About Opentopia
Opentopia Directory Encyclopedia Tools

Alessandro Algardi

Encyclopedia : A : AL : ALE : Alessandro Algardi

Alessandro Algardi (July 31,1598 – June 10, 1654) was an Italian Baroque sculptor, the major rival of Bernini in the creation of sculptures. His renown as an architect rests largely on his designs for the Villa Doria Pamphili, Rome (1644-1652) and its extensive fountains and other garden features, where much of his free-standing sculpture and bas-reliefs also remain.

Contents

Biography

Early years

Algardi was born in Bologna. While apprenticed in the atelier of Agostino Carracci, his aptitude for sculpture led him to work for the sculptor Giulio Cesare Conventi (1577–1640). At the age of twenty he was brought to the notice of Ferdinando I, Duke of Mantua, who gave him several commissions, which gave the young sculptor a chance to immerse himself in one of the great and exposed the young sculptor a chance to see his large collections of Roman antiquities and sculpture. He was also much employed about the same period by goldsmiths, modelling for them in ivory and making wax modelli for casting in gold and silver.

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, and for several years he earned a precarious living from these restorations and commissions of goldsmiths and jewellers. His friends included his fellow Bolognese, Domenichino and Pietro da Cortona, and his early Roman commissions included terracotta portrait busts, while he supported himself with small works like crucifixes.

For Pietro Buoncompagni in 1640, Algardi created his first major public work in marble, a colossal statue of Philip Neri, with kneeling angels. Immediately after this, he produced a similar group, representing the beheading of Saint Paul in two figures, of the kneeling saint and the executioner poised to strike the sword-blow, for San Paolo Maggiore, the church of the Barnabite Fathers in Bologna. These proficient works expressed Baroque dramatic attitudes and immediacy of expression, at once established Algardi's reputation, and other commissions quickly followed.

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[(see bust)] or full body statue [link],[(coat of arms)]in 1644, Algardi was employed by the Pope and the pope's nephew, Camillo Pamphilj.[bust] 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 His portrait bust of Camillo Pamphili is at The Hermitage Museum. 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.

In the Capotiline Museum, on has the ability to contrast the more formal statue of Innocent X with Bernini's more dramatic Urban the VIII.

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. There had been large marble reliefs used previously, for example Gianlorenzo's father, Pietro Bernini's crowded Assumption of the Virgin for Santa Maria Maggiore(1606); but for most patrons, it was far too costly to use sculpted marble for such a large display as an altarpiece. In this relief, the two theatrically contrasted principal figures, the stern and courageous pope and the dismayed and frightened Attila, surge and protrude from the center. Only these two see the descending angelic warriors rallying to the pope's defense, while all others persist in the background reliefs, performing respective earthly duties. The subject was apt for a papal state seeking clout, since it depicts the legendary moment when the greatest of Pope Leos, with supernatural aide, had deterred the Huns from looting Rome. From a baroque standpoint it is a moment of divine intervention in the affairs of man. 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 Muzio Frangipane and his two sons Lello and Roberto [link]. There is also a bronze statue of Innocent X for the Palazzo dei Conservatori in the Campidoglio. In St. Peter's Basilica, Algardi was also responsible for the prominent tomb of Leo XI (completed 1644). In temperament, his style was more akin to the classicized and restrained Baroque of François Duquesnoy than to the emotive works of Bernini. From an artistic point of view, he was most successful in portrait-statues and groups of children, where he was obliged to follow nature most closely. His terracotta models, some of them finished works of art, were prized by connoisseur collectors: an outstanding series of them is at the Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg.

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.

Selected works

References

External links

 

From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.

Search Titles
0123456789
ABCDEFGHIJ
KLMNOPQRST
UVWXYZ?

E-mail this article to:

Personal Message: