By Anne Leader
Alessandro Algardi died on 10 June 1654 in Rome. After working in his hometown Bologna and later Mantua and Venice, Algardi moved to Rome where he became one of the leading sculptors of the High Baroque period, rivaling the works of artistic colleagues Gian Lorenzo Bernini and François Duquesnoy. This rivalry became particularly pronounced when Innocent X assumed the Papacy: while his predecessor, Pope Urban VIII, had favored the work of Bernini, Innocent X took a stronger liking to Algardi’s sculptural production, thereby accelerating his artistic celebrity in Baroque Rome.
Reference: Rudolf Preimesberger. “Algardi, Alessandro.” Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online. Oxford University Press.
Beheading of St Paul, c. 1650, Marble, San Paolo Maggiore, Bologna
Monument of Pope Leo XI, 1634-44, Marble, New St. Peter’s
The Meeting of Leo I and Attila, 1646-53, Marble, New St. Peter’s
St Mary Magdalene, 1629, Stucco, San Silvestro al Quirinale, Rome
Algardi with François DuQuesnoy, The Flagellation of Christ, ca. 1630, cast silver, silver gilt, lapis lazuli, agate, ebony, and agate, Chicago, Loyola Museum of Art, gift of Mr. and Mrs. Charles W. Engelhard, 1969-07