Lot Essay
Of the present relief Dr. Montagu has written, "This is a finely worked bronze, with heavy punching on the background and lighter punching on the outside of the Virgin's cloak; the ground is engraved, as is the fringe of the shroud" . . . "the modelling leaves no doubt that the plaque is the work of Algardi". She dates the composition to the middle of the 1630s.
This rare composition is connected with Algardi not only by style but also by a documented payment from Cardinal Francesco Barberini (25 August 1657) to a certain Pirro Bartoli for polishing, gilding, setting in an elaborate mount, and framing a 'Quadro ad ottangolo con una Pietà di rame dell'Algardi per nostro servitio' (Montagu, II, p. 342, cat. no 31.L.C.2). That Algardi did indeed design such a composition is corroborated by the entry for a plaster mould that was in the posthumous inventory of the sculptor Ercole Ferrata 'Cavo di una Pietà del Langardi (sic)'. The original gilt-bronze example was cast without a bronze background and was laid down on black crystal on slate (now lost). It was cast posthumously, for Algardi had died in 1654.
The present superb bronze is the best and most authentic of three known versions. It is far superior in quality to (and different in some details from) one that was formerly in Schloss Ottenstein, Czechoslavakia (now known only from a photograph, see Montagu, fig. 228, p. 197). There, for example, the stem of the cross behind the Virgin's outstretched right hand, has been misinterpreted by the bronze-chaser and illogically transformed into a wall of ashlar masonry; the shroud is less richly modelled, and a number of plants are introduced into the foreground. That version was taken to Schloss Ottenstein by Graf Leopold Joseph (1653-1706) who had been ambassador to the Vatican: in view of the fact that he was born only a year before Algardi died (1654) it is likely that it was a posthumous cast.
Another example in Palazzo Pallavicini-Rospigliosi, Rome (Montagu, II, p. 343, 31.c.3) en suite with other Algardi reliefs, is judged by Dr. Montagu to be a Florentine, late 17th century cast.
This rare composition is connected with Algardi not only by style but also by a documented payment from Cardinal Francesco Barberini (25 August 1657) to a certain Pirro Bartoli for polishing, gilding, setting in an elaborate mount, and framing a 'Quadro ad ottangolo con una Pietà di rame dell'Algardi per nostro servitio' (Montagu, II, p. 342, cat. no 31.L.C.2). That Algardi did indeed design such a composition is corroborated by the entry for a plaster mould that was in the posthumous inventory of the sculptor Ercole Ferrata 'Cavo di una Pietà del Langardi (sic)'. The original gilt-bronze example was cast without a bronze background and was laid down on black crystal on slate (now lost). It was cast posthumously, for Algardi had died in 1654.
The present superb bronze is the best and most authentic of three known versions. It is far superior in quality to (and different in some details from) one that was formerly in Schloss Ottenstein, Czechoslavakia (now known only from a photograph, see Montagu, fig. 228, p. 197). There, for example, the stem of the cross behind the Virgin's outstretched right hand, has been misinterpreted by the bronze-chaser and illogically transformed into a wall of ashlar masonry; the shroud is less richly modelled, and a number of plants are introduced into the foreground. That version was taken to Schloss Ottenstein by Graf Leopold Joseph (1653-1706) who had been ambassador to the Vatican: in view of the fact that he was born only a year before Algardi died (1654) it is likely that it was a posthumous cast.
Another example in Palazzo Pallavicini-Rospigliosi, Rome (Montagu, II, p. 343, 31.c.3) en suite with other Algardi reliefs, is judged by Dr. Montagu to be a Florentine, late 17th century cast.