Ercole Ferrata ( 1610 – 10 July 1686) was an Italian

sculptor Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...

of the Roman

Baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...

Biography

A native of Pellio Inferiore, near

Como Como (, ; lmo, Còmm, label= Comasco , or ; lat, Novum Comum; rm, Com; french: Côme) is a city and ''comune'' in Lombardy, Italy. It is the administrative capital of the Province of Como. Its proximity to Lake Como and to the Alps h ...

, Ferrata initially apprenticed with

Alessandro Algardi Alessandro Algardi (July 31, 1598 – June 10, 1654) was an Italian high- Baroque sculptor active almost exclusively in Rome, where for the latter decades of his life, he was, along with Francesco Borromini and Pietro da Cortona, one of the maj ...

, and became one of his prime assistants. When his mentor died, Ferrata and another pupil,

Domenico Guidi Domenico Guidi (1625 – 28 March 1701) was a prominent Italian Baroque sculptor. Born in Carrara, Guidi followed his uncle, Giuliano Finelli, a prominent sculptor noted for his feud with Bernini, to Naples. When he fled Naples in 1647 dur ...

, completed Algardi's unfinished ''Vision of Saint Nicholas'' at San Nicola da Tolentino; ultimately, the innovative arrangement of two independent but interactive groups derives from the original design by Algardi. While Ferrata's initial work still owes much to Algardi, Ferrata distanced himself from the classical serenity found in the work of his mentor and Francois Duquesnoy, and moved towards the expressive emotionalism of Gian Lorenzo Bernini. He is best known for two works in

Sant'Agnese in Agone Sant'Agnese in Agone (also called Sant'Agnese in Piazza Navona) is a 17th-century Baroque church in Rome, Italy. It faces onto the Piazza Navona, one of the main urban spaces in the historic centre of the city and the site where the Early Christi ...

in Rome, the Bernini-inspired ''The Death of St. Agnes'' (1660–64) as well as the marble relief ''Stoning of St Emerenziana'' (1660). The latter has a restraint influenced by his mentor, Algardi, although the superior half was completed by one of his pupils,

Leonardo Retti Leonardo is a masculine given name, the Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese equivalent of the English, German, and Dutch name, Leonard. People Notable people with the name include: * Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519), Italian Renaissance scientist ...

in 1689-1709. Under the leadership of Bernini, he sculpted the ''Angel with a Cross'' for the

Ponte Sant'Angelo Ponte Sant'Angelo, originally the Aelian Bridge or Pons Aelius, is a Roman bridge in Rome, Italy, completed in 134 AD by Roman Emperor Hadrian (Publius Aelius Hadrianus), to span the Tiber from the city centre to his newly constructed maus ...

and reportedly completed the elephant statue holding the obelisk in front of Santa Maria sopra Minerva. Early in his career he worked with

Cosimo Fanzago Cosimo Fanzago (Clusone, 12 October 1591 – Napoli, 13 February 1678) was an Italian architect and sculptor, generally considered the greatest such artist of the Baroque period in Naples, Italy. Facade Santa Maria della Sapienza. Biography Fanz ...

and

Giuliano Finelli Giuliano Finelli (1601–1653) was an Italian Baroque sculptor who emerged from the workshop of Bernini. He was born in Carrara to a family of marble masons in a town associated with mining of the stone, and he initially trained with Michelangel ...

Naples Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...

. He also made the statue of ''Saint Catherine of Siena'

for the Chigi Chapel in the

Duomo di Siena Siena Cathedral ( it, Duomo di Siena) is a medieval church in Siena, Italy, dedicated from its earliest days as a Roman Catholic Marian church, and now dedicated to the Assumption of Mary. It was the episcopal seat of the Diocese of Siena, and ...

. With Francesco Aprile he sculpted ''Sant'Anastasia'' in Santa Anastasia in Rome, another statue resembling Bernini's famous dying

Beata Ludovica Albertoni ''Blessed Ludovica Albertoni'' ( it, Beata Ludovica Albertoni) is a funerary monument by the Italian Baroque artist Gian Lorenzo Bernini.Wittkower 1955, p. 294. The Trastevere sculpture is located in the specially designed Altieri Chapel in the ...

. In 1673, when Cosimo III, Grand Duke of Tuscany established an informal academy in the

Villa Madama Villa Madama is a Renaissance-style rural palace (villa) located on Via di Villa Madama #250 in Rome, Italy. Located west of the city center and a few miles north of the Vatican, and just south of the Foro Olimpico Stadium. Even though incomplete, ...

in Rome, to give promising students an opportunity to study from antiquities, he placed it under the direction of Ercole Ferrata and the painter

Ciro Ferri Ciro Ferri (1634 – 13 September 1689) was an Italian Baroque sculptor and painter, the chief pupil and successor of Pietro da Cortona. He was born in Rome, where he began working under Cortona and with a team of artists in the extensive fresc ...

, who had been collaborating with

Pietro da Cortona Pietro da Cortona (; 1 November 1596 or 159716 May 1669) was an Italian Baroque painter and architect. Along with his contemporaries and rivals Gian Lorenzo Bernini and Francesco Borromini, he was one of the key figures in the emergence of Roman ...

in frescoes for

Palazzo Pitti The Palazzo Pitti (), in English sometimes called the Pitti Palace, is a vast, mainly Renaissance, palace in Florence, Italy. It is situated on the south side of the River Arno, a short distance from the Ponte Vecchio. The core of the present ...

. In 1677, when the Grand Duke arranged to get his antique sculptures released from Rome, Ercole Ferrata was recalled to Florence to unpack and see to them. "A rather colourless, plodding sculptor whose gifts were best displayed in executing or imitating the conceptions of more imaginative artists, Ferrata nonetheless enjoyed a deserved reputation as an authority on the antique". When a headless torso had been discovered a few years previously, during the opening of a new road to the

Santa Maria in Vallicella Santa Maria in Vallicella, also called Chiesa Nuova, is a church in Rome, Italy, which today faces onto the main thoroughfare of the Corso Vittorio Emanuele and the corner of Via della Chiesa Nuova. It is the principal church of the Oratorians, ...

, the order of the Oratorians who owned the torso sent it to be "restored" by Ercole Ferrata, who essentially created the ''Faun Carrying a Kid'', which after purchase by Queen Christina, was sold in 1724 to

Philip V of Spain Philip V ( es, Felipe; 19 December 1683 – 9 July 1746) was King of Spain from 1 November 1700 to 14 January 1724, and again from 6 September 1724 to his death in 1746. His total reign of 45 years is the longest in the history of the Spanish mon ...

. Ferrata is less known for the documented fact that he provided the elegant arms for the

Venus de' Medici The Venus de' Medici or Medici Venus is a tall Hellenistic marble sculpture depicting the Greek goddess of love Aphrodite. It is a 1st-century BC marble copy, perhaps made in Athens, of a bronze original Greek sculpture, following the type of th ...

. "He showed remarkable flair in making just the kind of attractive additions to a mutilated statue which most appealed to connoisseurs", according to Francis Haskell and Nicholas Penny. He worked along with Bernini creating a much admired fountain for the gardens palace of the Count of Ericeira in Lisbon - unfortunately lost along with the palace, great library and art collection due to the great Lisbon earthquake of 1755. Of the generation after Bernini and Algardi, which included

and

Antonio Raggi Antonio Raggi (1624–1686), also called ''Antonio Lombardo'', was a sculptor of the Roman Baroque, originating from today's Ticino. Biography He was born in Vico Morcote on the Lake Lugano. His mentor in Rome for nearly three decades was Gian ...

, Ferrata led the most successful studio for training sculptors. Ferrata's pupils included the Florentine Foggini as well as Caffà, who acted as Ercole's studio assistant. In addition he trained Leonardo Retti, Francesco Aprile,

Michele Maglia Michele (), is an Italian male given name, akin to the English male name Michael. Michele (pronounced ), is also an English female given name that is derived from the French Michèle. It is a variant spelling of the more common (and identically ...

, Filippo Carcani, Giuseppe Mazzuoli,

Lorenzo Ottoni Lorenzo Ottoni, also known as Lorenzo Ottone or Lorenzone, (1658–1736) was an Italian sculptor who was commissioned by the papacy and various noble houses of Renaissance Italy. Life Ottoni was born in Rome in 1658 and spent the majority of h ...

, and Giuseppe Rusnati. Among his last pupils was

Camillo Rusconi Camillo Rusconi (14 July 1658 – 8 December 1728) was an Italian sculptor of the late Baroque in Rome. His style displays both features of Baroque and Neoclassicism. He has been described as a Carlo Maratta in marble. Biography Initially trained ...

, who moved to Rome in 1686 to work briefly in Ferrata's studio. Ercole Ferrata died at Rome in 1686.

Collections

Ferrata's work is held in the permanent collections of many museums worldwide, including the Museo d'Arte Sacra di Scaria, the Birmingham Museums, the

Wignacourt Museum Wignacourt is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: House of Vignacourt *Adrien de Wignacourt (1618–1697), Grand Master of the Knights Hospitaller from 1690 to 1697 *Alof de Wignacourt (1547–1622), Grand Master of the Knights Ho ...

, the

Victoria and Albert Museum The Victoria and Albert Museum (often abbreviated as the V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.27 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and nam ...

, the

University of Michigan Museum of Art The University of Michigan Museum of Art in Ann Arbor, Michigan with is one of the largest university art museums in the United States. Built as a war memorial in 1909 for the university's fallen alumni from the Civil War, Alumni Memorial Hall ori ...

, the

Walters Art Museum The Walters Art Museum, located in Mount Vernon-Belvedere, Baltimore, Maryland, United States, is a public art museum founded and opened in 1934. It holds collections established during the mid-19th century. The museum's collection was amassed ...

, and the

Princeton University Art Museum The Princeton University Art Museum (PUAM) is the Princeton University gallery of art, located in Princeton, New Jersey. With a collecting history that began in 1755, the museum was formally established in 1882, and now houses over 113,000 works o ...

Gallery

SantAgneseAgone-SAgneseFiamme-SteO153.jpg, ''Martyrdom of St. Agnes on a pyre'' (Sant Agnese Agone, Rome) File:Sant'agnese in agone, interno 06.JPG, ''The Martyrdom of Saint Emerentiana'' (Sant Agnese Agone, Rome) Cappella chigi (siena), Ercole Ferrata, santa caterina da siena 02.JPG, St Catherine of Siena (Chigi Chapel, Siena) Ercole Ferrata GCorno.jpg, Funereal Monument to Giulio Del Corno (

Gesù e Maria Gesù or Gesu may refer to: * Church of the Gesù, the mother church of the Society of Jesus ** Church of the Gesù (disambiguation), other churches with the name * Jesus in the Italian language * Gesù Nuovo Gesù Nuovo ( it, New Jesus) is the ...

, Rome) Throwing blessings (29790747562).jpg, ''Fountain of Neptune'' (

Palace of Queluz The Palace of Queluz ( pt, Palácio de Queluz, ) is an 18th-century palace located at Queluz, a city of the Sintra Municipality, in the Lisbon District, on the Portuguese Riviera. One of the last great Rococo buildings to be designed in Europ ...

, Portugal)

Notes

References

* *

External links

Page at Web Gallery of Art
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ferrata, Ercole Italian Baroque sculptors 17th-century Italian sculptors Italian male sculptors People from the Province of Como 1610 births 1686 deaths Catholic sculptors Pupils of Gian Lorenzo Bernini