamo Lucenti, and Giuseppe Perroni.
Critical appraisal and legacy
Algardi was also known for his portraits that show an obsessive attention to detail of a physiognomy that was psychologically revealing in a sober but naturalistic style, thus following the line of psychological deepening, rather than ostentatious exaltation. meticulous towards clothes and fabrics, as can be seen in the busts of Laudivio Zacchia, Camillo Pamphili, and Muzio Frangipane and their two sons Lello and Roberto.
In temperament, his style was closer to the restrained and classicist Baroque of Duquesnoy than to the emotional works of other artists of the time. From an artistic point of view, he had great success in portrait sculptures and children's groups, where he was compelled to more closely follow nature. Terracotta models of him, some of them finished works of art, were highly prized by collectors.
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