ALGARDI, Alessandro, one of the most celebrated sculptors of Italy, was born at Bologna in 1602, and died in 1654. 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 maintenance from these restorations and the commissions of goldsmiths and jewellers. In 1640 he executed for Pietro Buoncompagni his first work in marble, a colossal statue of San Filippo Neri, 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 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 of Panfili, to the papal throne in 1644. He was employed by Camillo Panfili, nephew of the pontiff, to design 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 ...