MADERNO, STEFANO. - Lombard sculptor, b. at Bissone in 1576, d. at Rome on 17 Sept. 1636.
By 1600 he was already in Rome and completed his masterpiece in the statue of St. Cecilia, depicted lying down with her head cut off, as an ornament for the altar in the church dedicated to her in the Trastevere district. The earliest record we have is of sculptures of his executed on behalf of the Sienese Alessandro de Turchis. Subsequently he executed an Angel in bas-relief for the transept of the basilica of St. John Lateran, some sculptures for the Pauline Chapel in St. Mary Major, where for the altar he modeled the relief with Pope Liberius marking out on the snow the plan of the Basilica and, for the Pope's tomb, the one with the Hungarian Expedition. He also sculpted the statue of St. Charles Borromeo in St. Lawrence in Damaso, the images of Peace and of Justice on the high altar of the church of St. Mary of the Peace, the St. Peter reclining on the tympanum of the portal of the Quirinal, and other marbles besides. Also of great interest are some of his terracotta sketches at the Ca' d'oro in Venice with representations of mythological fables. A master of whimsical and uneven inspiration, M. gave his finest work, rich in intense sentimental life, in the delicate image of St. Cecilia: a marble extremely significant for the time and milieu in which it was born (Rome 1600), in which the classical composure of the art of the century that was ending in that very year seems truly joined, and the somewhat cloying sweetness of the following one foreshadowed.
Bibliography2 works
Emilio Lavagnino