Alessandro Algardi created the Baroque relief of “The Meeting of Pope Leo I and Attila” in St. Peter’s Basilica.
Algardi’s monumental work, usually called “The Flight of Attila” or “Fuga d’Attila,” was commissioned for St. Peter’s in 1646 and completed between 1646 and 1653. It depicts Pope Leo the Great confronting Attila the Hun, whose advance into Italy was traditionally said to have been halted after the meeting in 452. Saints Peter and Paul appear above the scene, reinforcing the intervention of divine authority.
The question’s material description can cause confusion: the permanent masterpiece in St. Peter’s is a marble high relief, not a bronze relief. Algardi is nevertheless the canonical answer to the sculptor question. Smaller bronze versions and reductions exist elsewhere. Bernini was the era’s most famous rival, but this particular relief belongs to Algardi’s restrained, narrative style.