ALGARDI, ALESSANDRO (1602-1654)

This article appears in Volume V01, Page 598 of the Encyclopedia Britannica.

Encyclopedia Britannica - Main :: AJA-ALL

ALGARDI, ALESSANDRO (1602-1654) , Italian sculptor, was born at Bologna in 1602. While he was attending the school of the Caracci his preference for the plastic art became evident, and he placed himself under the instruction of the sculptor Conventi. At the age of twenty he was brought under the notice of Duke Ferdinand of Mantua, who gave him several commissions. He was also much employed about the same period by jewellers and others in modelling in gold, silver and ivory. After a short residence in Venice he went to Rome in 1625 with an introduction from the duke of Mantua to the

pope

's nephew, Cardinal Ludovisi, who employed him for a time in the restoration of ancient statues. The death of the duke of Mantua left him to his own resources, and for several years he earned a

precarious

PRECARIOUS

maintenance from these restorations and the commissions of goldsmiths and jewellers... In 164o he executed for Pietro Buoncompagni his first

work

WORK

in marble, a colossal statue of San Filippo

Neri

NERI, PHILIP (FILIppo DE) (1515-1595)

, with kneeling angels. Immediately after, he produced a similar group, representing the execution of St Paul, for the church of the Barnabite Fathers in Bologna. These works, displaying

great

GREAT

technical skill, though with considerable exaggeration of expression and attitude, at once established Algardi's reputation, and other commissions followed in rapid succession. The turning point in Algardi's fortune was the accession of Innocent X., of the Bolognese

house

HOUSE
HOUSE (O. Eng. hiss, a word common to Teutonic languages, cf. Dut. huis, Ger. Haus; in
Gothic
- GOTHIC
it is only found in gudhiss, a temple; it may be ultimately connected with the root of " hide," conceal)

of Panfili, to the papal throne in r644. He was employed by Camillo Panfili, nephew of the pontiff, to

design

DESIGN (Fr. desiin, drawing; Lat. designare, to mark out)

, the Villa Doria Panfili outside the San Pancrazio gate. The most important of Algardi's other works were the monument of Leo XI., a bronze statue of Innocent X. for the capitol, and, above all, La Fuega d'Attila, the largest alto-relievo in the world, the two principal figures being about Io ft. high. In 165o Algardi met Velasquez, who obtained some interesting orders for his Italian companion in Spain. Thus there are four chimneys; by Algardi in the palace of Aranjuez, where also the figures on the fountain of Neptune were executed by him. The

Augustine

AUGUSTINE, SAINT (354-430)
AUGUSTINE, SAINT (d. c.613)

monastery at Salamanca contains the tomb of the count and, countess de Monterey, which was also the

work

WORK

of Algardi, From an artistic point of view, he was most successful in his portrait-statues and groups of children, where he was obliged to follow nature most closely. In his later years he became very avaricious and amassed a

great

GREAT

fortune. He died in Rome on the loth of June 1654.
See Le arti di Bologna disegnate da A. Caracci ed intagliati da S. Giulini, con' assistenza d' Alessandro A. Algardi (1940).

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