FERRATA, ERCOLE. — Sculptor, born at Pellio inferiore (Como) in 1610, died in Rome on 10 July 1686. He worked in Naples and the Abruzzi, then in Rome, where he remained almost continuously, and worked as an assistant to the two foremost and mutually opposed sculptors of the time, Bernini and Algardi. Since numerous models of works by the classicizing Francesco du Quesnoy were found in his studio at his death, it is reasonable to suppose that he maintained close relations with the Flemish master.
Following Algardi, he sculpted the Moestà del Regno in the monument, believed to have been erected by Algardi himself, to Leo XI in St Peter’s, and the Charity in the tomb of Clement IX in S. Maria Maggiore, designed by C. Rainaldi. He approached Bernini in the statue of Clement X in his tomb in St Peter’s, designed by Mattia de Rossi and adorned
with statues by other Berninians. For the Borrominian church of S. Agnese and Piazza Navona he made the marble altar panels representing the Martyrdom of s. Emerenzione (completed by Leonardo Reti), S. Fustacchio among the beasts (begun by Melchiorre Cafè), and S. Agnese among the flames, in which he appears decisively attracted to Bernini. He also worked for Bernini on the Pimentel monument in the church of S. Maria sopra Minerva, and sculpted the Angel carrying the Cross on Ponte S. Angelo. Also under Bernini’s direction, he made the statue of S. Caterina in the Chapel of the Vow in Siena Cathedral. He completed the statue of S. Anastasia, sketched out by Francesco Aprile, in the church of the same name. He had several pupils, the best known among them being Camillo Rusconi, Giovanni Battista Foggini, Filippo Carcani, and Giuseppe Mazzuoli.