Algardi, Alessandro (älās-sän`drō älgär`dē), 1595–1654, Italian sculptor and designer, b. Bologna. He studied under Lodovico Carracci. In Rome his friend Domenichino obtained his first commissions for him, the Magdalene and St. John statues for San Silvestro al Quirinale. When Bernini temporarily fell from favor, Algardi replaced him c.1644 as the most important sculptor in Rome under Pope Innocent X and received numerous commissions, including some from Spain. Although greatly influenced by Bernini, he retained the classical inclination of the Bolognese in his work, lacking Bernini's emotional vitality. An example of Algardi's work in relief is The Meeting of Leo and Attila (St. Peter's). A few prints in the style of Agostino Carracci are attributed to Algardi.

Algardi, Alessandro

“Meeting of Attila and Pope Leo,” colossal marble relief by Alessandro Algardi, …

(credit: Alinari—Anderson from Art Resource/EB Inc.)

(born 1595, Bologna, Papal States—died June 10, 1654, Rome) Italian sculptor. He trained in Bologna under the Carracci family and in 1625 moved to Rome, where he designed the stucco decorations in San Silvestro al Quirinale. He later became the most outstanding Baroque sculptor in Rome after Gian Lorenzo Bernini. He was a prolific sculptor of portrait busts, and his colossal marble relief of the Meeting of Attila and Pope Leo (1646–53) in St. Peter's Basilica influenced the development and popularity of illusionistic reliefs. His work as a restorer of antique statuary brought him some notoriety.