Alessandro Algardi

Life and work

Algardi's first major commission came in 1634, when Cardinal Ubaldini contracted for a funeral monument for Pope Leo XI.^[2] With the accession of Pope Innocent X in 1644, Algardi was embraced by the new pope and his nephew.^[3] Bologna was the birthplace of Algardi, and during his youth he became a pupil in Agostino Carracci's workshop there.^[4] Ferdinando I, Duke of Mantua, started giving Algardi commissions before he turned twenty.^[4]

After a brief stay in Venice, Algardi traveled to Rome in 1625, carrying a letter of introduction from the Duke of Mantua.^[4] A meeting between Algardi and Diego Velázquez occurred in 1650, leading to Velázquez securing Spanish commissions for Algardi.^[5]

What the cited sources add

Algardi studied with Ludovico Carracci in Bologna, according to a page on his busts.^[6] His genius for the sober representation of character has always been admired.^[6] Algardi was famous for his ability to represent details usually believed to be outside the scope of sculpture.^[6] The busts of Muzio Frangipane and his sons Roberto and Lello were commissioned after all three were dead, so Algardi may have worked from portraits or felt free to represent them as ideal models.^[6]

Gian Lorenzo Bernini portrayed his sitters in the act of talking, but Algardi thought better to portray them with their mouth shut.^[6] Algardi's portraits show an obsessive attention to details of psychologically revealing physiognomy in a sober but immediate naturalism.^[7] Collectors valued Algardi's terracotta models, some of which were themselves completed artworks.^[5]

Life and practice

The large marble high-relief panel by Algardi, depicting Pope Leo and Attila and executed between 1646 and 1653, is widely known as Fuga d'Attila.^[8]