Ercole Ferrata

Ercole Ferrata (1610 – 10 July 1686) was an Italian sculptor of the Roman Baroque.

A native of Pellio Inferiore, near Como, Ferrata initially apprenticed with Alessandro Algardi, and became one of his prime assistants. When his mentor died, Ferrata and another pupil, Domenico Guidi, 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 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 in 1689-1709. Under the leadership of Bernini, he sculpted the Angel with a Cross for the Ponte Sant'Angelo 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 and Giuliano Finelli in Naples. He also made the statue of Saint Catherine of Siena [1] for the Chigi Chapel in the Duomo di Siena. With Francesco Aprile he sculpted Sant'Anastasia in Santa Anastasia in Rome, another statue resembling Bernini's famous dying Beata Ludovica Albertoni.

...
Wikipedia