ALGARDI, ALESSANDRO

born 1595, Bologna, Papal States died June 10, 1654, Rome Meeting of Attila and Pope Leo, colossal marble relief by Alessandro Algardi, after Bernini, the most important Roman sculptor of the 17th century working in the Baroque style. Algardi was trained under Lodovico Carracci. After a short period of activity in Mantua (1622), he moved to Rome (1625), where he designed the stucco decorations in San Silvestro al Quirinale and gained some success as a restorer of classical sculptures. With the monument of Cardinal Millini (d. 1629) in Santa Maria del Popolo, the Frangipani monument in San Marcello al Corso, and the bust of Cardinal Laudivio Zacchia (Berlin), Algardi emerged as the principal rival of Bernini in the field of portrait sculpture. Lacking Bernini's dynamic vitality and penetrating characterization, Algardi's portraits were appreciated for their sobriety and surface realism. After the election of Pope Innocent X (1644), Algardi superseded Bernini in papal favour. Between this date and his death he produced some of his most celebrated works, among them the seated statue of the pope now in the Palazzo dei Conservatori (1645) and a colossal marble relief of the Meeting of Attila and Pope Leo in St. Peter's (164653), which influenced the development and popularization of illusionistic reliefs. At this time he also designed the Villa Doria Pamphili and a fountain in the Cortile di San Damaso of the Vatican. Algardi's style was less ebullient and pictorial than Bernini's, and, even in such typically Baroque works as the tomb of Pope Leo XI in St. Peter's (163452) and the high altar of San Paolo at Bologna (1641), the restraining influence of the antique is strongly felt.