ALGARDI, Alessandro

The antique Roman statue was found in 1627 in Campo Marzio in Rome and sculpted by Alessandro Algardi for Cardinal Ludovisi as Athena. The hands and lower part of the body and trunk are being restored.

Cardinal Ludovico Ludovisi, a prominent collector and nephew of the deceased Pope Gregory XV offered Algardi employment as a restorer of antique sculpture. This relatively modest employment as a restorer, proof that he must already have worked as a sculptor in marble before going to Rome, was to be Algardi’s main activity for the next ten years. His earliest known restoration is a reworking for Ludovisi in 1626 of an antique torso into a statue of Prometheus the Torchbearer, a work followed by the statues known as the Athena Ludovisi and, in 1631, the Hermes Logios (all in Palazzo Altemps, Rome).

Algardi produced his greatest works during the papacy of Innocent X Pamphili (reg 1644–55). Bernini was ousted from his supreme artistic position in Rome because of his close personal connections with the Barberini, the family of the deceased Pope Urban VIII, and a circle well disposed towards Algardi dominated the papal court. Algardi presented himself to Innocent X with a silver Crucifix (untraced; bronze version, Santa Maria del Popolo, Rome) and a silver group depicting the Baptism of Christ (untraced; terracotta model, Biblioteca Apostolica, Vatican; bronze version, Museum of Art, Cleveland).

This bronze group was designed in 1645-46, and probably made in 1650-55.

Virgilio Spada, a career ecclesiastic whose family had established itself in Bologna engineered one of Algardi’s greatest triumphs of the 1630s, the dramatic altarpiece of the Beheading of St Paul for the Bolognese church of San Paolo Maggiore. Unusual in Rome, such sculptural altars were not unknown in Venice and in the region around Bologna.

Algardi created a masterpiece without equal in Baroque sculpture. Often compared to painted altarpieces, Algardi’s tableau exploits the traditional strength of sculpture by achieving a fully rounded, spatially complex group which plays upon the contrasting types and emotions of the figures. Having established action frozen in time, the sculptor sets a spiral pattern in motion, from the poised right arm of the executioner through the shoulders and arms of the kneeling saint and back to his assailant’s right leg and drapery. The centre of the composition is a void, and tension builds up because of the imminent execution and the inevitability of martyrdom.

Ulpiano Volpi was the archbishop of Chieti and the bishop of Novara. The bust, executed after a funeral mask, was conceived to view only frontally, its back side is hollow.

Algardi’s portrait busts are much less flamboyant or self-consciously artistic in character than those of Bernini. Where Bernini sought movement and engagement in his portraits, Algardi’s approach was more understated, and more concerned with evoking presence through minute attention to physiognomy. His busts seem more aloof because they functioned generally as part of funerary monuments where meditation and piety were the primary requirements.

The hallmarks of his approach to portraiture were established by the mid-1630s, when he created the posthumous portrait of Cardinal Giovanni Garzia Mellini.

The bust of Mellini stands in his chapel in Santa Maria del Popolo and shows the Cardinal turning towards the altar, his left hand on his heart and his right hand holding his place in a prayer book. The work was much admired in Algardi’s day, and the critic Bellori praised the illusion of the deceased ‘almost kneeling, in the act of praying to the altar’. The bust conveys a sense of Baroque piety and an assured technique: the lace appearing at the Cardinal’s sleeves and the short cape carelessly folded behind his left hand are brilliantly observed, and such details contribute to the uncanny sense of a physical presence in the niche.

This sketch model in terracotta was made in preparation for a marble bust of the cardinal now in the Museo Nazionale del Bargello, Florence. The marble version was unfinished at Algardi’s death and the sketch model is probably one of his last works. An assistant, possibly Domenico Guidi, subsequently completed the marble.

The conviction and vivacity of the portrait is all the more remarkable in view of the fact that it is posthumous, the sitter having died nearly fifty years before. The likeness was based on painted portraits. The Cardinal, wearing a biretta (a three-cornered hat) and mozetta (a short hooded cape), is shown turning the pages of a book. This pose alludes to his written works, which included a treatise on the Immaculate Conception.

The combination of minute attention to detail and miraculous tonal control are the most engrossing feature of Algardi’s busts. When the need arose, he cold also produce a striking performance, as in the splendidly imposing bust of Donna Olimpia Maidalchini, one of the greatest portraits of the period. Disagreeable and domineering, Donna Olimpia did not exude charm, but as the sister-in-law of Pope Innocent X she was a power in Rome during his reign. Algardi transmutes his unpromising sitter into an image of majesty and determination, the tilt of her head and the expression of her face being amplified by a billowing veil. Unusually, Algardi reverses the normal approach to flesh and drapery tones by giving the latter a bright, milky sheen and leaving the former matt. This transposition was dictated by Algardi’s emphasis upon the veil which is so integral to the bust’s impact.

Among portraits made in the final phase of Algardi’s career are the marble busts of Giovanni Savenier (Santa Maria dell’Anima, Rome), Antonio Cerri (City Art Gallery, Manchester), Elisabetta Contucci Coli (San Domenico, Perugia) and Odoardo Santarelli (Rome, Santa Maria Maggiore, Rome); the last of these is inside a frame designed by Algardi himself.

The monuments to the Frangipanes are in the fourth chapel in the left nave of the church. The bust of Lelio is one of three of the same size and inserted in the same marble frame,

Lelio Frangipane died in 1600 at the age of 26 during the siege of Sabatellum in Croatia. He was sent there by Pope Clement VIII to support the Habsburgs in containing an Ottoman attack. In the bust he is shown wearing a fine XVIth century armour similar to that shown in the portrait of Cosimo I de’ Medici by Angelo Bronzino.

Algardi’s portrait busts are much less flamboyant or self-consciously artistic in character than those of Bernini. Where Bernini sought movement and engagement in his portraits, Algardi’s approach was more understated, and more concerned with evoking presence through minute attention to physiognomy. His busts seem more aloof because they functioned generally as part of funerary monuments where meditation and piety were the primary requirements.

The hallmarks of his approach to portraiture were established by the mid-1630s, when he created the bust of the papal advocate, Monsignor Antonio Cerri, and the posthumous portrait of Cardinal Giovanni Garzia Mellini.

The bust of Cerri is an example of the sculptor at his most skillful, moving from the precisely defined modelling of the head and crisply carved folds of collar and drapery to the passages of hair and skin which appear to have issued from a brush rather than a chisel. The downward turn of the head indicates that the bust was once intended to be seen from Cerri’s wall monument, but in the event the original was kept back and an inferior copy from Algardi’s shop was placed on the tomb.

The monuments to the Frangipanes are in the fourth chapel in the left nave of the church. The bust of Muzio is one of three of the same size and inserted in the same marble frame. The marble busts of Lelio, Muzio and Roberto Frangipane represent an early peak of achievement. Algardi, restricted by the 16th-century series of busts already in existence and the round shape of the niches in the family chapel, modelled ideal portraits of the mature and youthful warrior in the busts of Muzio (d. 1588) and of Lelio (d. 1606).

Muzio Frangipane fought for Charles IX of France and maybe the decoration he shows is a reward for his military achievements. Algardi shows a determined man who looks in front of him with assurance. Algardi was famous for his ability to represent details which usually were believed to be outside the scope of sculpture. In this bust he shows that Muzio did not shave the lower part of his face every day.

Algardi executed several likenesses of Innocent X and his family. The bronze version of his bust of the Pope (probably after 1647; Palazzo Doria Pamphilj, private apartments; drawing, Museo de la Real Academia de San Fernando, Madrid) was cast by Guidi, while the marble version (Galleria Doria Pamphilj, Rome) would have been carved by studio assistants.

Algardi executed several likenesses of Innocent X and his family. The bronze version of his bust of the Pope (probably after 1647; Palazzo Doria Pamphilj, private apartments; drawing, Museo de la Real Academia de San Fernando, Madrid) was cast by Guidi, while the marble version (Galleria Doria Pamphilj, Rome) would have been carved by studio assistants.

The monuments to the Frangipanes are in the fourth chapel in the left nave of the church. The bust of Muzio is one of three of the same size and inserted in the same marble frame. The marble busts of Lelio, Muzio, and Roberto Frangipane represent an early peak of achievement.

Roberto Frangipane was involved with the kings of France as he was an advisor to Henri III, the brother of Charles IX. He was an abb� and as such he was entitled to wear ecclesiastical dress, without necessarily having official ecclesiastical duties. Algardi did not make use of different marbles, nevertheless the hair and the moustaches of Roberto seem of a different colour. The portrait shows some distinctive features of a 17th-century gentleman like the short moustaches and the pointed beard or the somewhat ruffled hair.

The Franzone family acquired a chapel, the Cappella del Crocefisso, in the Carmelite church of San Carlo (now Santi Vittore e Carlo) in Genoa. The principal sculptural decoration of the chapel, including the marble busts of the brothers Franzone, a bronze Crucifix and bronze busts of saints, has traditionally been attributed to Algardi. The quality of these works, as well as the death of Algardi in 1654, however, have led them to be partly reattributed to Domenico Guidi, who perhaps worked from terracotta models by Algardi.

The twelve bronze busts of saints were not cast until after Algardi’s death, using a variety of models.

The Franzone family acquired a chapel, the Cappella del Crocefisso, in the Carmelite church of San Carlo (now Santi Vittore e Carlo) in Genoa. The principal sculptural decoration of the chapel, including the marble busts of the brothers Franzone, a bronze Crucifix and bronze busts of saints, has traditionally been attributed to Algardi. The quality of these works, as well as the death of Algardi in 1654, however, have led them to be partly reattributed to Domenico Guidi, who perhaps worked from terracotta models by Algardi.

The twelve bronze busts of saints were not cast until after Algardi’s death, using a variety of models. The picture shows one of the Three Marys. The Three Marys are women mentioned in the canonical gospel’s narratives of the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus.

The Franzone family acquired a chapel, the Cappella del Crocefisso, in the Carmelite church of San Carlo (now Santi Vittore e Carlo) in Genoa. The principal sculptural decoration of the chapel, including the marble busts of the brothers Franzone, a bronze Crucifix and bronze busts of saints, has traditionally been attributed to Algardi. The quality of these works, as well as the death of Algardi in 1654, however, have led them to be partly reattributed to Domenico Guidi, who perhaps worked from terracotta models by Algardi.

The twelve bronze busts of saints were not cast until after Algardi’s death, using a variety of models. The picture shows one of the Three Marys. The Three Marys are women mentioned in the canonical gospel’s narratives of the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus.

The Franzone family acquired a chapel, the Cappella del Crocefisso, in the Carmelite church of San Carlo (now Santi Vittore e Carlo) in Genoa. The principal sculptural decoration of the chapel, including the marble busts of the brothers Franzone, a bronze Crucifix and bronze busts of saints, has traditionally been attributed to Algardi. The quality of these works, as well as the death of Algardi in 1654, however, have led them to be partly reattributed to Domenico Guidi, who perhaps worked from terracotta models by Algardi.

The twelve bronze busts of saints were not cast until after Algardi’s death, using a variety of models. The picture shows one of the Three Marys. The Three Marys are women mentioned in the canonical gospel’s narratives of the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus.

The Franzone family acquired a chapel, the Cappella del Crocefisso, in the Carmelite church of San Carlo (now Santi Vittore e Carlo) in Genoa. The principal sculptural decoration of the chapel, including the marble busts of the brothers Franzone, a bronze Crucifix and bronze busts of saints, has traditionally been attributed to Algardi. The quality of these works, as well as the death of Algardi in 1654, however, have led them to be partly reattributed to Domenico Guidi, who perhaps worked from terracotta models by Algardi.

The twelve bronze busts of saints were not cast until after Algardi’s death, using a variety of models. The picture shows one of the Three Marys. The Three Marys are women mentioned in the canonical gospel’s narratives of the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus.

Algardi’s genius for the sober representation of character has always been admired. The number of portrait busts by his hand is considerable. It would appear that already in the 1630s Algardi had begun to move away from his intense realism. Abandoning the warm and vivid treatment of the surface and the subtle differentiation of texture, he replaced the freshness of the early works by a noble aloofness in his later busts. One of the finest of that period, the stylish member of the Pamphilj family exhibits this classicism to perfection.

Algardi represents his sitter, with his mouth closed, in a state of permanence and tranquil existence.

Algardi represents his sitter, with his mouth closed, in a state of permanence and tranquil existence.

It is not clear what part Algardi played in the biggest artistic undertaking of Innocent X’s papacy, the renovation of the basilica of San Giovanni in Laterano, Rome. With Bernini, Mochi and others, he was supposed to execute the 12 colossal statues for niches in the nave, a project that was not carried out until the early 18th century. It is probable, but not certain, that Algardi provided the designs for at least some of the 12 stucco reliefs on the walls of the nave, in which scenes from the New Testament were placed opposite equivalent scenes from the Old Testament in accordance with a programme worked out by the Vatican librarian Annibale Albani.

The picture shows a relief from the New Testament series.

Camillo Pamphili rejected Borromini’s first design for the Villa Doria Pamphili, located on the Gianicolo in Rome. The sculptor Alessandro Algardi, who received the commission instead of Borromini, preferred an academic example of a “museum fa�ade” comparable to the late Mannerist Villa Borghese, in which countless fragments of sculpture from Antiquity were displayed.

It began as a villa for the Pamphili family and when the line died out in the eighteenth century, it passed to Prince Giovanni Andrea IV Doria from which time it has been known as the Villa Doria Pamphili. Today it is the largest landscaped public park in Rome.

Camillo Pamphili rejected Borromini’s first design for the Villa Doria Pamphili, located on the Gianicolo in Rome. The sculptor Alessandro Algardi, who received the commission instead of Borromini, preferred an academic example of a “museum fa�ade” comparable to the late Mannerist Villa Borghese, in which countless fragments of sculpture from Antiquity were displayed.

It began as a villa for the Pamphili family and when the line died out in the eighteenth century, it passed to Prince Giovanni Andrea IV Doria from which time it has been known as the Villa Doria Pamphili. Today it is the largest landscaped public park in Rome.

Algardi, the distinguished baroque sculptor was commissioned by restoring several antique sculptures, among them a group of Heracles and the Hydra (presently in the Museo Capitolino in Rome). Later he executed several versions of the same subject. His sculpture in the Budapest museum is one of the best of this series.

Among portraits made in the final phase of Algardi’s career are the marble busts of Giovanni Savenier (Santa Maria dell’Anima, Rome), Antonio Cerri (City Art Gallery, Manchester), Elisabetta Contucci Coli (San Domenico, Perugia) and Odoardo Santarelli (Rome, Santa Maria Maggiore, Rome).

The monument of Odoardo Santarelli is in the antechamber of the baptistery in Santa Maria Maggiore. The bust of Santarelli is inside a frame designed by Algardi himself.

Algardi had no major commissions for monumental works until the mid-1630s, when he received three. In July 1634 he signed the contract for the tomb of Pope Leo XI. Leo XI, who belonged to a collateral branch of the Medici family, had died in 1605 after a reign of only 27 days, and his great-nephew, Cardinal Roberto Ubaldini (d. 1635), gave Algardi the commission.

The tomb, which is fitted skillfully into a narrow passageway in the north aisle of St Peter’s and is composed to be seen at an angle from both sides, is similar in type to Bernini’s tomb of Pope Urban VIII (1628), also in St Peter’s. The statue of Leo XI enthroned is set into a niche above the sarcophagus, which is flanked by standing allegorical figures of Magnanimity and Liberality. Above the niche Leo XI’s coat of arms is held by hovering putti. The sarcophagus is ornamented with a relief representing Cardinal de’ Medici’s Legation to France. The monument is, however, considerably smaller than Bernini’s and is striking in that Algardi abandoned the combination of white and coloured marbles with bronze used by Bernini, preferring instead white marble throughout to underline the compositional simplicity of the work. The figure of Magnanimity is based on a classical Athena, for whose restoration Algardi had been responsible.

The tomb of Pope Leo XI was completed in 1644, and erected in 1652.

Algardi’s tomb for Leo XI was built at the same time as Bernini’s tomb for Urban VIII, and it clearly borrows some of its concept from Bernini’s work. The figures of Liberty and Majesty at the sides were executed by Ercole Ferrata and Giuseppe Peroni.

The execution of Leo XI’s tomb, extending over many years, ran parallel with that of Bernini’s tomb of Urban VIII. But Algardi, beginning six years after Bernini, must have been familiar with Bernini’s design. Leo’s tomb is, in fact, the first papal tomb dependent on that of Urban VIII. All the salient features recur: the pyramidal arrangement of three figures, the blessing pope above the sarcophagus, and the allegories standing next to it in a zone before the papal figure. Algardi had to plan for an unsatisfactory position in one of the narrow passages of the left aisle of St Peter’s. Bound by spatial restrictions, he reduced the structural parts to a minimum.

Algardi’s tomb for Leo XI was built at the same time as Bernini’s tomb for Urban VIII, and it clearly borrows some of its concept from Bernini’s work. The figures of Liberty and Majesty at the sides were executed by Ercole Ferrata and Giuseppe Peroni.

Algardi’s tomb for Leo XI was built at the same time as Bernini’s tomb for Urban VIII, and it clearly borrows some of its concept from Bernini’s work. The figures of Liberty and Majesty at the sides were executed by Ercole Ferrata and Giuseppe Peroni.

The statue of Leo XI enthroned is set into a niche above the sarcophagus, which is flanked by standing allegorical figures of Magnanimity and Liberality. The figure of Magnanimity, shown in the picture, is based on a classical Athena, for whose restoration Algardi had been responsible.

The statue of Leo XI enthroned is set into a niche above the sarcophagus, which is flanked by standing allegorical figures of Magnanimity and Liberality. The picture shows the white marble sarcophagus.

The monuments to the Frangipanes are in the fourth chapel in the left nave of the church.

The Frangipanes were a powerful family and played an important role in medieval Rome. In the 11th century they owned major monuments, such as Circus Maximus, the Collosseum, the Arch of Titus, the Turris Cartularia, the Tomb of Caecilia Metella, some of which were turned into fortresses. They lived in the Caesars’ Palace on the Palatine. Today, the name of a tower at the Circus Maximus, Torre dei Frangipane, is a reminder of their presence in the city of Rome. They had their family chapel in San Marcello al Corso.

On the right wall of the chapel there are three busts of the same size and inserted in the same marble frame, but the viewer is immediately struck by the fact that he sees three different persons and that the three busts are looking at him. Muzio (left) and his sons Roberto (centre) and Lelio (right)were all dead when Alessandro Algardi was commissioned their busts, so either he worked by looking at portraits of them or he felt free to represent them as ideal models of a military leader (Muzio), a man of culture (Roberto), a young hero (Lelio).

Algardi executed several likenesses of Innocent X and his family.

The seated bronze statue of Innocent X is in the Hall of the Horatii and Curiatii of the Palazzo dei Conservatori. Algardi received the prestigious commission for it around 1646. It was procured by Algardi by means of intrigue, having originally been assigned to the older sculptor Mochi. Despite the fact that the first cast was flawed, Algardi was awarded the cross of the Cavaliere di Cristo.

The terracotta model of the statue is in the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna.

The photo shows the Hall of the Horatii and Curiatii of the Palazzo dei Conservatori with the statue of Pope Innocent X by Alessandro Algardi.

The Great Hall - also known as the Horatii and Curiatii Room for the subject of one of the frescoes – was used for the public hearings of the Council. The cycle of frescoes illustrates some episodes of the history of Rome as told by Titus Livius. The scenes depict a series of fake tapestries, wrapped with painted festoons of fruit and flowers, lustral vases and trophies of arms. The fresco decoration was carried out by Cavalier d’Arpino (born Giuseppe Cesari) around 1700.

Two monumental statues of Popes face each other on the two smaller sides of the room: the one portraying Urban VIII Barberini (1623-1644) is in marble and was carried out by Gian Lorenzo Bernini and his pupils between 1635 and 1640, while the bronze statue of Innocent X Pamphilj (1644-1655) is the work of Alessandro Algardi and was sculpted between 1645 and 1650.

The photo shows the Hall of the Horatii and Curiatii of the Palazzo dei Conservatori with the statue of Pope Innocent X by Alessandro Algardi. The European Constitution was signed in this hall on 29 October 2004 and the European Economic Community had formally been founded here in 1957 with the Treaty of Rome.

The allegory of Sleep represents a boy with butterfly wings holding poppies, accompanied by two large vases with handles in the form of serpents.

Algardi and his workshop executed four busts (St Mary Magdalene, St John the Evangelist, Virgin, Mary of Chleophas) placed on the bases of the four columns of the chapel of Crucifix. The busts show antique inspiration.

Bolognese by birth and early training, Algardi trained initially as a stuccoist and modeller of decorative works, tastes which remained with him through his highly productive career. After his arrival to Rome, friendship with the Bolognese painter Domenichino led to his first independent commission, the stucco figures of St John the Evangelist and St Mary Magdalene. These reveal a remarkably self-assured artistic personality, one that did not alter significantly over the course of his career. Bolognese training is evident in both works, which are reminiscent of Domenichino in drapery style and of Ludovico Carracci in sweetness of expression. Less reserved than Duquesnoy’s St Susanna, the Mary Magdalene is more emotionally accessible without any sacrifice of clarity or directness.

Bolognese by birth and early training, Algardi trained initially as a stuccoist and modeller of decorative works, tastes which remained with him through his highly productive career. After his arrival to Rome, friendship with the Bolognese painter Domenichino led to his first independent commission, the stucco figures of St John the Evangelist and St Mary Magdalene. These reveal a remarkably self-assured artistic personality, one that did not alter significantly over the course of his career. Bolognese training is evident in both works, which are reminiscent of Domenichino in drapery style and of Ludovico Carracci in sweetness of expression. Less reserved than Duquesnoy’s St Susanna, the Mary Magdalene is more emotionally accessible without any sacrifice of clarity or directness.

Algardi continued to make models for smaller works to be cast in metal right to the end of his career. Outstanding in Algardi’s late period is the group St Michael Overcoming the Devil, made for a Bolognese patron and cast by Domenico Guidi.

The over life-size statue of St Philip Neri was executed for sacristy of the Oratorians at Santa Maria Vallicella. The intimate setting of a sacristy argued against a grandiloquent attitude, and the statue was conceived in keeping with the amiable character of St Philip Neri. The saint gestures with his right hand in offering as he glances up towards the ceiling where Pietro da Cortona had painted the instruments of the Passion of Christ; with his left, he indicates a passage from the offertory of his feast day, which is held by a kneeling angel. Behind the noble simplicity of Algardi’s saint stand earlier religious works by Domenichino, Guido Reni and ultimately their common source: Raphael’s Bolognese altarpiece, the Ecstasy of St Cecilia.

After the death of Pope Urban VIII his relatives, hopelessly in debt, fled Rome and with them were discredited all the artists who had been closely associated with them, including Bernini. Algardi’s opportunity had come and his great contribution to the High Baroque, the relief of the Meeting of Leo I and Attila was commissioned by Innocent X for St Peter’s in 1646. The composition of this relief is modeled on Raphael’s representation of this crucial episode in the history of papacy in the Stanza Eliodoro.

The huge relief was completed in 1653, and shows a compromise between the Grand Manner as expressed by Bernini and his own classicising tendencies. The treatment of the highly dramatic subject is remarkably restrained, and this coolness is further emphasized by the smooth, evenly worked marble, which is in direct contrast to Bernini’s differentiation of texture and sparkling surfaces.

The relief was the prototype for a great series of sculpted altarpieces which replaced painted altarpieces in the second half of the century whenever circumstances permitted.

After the death of Pope Urban VIII his relatives, hopelessly in debt, fled Rome and with them were discredited all the artists who had been closely associated with them, including Bernini. Algardi’s opportunity had come and his great contribution to the High Baroque, the relief of the Meeting of Leo I and Attila was commissioned by Innocent X for St Peter’s in 1646. The composition of this relief is modeled on Raphael’s representation of this crucial episode in the history of papacy in the Stanza Eliodoro.

The huge relief was completed in 1653, and shows a compromise between the Grand Manner as expressed by Bernini and his own classicising tendencies. The treatment of the highly dramatic subject is remarkably restrained, and this coolness is further emphasized by the smooth, evenly worked marble, which is in direct contrast to Bernini’s differentiation of texture and sparkling surfaces.

The relief was the prototype for a great series of sculpted altarpieces which replaced painted altarpieces in the second half of the century whenever circumstances permitted.

The relief is Algardi’s defining work, it is remarkable for the innovative forms of the layers in the relief: almost completely worked in the round, is set against a background which is graphic in nature.

A strict classicist, Algardi succeeds in assembling on the white surface a “continuum” of emotions which refer back to each other: from the astonished trainbearer to the imperious pope, the awestricken barbarian, the apostles St Peter and St Paul threatening him with drawn swords from the stormy sky above. Rounded shapes and flattened relief are interwoven in the subtle spatial architecture organized by the artist.

A strict classicist, Algardi succeeds in assembling on the white surface a “continuum” of emotions which refer back to each other: from the astonished trainbearer to the imperious pope, the awestricken barbarian, the apostles St Peter and St Paul threatening him with drawn swords from the stormy sky above. Rounded shapes and flattened relief are interwoven in the subtle spatial architecture organized by the artist.

A strict classicist, Algardi succeeds in assembling on the white surface a “continuum” of emotions which refer back to each other: from the astonished trainbearer to the imperious pope, the awestricken barbarian, the apostles St Peter and St Paul threatening him with drawn swords from the stormy sky above. Rounded shapes and flattened relief are interwoven in the subtle spatial architecture organized by the artist.

The spectacular portrait achievement of the 1630s is the marble bust of Cardinal Giovanni Garzia Mellini, a posthumous image, in which the Cardinal, represented down to the waist, is shown leaning forward slightly from the niche in his tomb and turned towards the altar with an expression of dignified devotion. The expressive realism of the work suggests that a death mask was used.

Algardi produced his greatest works during the papacy of Innocent X Pamphili (reg 1644-55). Bernini was ousted from his supreme artistic position in Rome because of his close personal connections with the Barberini, the family of the deceased Pope Urban VIII, and a circle well disposed towards Algardi dominated the papal court. This included the Oratorian Virgilio Spada, the new pope’s artistic adviser, his major-domo Cristoforo Segni, who came from Bologna, and also Giacomo Franzone, whose family were notable patrons of Algardi.

Giacomo Franzone (1612-1696), who moved in 1636 to Rome, where he managed the papal finances in a variety of offices until he became a cardinal in 1660, was one of the most distinguished member of the family. He played a leading role in supervising the execution of the artistic projects in Rome commissioned by Innocent X and Alexander VII.

The family acquired a chapel, the Cappella del Crocefisso, in the Carmelite church of San Carlo (now Santi Vittore e Carlo) in Genoa. The principal sculptural decoration of the chapel, including the marble busts of the brothers Franzone, a bronze Crucifix and bronze busts of saints, has traditionally been attributed to Algardi. The quality of these works, as well as the death of Algardi in 1654, however, have led them to be partly reattributed to Domenico Guidi, who perhaps worked from terracotta models by Algardi.

Among portraits made in the final phase of Algardi’s career are the marble busts of Giovanni Savenier (Santa Maria dell’Anima, Rome), Antonio Cerri (City Art Gallery, Manchester), Elisabetta Contucci Coli (San Domenico, Perugia) and Odoardo Santarelli (Rome, Santa Maria Maggiore, Rome); the last of these is inside a frame designed by Algardi himself.

At right on the tomb of Savenier is the bust of his cousin, Gualtero Gualteri, made in 1659 by another sculptor.

This work was largely carried out by assistant (Ercole Ferrata and Domenico Guidi) but it bears the stamp of Algardi’s genius nonetheless. In addition to the basic design, Algardi furnished the architectural surround which establishes the specific setting for the sculptural group by creating a curved niche in which two reliefs are placed diagonally opposite each other. The curvature enhances the relationship of the two groups by allowing the sculptor to manipulate the degrees of relief in order to give prominence to the Virgin and Child and St Nicholas holding the bread which cured him of illness.