Andrea Bolgi

Infobox Artist
bgcolour = #6495ED
name = Andrea Bolgi
imagesize = 150px
caption =
birthname =
birthdate = 1605
location = Carrara
deathdate = death year and age|1656|1605
deathplace = Naples
nationality =
field = Sculpture
training = Florence
movement = Baroque
works = "St Helena", St. Peter's Basilica
patrons = Pope Urban VIII
Pope Innocent X
Giovan Camillo Cacace
influenced by = Gian Lorenzo Bernini
influenced =
awards =

Andrea Bolgi (1605 — 1656) was an Italian sculptor responsible for several statues in St. Peter's Basilica, Rome. Towards the end of his life he moved to Naples, where he sculpted portrait busts.

Early life

Bolgi was born in the marble-working city of Carrara. [His early biography is in Lione Pascoli, "Vite de' pittori, scultori ed architetti..." (1736) vol. ii, 436-39, and in G.-B. Passeri, "Vite de' pittori, scultori ed architetti..." (1772), Jacob Hess, ed. (1934).] His training was in Florence, which was a conservative center in the seventeenth century.

In 1626 he went to Rome, where he quickly entered the circle of sculptors who were employed on occasion by Gian Lorenzo Bernini [Rudolph Wittkower, "Bernini", "passim".] and were influenced by Bernini's Baroque style. From 1626, before the expansion of Bernini's "atélier", Bolgi supplanted Giuliano Finelli (1601-1653) as the "only man of consequence" in Bernini's studio, Rudolph Wittkower observed, in attributing to Bolgi the "Bust of Thomas Baker" begun by Bernini, now at the Victoria and Albert Museum. [R. Wittkower, "Bernini Studies - II: The 'Bust of Mr Baker'", "The Burlington Magazine" 95 No. 598 (January 1953:18-22).]

t. Peter's

Bolgi created his "Saint Helena" (1629-1639, "illustrated") for one of the niches at the crossing of St. Peter's Basilica, one of the choice commissions of his generation, for which he had doubtless been promoted by Bernini in preference to Finelli. [Wittkower 1953:21.] Bolgi laboured for a decade on the figure that has epitomised his career, in some degree to his detraction: Wittkower remarked on its "classicizing coolness, its boring precision", [Wittkower, "Art and Architecture... (1973:306)] and its position directly across from Bernini's masterful "Saint Longinus" invited unflattering comparisons. [Robert Enggass, "New Attributions in St. Peter's: The Spandrel Figures in the Nave" "The Art Bulletin" 60.1 (March 1978:96-108) p. 100, quotes Roberto Cicognara's negative assessment in 1824.]

Between 1647 and 1650 all the spandrel spaces above the arches of the nave of St. Peters were filled with stucco figures. Their execution was divided among sculptors with connections with Bernini, who seems to have exercised loose control over the compositions. In the first bay on the left, the spandrel figures of "The Church" and "Divine Justice" were given to Bolgi, who was paid for them in September 1647 and in March 1648. Pope Innocent X was dissatisfied with Bolgi's figures, which were taken down, adjusted to everyone's satisfaction, and reinstalled [Enggass 1978:96-108) pp 99-101.]

Naples

After 1650 Bolgi moved to Naples, where he was noted for his portrait busts. [Valentino Martinelli, "Andrea Bolgi a Roma e a Napoli", "Commentari" 10 (1959:137-58); Antonia Nava Cellini, "Ritratti di Andrea Bolgi", "Paragone" 13 (1962:24-40.] He was called to Naples by Giovan Camillo Cacace, a lawyer and member of the "Accademia degli Oziosi". For this client Bolgi created two sculptures in the Cacace Family chapel in San Lorenzo Maggiore. The kneeling figures are Giuseppe and Vittoria De Caro. Iconographically they derive from the scheme of the Fabrizio Pignatelli statue by Naccherino. The movement and whirling of the cloths is a clear step forward in the development of the baroque language, until then not known to the Neapolitan public. Beneath the sculptures are busts of Francesco De Caro and Giovan Camillo Cacace. The latter is renowned for its vivid portrayal of the client.

Main works

*1629-1639: Statue of Saint Helena in the Basilica of Saint Peter, Rome
*1634-1648: Other small works in Saint Peter's, Rome
**1637: "Bust of Laura Frangipani", signed and dated (San Francesco a Ripa, Rome)
** Half-length figures in the Raimondi Chapel (San Pietro in Montorio)
*1653: Statues and busts in the Cacace chapel, signed and dated, in San Lorenzo Maggiore, Naples
*1653: Candelabra in bronze, in the church of the H. Apostles, Naples

Notes

External links

* [http://www.romeartlover.it/Andrea.html Roberto Piperno, "The statues in the octagon of St. Peter's"] Brief survey of the commission overseen by Bernini.
* [http://www.saintpetersbasilica.org/Statues/StHelen/StHelen.htm St Helen's statue in St Peter's]

Persondata
NAME=Bolgi, Andrea
ALTERNATIVE NAMES=
SHORT DESCRIPTION=Baroque sculptor
DATE OF BIRTH=1605
PLACE OF BIRTH=Carrara
DATE OF DEATH=1656
PLACE OF DEATH=Naples