Baroque and Rococo
 


     

Baroque and Rococo Art Map
 

    
Francesco Mochi
   
Ercole Ferrata

Antonio Raggi

Giuliano Finelli

Orazio Marinali




see collection:


Alessandro Algardi


Filippo Parodi

 

Italian Sculpture in the 17th Century


During the late 16th and early 17th centuries, in the Rome of Pope Sixtus V and in Milan during the time of Cardinal Charles Borromeo, sculptors carefully observed principles laid down by the Council of Trent and adhered to the Mannerist tradition. The lessons learned from Michelangelo and the impetus towards strongly animated work led to the emergence of Baroque taste, which found expression in the style of the Lombard sculptor Stefano Maderno (c. 1576-1636). The beauty and emotive charge of the recumbent figure of Maderno's St Cecilia (1601) in Santa Cecilia in Trastevere, Rome, appeal to the onlooker with an immediacy that is both realistic and idealized, lifelike and theatrical. This synthesis of types and effects provided the pattern along which sculpture was to develop during the Baroque age. Francesco Mochi (1580-1654) also heralded the emergence of a new artistic language with his Angel of the Annunciation and Annunciate Virgin (1605-08). The polished smoothness of the marble surfaces and the audacity of the composition can be seen as the final, refined turning point of Mannerism and suggested new ideas. With his equestrian statue (1612-20) in memory of Ranuccio Farnese, which graces the Piazza Cavalli in the town of Piacenza, Mochi broke free once and for all from the legacy of his teacher, Giambologna, and the Renaissance and late Mannerist models. His ideas were later reworked by Gianlorenzo Bernini and in monumental statuary throughout Europe. Bernini was born in Naples and was the pupil of his father, the late Mannerist sculptor Pietro Bernini (1592-1629). He studied the work of Giambologna, and of the great 16th-century masters, as well as the sculptures and architecture of antiquity in Rome. Cardinal Scipione Borghese, the nephew of Pope Paul V. became Bernini's patron. He sculpted a series of marble statues for the Cardinal's Roman villa: Aeneas and Ancbises (1618-19), The Rape of Proserpine (1621-22), David (1623), and Apollo and Daphne (1622-24). These works encompass all the elements of 17th-century sculpture: dynamic poses; twisting bodies; expressive faces and gestures; a smooth and gleaming finish to the marble surfaces; virtuosity and mimetic skill; compositions conceived in the round and effective when viewed from any angle; and an emotional and spatial involvement with the viewer.
Bernini's connection with Maffeo Barberini, who became Pope Urban VIII in 1623, lasted for 20 years and afforded Bernini a position of unrivalled prestige and brought him the most sought-after commissions of the day. As early as 1624, the pope entrusted him with the task of creating the bronze baldacchino (a structure in the form of a canopy) to be placed under Michelangelo's dome in St Peter's as the focal point of the entire basilica. This was completed in 1633 with the help of several assistants, including the young Borromini, who arrived from Lombardy after gaining experience as a sculptor at Milan Cathedral. In 1629, following the death of Carlo Maderno, Bernini was appointed architect to St Peter's. He began to transform the decoration of the interior of the basilica, inserting niches containing sculptures in the four piers of the crossing under the dome, and designing the great church's furniture and furnishings, papal tombs, and the polychrome marble cladding of the nave. In addition to his work for the Vatican, Bernini also carried out private commissions, helped by assistants in his highly organized workshop. These included fountains such as the Triton Fountain in the Piazza Barberini, and portrait busts of, among others, Cardinal Scipione Borghese (1632) and his mistress Costanza Buonarelli (c.1635). Bernini's ability to exploit the effects of light gave even his court portrait busts - such as that of Louis XIV, sculpted in 1665, and now in the Musee du Louvre, Paris - a vitality that was to inspire 18th-century portrait sculptors. After the death of his protector and the election of Innocent X Pamphili, Bernini was passed over in favour of Alessandro Algardi (1595-1654). He had trained in the Carracci academy in Bologna and had developed an explicitly classical manner, consolidated during his time at the court of the Duke of Mantua (1622) and in Venice.

Algardi settled in Rome in 1625. where, until his promotion to Berninii's post, he worked on the restoration and completion of ancient statues belonging to Cardinal Ludovisi and made contact with fellow Emilian artists working in the city, as well as the French artist Nicolas Poussin (1594-1665). He produced monuments of a subtle, classieal dignity for the pope, which were often enlivened by dramatic realism, as is demonstrated by a marble altarpiece for St Peter's, Pope Leo I driving Attila from Rome (1646-53)-His later work, such as the bronze statue of Innocent X (1649-50). made concessions to the Baroque and had a certain affinity with Bernini's style. This is most evident in his portrait sculpture, for example, the bust of Olimpia Pamphili (c.l645). During Innocent's papacy, Bernini worked mainly on private commissions, including the Cornaro Chapel in Santa Maria della Vittoria (1644—52). However, his most spectacular fountain, that of the Four Rivers in the Piazza Navona (1648-51), was a papal commission for Innocent X. His works had a profound effect on the appearance and character of Rome and were pivotal for Italian and European Baroque artistic culture. The accession of Alexander VII Chigi in 1655 returned Bernini to St Peter's in triumph, with the task of designing the piazza in front of the basilica to provide a prelude to the pilgrimage path through the church's interior, the symbolic significance of which Bernini enhanced with works of art. These culminated in the vision, through the baldacchino under the dome, of the Cathedra Petri (1657-66). a setting for the papal throne that occupied the huge apse at the east end of the basilica. This housed the wooden throne believed to have been used by St Peter himself, and Bernini's grandiose treatment by which it is elevated - supported by-four huge bronze figures of the Doctors of the Church -ensures its potency as a symbol of papal supremacy. Bernini's last commissions included Angels with the Symbols of the Passion for the Sant'Angelo bridge, largely sculpted by his pupils to his designs, and The Blessed Ludovica Albertoni (1671-74) in the Altieri chapel in San Francesco a Ripa. Shown in her death throes, the subject is framed by two shallow wings leading from the chapel and lit by rays of light. This theatrical display strengthens the emotional impact of the work despite the austere, contemplative treatment that reflects the deep religiosity of Bernini's last years. Many of his pupils continued to express his artistic language - including Ercole Ferrata (1610-86), Antonio Raggi, (1624-86), Paolo Naldini (1619-91), and Cosimo Fancelli (1620-88) - though after the deaths of Ferrata and Raggi, Roman sculpture and stucco decoration shook off the comparative restraint of the Baroque era and embarked upon the rich ornamentation of fullblown Rococo. The exuberant artistry of Bernini and Cortona and Borromini's flights of imagination were countered by artists who counselled restraint, balance, and measured control; in short, a reaffirmation of classical values. Like Algardi, the Flemish sculptor Francois Duquesnoy (1597-l643) was in the vanguard of this movement; he left Brussels for Rome, arriving in 1618. A great friend of Poussin, he too was influenced by Titian's Bacchanal (1518-23), clearly discernible in his creations with putti (Sacred Love and Profane Love) which were avidly collected. He worked with Bernini on the baldacchino in St Peter's, but his most typical work is the statue of St Susanna, in which the dignity of the figure is matched by its subtle grace. Neapolitan realism also played an important part in 17th-century sculpture, represented by the work of the Tuscan sculptors Pietro Bernini, Giuliano Finelli (1601-57), and Andrea Bolgi (1605-56). Cosimo Fanzago (1591-1678) from Bergamo was the most outstanding of the Neapolitan sculptors and was also a talented architect who brought the Lombard style and Bernini's influence to southern Italy.
His links with Caravaggism led him and other sculptors active in the mid-17th century to adopt a generally realistic and naturalistic approach, though often tinged with a certain austerity and drama, reminiscent of the Spainish painter Francisco Zurbaran's paintings. In Genoa, the French sculptor Pierre Puget (1620-94) blended local traditional style with those of Bernini and Pietro da Cortona, creating scenes in relief carving of great delicacy. Filippo Parodi (1630-1702), a Genoese sculptor, had gained experience in Rome before going to Venice; his sculptural creations show the influence of Bernini, as does the work of Alessandro Vittoria (1525-1608). Venice also gave Flemish sculptor Justus Le Court (1627-73) the opportunity to show his inspiration from Rubens and Bernini in an original and individual group for the high altar of Santa Maria della Salute, the altarpiece for which was sculpted by Orazio Marinali (1643-1720), one of the best exponents of the Venetian style. Marinali was receptive to the new decorative style that "was to become popular in the 18th century, and was in charge of a successful workshop in Vicenza where his brothers Angelo and Francesco also worked. Eventually, Bernini's influence reached northern Italy, inspiring a veritable forest of statues for Milan Cathedral, notably those by Dionigi Bussola (1612-87) whose traditional, popular realism was influenced by the Baroque style. Giuseppe Mazzuoli (1644-1725), a pupil of Bernini, was active in Siena and throughout Tuscany, while Giovan Battista Foggini (1652-1725) was working in Florence in Baroque style, as can be seen in his elaborate altarpiece (1685-90) in Santa Maria del Carmine.

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Francesco Mochi

(b Montevarchi, 29 July 1580; d Rome, 6 Feb 1654).

Italian sculptor. The son of Lorenzo Mochi, not of Orazio Mochi as was previously believed, he studied in Florence with Santi di Tito. Around 1600 he went to Rome to continue his training with the Venetian sculptor Camillo Mariani, whom he may have assisted on his masterpiece, the eight colossal statues of saints for S Bernardo alle Terme (e.g. St Catherine of Alexandria, c. 1600). At this time Mochi attracted the attention of Duke Mario Farnese (d 1619), who secured for him his first independent commission, the large marble Annunciation group for Orvieto Cathedral (c. 1603–9; Orvieto, Mus. Opera Duomo). Originally placed on opposite sides of the high altar, the two free-standing figures of the Virgin and the Angel Gabriel electrify the broad space between them by their complementary gestures and powerful emotions. The treatment of the Annunciation as an unfolding drama broke decisively with earlier sculptural traditions, which focused on self-contained, individual figures. Rudolf Wittkower has likened its vitality to a ‘fanfare raising sculpture from its sleep’. Often considered the first truly Baroque sculpture of the 17th century, Mochi’s innovations compare to those of the early Roman Baroque painters Caravaggio and Annibale Carracci.

   

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