Ercole Ferrata

Ercole Ferrata (* 1610 in Pellio Inferiori, Val d' Intelvi in Como, † July 10, 1686 in Rome ) was an Italian sculptor.

Life

After his first artistic training in his hometown Ferrata came into the workshop of the sculptor Tomaso Orsolini in Genoa. There he spent a seven -year apprenticeship.

Then Ferrata went to Naples, where he worked mostly for the noble families Corsini and Savelli. 1637 took him the guild of sculptors of Naples on as a member. Most of the year 1646 he worked at the Cathedral of Aquileia.

Funded by Cardinal Bernardino Spada and his brother came Ferrata in 1647 in the workshop of Gianlorenzo Bernini. This worked at that time at St. Peter's Basilica in Rome. There Ferrata soon became master student and the architect Alessandro Algardi recruited him from his workshop. Here Ferrata not only worked for the Vatican, but also for the court of Queen Christina of Sweden, who lived in Rome since 1656.

In the years 1662-1665 Ferrata worked in the workshop of the painter Pietro da Cortona. About this approximately 1663 Ferrata was admitted to the Accademia di San Luca. After the delivery of artwork to Grand Duke Cosimo III. de Medici in Florence, Ferrata stayed for some time at the court of the Grand Duke. There he oversaw, among others the workshop of restorers Giovanni Battista Foggini and Carlo Marcellini.

Ferrata was, inter alia, in Rome a large workshop before. Among many other Antonio Francesco Andreozzi, Pietro Balestri, Melchiore Caffa, Filippo Carcani, Giovanni Camillo Cateni, Giovanni Battista Foggini, Lorenzo Lottone, Carlo Marcellini and Camillo Russoli were his pupils.

At the age of 76 years Ercole Ferrata died on July 10, 1686 in Rome.

He chiseled including a marble group representing St. Elizabeth, for the same chapel in Wrocław Cathedral. However, his most famous work is the elephant in front of Santa Maria sopra Minerva in Rome.