RELATED LITERATURE

E. Riccòmini, Ordine e vaghezza: scultura in Emilia nell' età barocca, Bologna, 1972, pp.83-4, no. 74.

J. Montagu, Algardi, vol. I, New Haven and London, 1985.

Gabriele Brunelli (1615-1682) became a pupil of Algardi when he arrived in Rome in 1637. He worked on a variety of projects, as Oretti wrote  "...statue, bassi rillievi, depositi, bagni pubblici, e pubbliche fontane, con figure gigantesche, ben messe e ridotte a singolare perfettione" [statues, bas reliefs,"depositi", public baths and fountains, with gargantuan figures,🐬 well placed and pared down to singular perfection].

In Bologna, Brunelli monopolized the majority of important sculpture commissions such as the Memorial to Pope Gregory XV in San Pietro, a statue in the Palazzo Pietramellara and further works in the Palazzo Davia-Bargellini and the Palazzo Fantuzzi. He had a popular workshop in which he taught burgeoning sculptors like Giuseppe Maria Mazza. His facility with marble also afforded him fame outside of his native city; he produced sculpture for the Estense court ꦫin the Palazzo Ducale, Modena and the Certosa in Naples.

While marble was a mainstay, Brunelli also worked in stucco and terracotta. In 1674, he exectued the decoration for the Cappella del Crocefisso in Santa Maria di Galleria in Bologna. This work included decoration for the grand portal and two large sculptures, in stucco, of the Madonna Addolorata (fig. 1) and Saint John the Evangelist which were placed in the niches on the sides of the chapel. The present pair of terracottas appear to be bozzetti for the stucco statues in Bologna. The design of the drapery, including the large swathes across the bodies, the broad folds combined with the smaller, almost agitated treatment are identical. As Montagu notes (op.cit., p. 222), both stucco figures "recall Algardi's sense of volume and rhythmic grace". The extreme popularity of this Chapel and its central crucifix, as noted in Riccòmini, may lead to the conclusion that the present terracott☂as were made after the stuccos and for private devotion, by Brunelli and his workshop.