Giacomo Antonio Fancelli or Iacopo Antonio Fancelli (1606–1674) was an Italian sculptor in stone and stucco of the

Baroque era 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 th ...

. Fancelli was born in Rome, the son of a stonecutter from Settignano. He was the brother of

Cosimo Fancelli Cosimo Fancelli (c.1620 – 3 April 1688) was an Italian sculptor of the Baroque period, active mainly in Rome. He worked on a number of commissions with Pietro da Cortona from 1647 until Cortona's death in 1669. Gian Lorenzo Berni ...

and a pupil of Bernini. In 1647-48 he created with his brother the stucco figures of "Clemenza" and "Contemplazione" on the pendentives of the second arch to the right of the central nave of St. Peter's Basilica and collaborated on the ornamentation of the pillars. Notable among his works are ''Nile'' (hiding his face, since the

River Nile The Nile, , Bohairic , lg, Kiira , Nobiin: Áman Dawū is a major north-flowing river in northeastern Africa. It flows into the Mediterranean Sea. The Nile is the longest river in Africa and has historically been considered the longest rive ...

's source had not yet been discovered at that date) on Bernini's

Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi (''Fountain of the Four Rivers'') is a fountain in the Piazza Navona in Rome, Italy. It was designed in 1651 by Gian Lorenzo Bernini for Pope Innocent X whose family palace, the Palazzo Pamphili, faced onto the piazza a ...

(completed in 1651) and '' St Francis'' (c.1647) in the church of

San Bernardo alle Terme San Bernardo alle Terme is a Baroque style, Roman Catholic abbatial church located on Via Torino 94 in the rione Castro Pretorio of Rome, Italy. History The church was built on the remains of a circular tower, which marked a corner in the so ...

on the Quirinal in

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

. In 1655, Carlo Rainaldi commissioned him to sculpt two angels for the facade of

Sant'Andrea della Valle Sant'Andrea della Valle is a minor basilica in the rione of Sant'Eustachio of the city of Rome, Italy. The basilica is the general seat for the religious order of the Theatines. It is located at Piazza Vidoni, at the intersection of Corso Vittor ...

but only one was completed, allegedly because Fancelli stored off the job after Pope Alexander VII criticized the work, saying the pope could do the other himself. He repaired the Medici statue of Cupid and Psyche found in 1666 on the Caelian Hill, supplying missing pieces to the base, part of Cupid’s legs, Psyche’s feet and right wing. The statue is now in the Uffizi."Cupid and Psyche", Friends of the Uffizi Gallery
/ref> The stucco decoration in

San Carlo al Corso Sant'Ambrogio e Carlo al Corso (usually known simply as ''San Carlo al Corso'') is a basilica church in Rome, Italy, facing onto the central part of the Via del Corso. The apse of the church faces across the street, the Mausoleum of Augustus o ...

was by Giacomo and his brother Cosimo.

References

1619 births 1671 deaths 17th-century Italian sculptors Italian male sculptors Italian Baroque sculptors Pupils of Gian Lorenzo Bernini {{Italy-sculptor-stub