Pope Leo Halting Attila

The struggle of the classicists against Bernini's followers took a favorable turn when the election of Innocent X brought fortune and recognition to the classicist Algardi. Tangible proof was the commission for the large relief on the altar of Saint Leo in Saint Peter's, and the statue of the Pope in the Palazzo dei Conservatori. The gigantic altarpiece was made as Algardi's answer to the agitated pictorialism of Bernini.