Baroque and Rococo

 

Baroque and Rococo Art Map


 

Alessandro Algardi




 

Alessandro Algardi

(b Bologna, 31 July 1598; d Rome, 10 June 1654).

Italian sculptor, architect and draughtsman. He was, with Gianlorenzo Bernini, the most important sculptor active in Rome in the middle years of the 17th century. After the early death of François Duquesnoy in 1643, Algardi’s work came to represent the classicizing stylistic antithesis to the High Baroque sculpture of Bernini, and the two artists were perceived by their contemporaries as equals and rivals. During Algardi’s first years in Rome, Bernini was the principal sculptor in demand at the court of Urban VIII, and Algardi had to be content with relatively modest commissions given to him by patrons with connections to his native Bologna. It was only during the papacy of Innocent X (1644–55) that he came to true artistic prominence, revealing himself to be one of his century’s greatest relief and portrait sculptors. At a time when few sculptors drew with any skill, Algardi was an accomplished draughtsman, making drawings for his sculptural projects and also original works for engravers. In addition he worked as an architect, though the exact extent of his involvement with the design of many of the buildings with which his name has been associated is unclear.