Monumental approach

Spectator, The, Mar 20, 1999 by Boucher, Bruce

Exhibitions

Algardi: I'altra faccia del barocco (Palazzo delle Esposizioni, Rome, till 30 April)

Monumental approach

Bruce Boucher

Athough Alessandro Algardi is one of the greatest Italian sculptors, there has never been an exhibition of his work before now. The reasons are not hard to fathom, for most of Algardi's creations are either monumental or lie immobilised in churches and public buildings; even his silver sculpture and decorative works have long since been melted down or consumed by time. Yet Algardi exerted a profound influence on European sculpture and briefly represented the only serious threat to Bernini's dominance over Baroque Rome. Now the exhibition of Algardi, the Other Face of the Baroque triumphantly vindicates claims that the sculptor may have been less flamboyant but far subtler than his great rival.

Algardi has traditionally been represented as a 'classical' alternative to the fullblown Baroque of Bernini, but such polarities distort the fluidity of 17th-century Roman practice. Certainly, Algardi evolved a more lyrical style than Bernini, but he also explored genres for which his rival showed little interest, especially relief sculpture and small bronzes. Moreover, Algardi became one of the greatest portrait sculptors of any age, with an uncanny ability to bring the dead back to life. While Bernini's portraits tended to be bravura performances, Algardi's remained more nuanced, conveying similar passages of virtuosity albeit within a narrower compass.

To display Algardi's achievements, the exhibition inevitably relies upon small-scale works and models, running chronologically from Algardi's arrival in Rome in 1626 until his death in 1654. There are some exceptions, particularly in terms of Algardi's relationship to classical sculpture. His early success came as a restorer of antiquities, and one of his first works in this vein is on display. It is a youthful Prometheus with upturned torch which Algardi fashioned from an unpromising kernel of a Greek torso; the resulting creation is vaguely classical in inspiration but far more expansive in gesture and expression. It was an approach to the antique which remained with Algardi for the rest of his career.

Among the early works is a magnificent clay model for the relief on the tomb of Pope Leo XI, one of Algardi's first major commissions of the 1630s. Illustrating two scenes from the life of the pope, the relief has the freshness and spontaneity of a drawing, with each figure laid out in Algardi's fluent, calligraphic style. It anticipates so many features of Algardi's later style that it seems like a blueprint for his career. One can now compare this early work with a series of models for Algardi's greatest masterpiece, the colossal marble relief of the encounter between Pope Leo I and Attila. A small model from Florence reveals the sculptor's first ideas when he seems literally to sketch in the clay; this is juxtaposed with an individual study of the fleeing figure of Attila and the final composition, here represented in an exquisite bronze copy made in Algardi's studio as an object of private devotion. With Leo and Attila, Algardi established a new type of relief sculpture, brilliantly exploiting pictorial techniques in ways never dreamt of by classical sculptors; he also started a vogue for altarpieces in relief which extended his influence far beyond Rome and his own life time.

Algardi is best known outside Rome for his portrait busts, and several have been gathered here from collections across Europe. They include the marvellous Monsignor Cern from Manchester and the terracotta model of Algardi's friend, Gaspare Mola, from St Petersburg. Both show that subtle treatment of hair and facial structure which became hallmarks of the sculptor's style. In addition to Algardi's forays into large-scale sculpture, he also possessed a decided gift for the decorative arts. This side of his career is brought to the fore through a table made for an aristocratic Roman family. It consists of an imposing slab of jasper, for which the sculptor furnished gilt bronze terms and swags, thus creating a gorgeous ensemble of precious materials.

The most revealing section of the exhibition comes with an impressive series of drawings illustrating the range of tasks undertaken by the artist. They comprise designs for metalwork, vases, fountains and even reliefs for a papal ship. They reveal a range and fecundity of invention scarcely matched by contemporaries. Here, too, the contrast with Bernini is instructive because Algardi's sheets display a love of finish and tonalities stemming from his early training with the Bolognese painter Ludovico Carracci. No one could leave Algardi without an enhanced opinion of this most reticent of artists and of the alternative 'face' he created for the Roman Baroque.