Giacomo della Porta (1532–1602) was an

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional It ...

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

and sculptor, who worked on many important buildings in Rome, including

St. Peter's Basilica The Papal Basilica of Saint Peter in the Vatican ( it, Basilica Papale di San Pietro in Vaticano), or simply Saint Peter's Basilica ( la, Basilica Sancti Petri), is a church built in the Renaissance style located in Vatican City, the papal en ...

. He was born at

Porlezza 240px, Interiori of the church of San Vittore. Porlezza is a ''comune'' (municipality) on Lake Lugano in the Province of Como in the Italian region Lombardy, located about north of Milan and about north of Como. Porlezza borders the following ...

, Lombardy and died in Rome.

Biography

Giacomo Della Porta was born in the Duchy of Genoa into a family of sculptors. He was influenced by and collaborated with Michelangelo, and Giacomo Barozzi da Vignola, his teacher of architecture. With these two great masters he became one of the most important architects in the history of the Roman renaissance. In fact after 1563 he carried out Michelangelo's plans for the rebuilding of the

Campidoglio The Capitolium or Capitoline Hill ( ; it, Campidoglio ; la, Mons Capitolinus ), between the Forum and the Campus Martius, is one of the Seven Hills of Rome. The hill was earlier known as ''Mons Saturnius'', dedicated to the god Saturn. Th ...

Capitoline The Capitolium or Capitoline Hill ( ; it, Campidoglio ; la, Mons Capitolinus ), between the Forum and the Campus Martius, is one of the Seven Hills of Rome. The hill was earlier known as ''Mons Saturnius'', dedicated to the god Saturn. Th ...

Hill's open spaces where he completed the façade and steps of Palazzo Senatorio, and the ''

Cordonata The cordonata ( Italian word, from ''cordone'', which in architecture means "linear element which emphasizes a limit") is a sloping road interrupted at regular distances by low (8-10 cm) steps in the form of transversal stripes (''cordoni'') made ...

'' or the ramped steps up to the Piazza del Campidoglio. After the death of Vignola in 1573, he continued the construction of Il Gesù, the mother church of the

Jesuit , image = Ihs-logo.svg , image_size = 175px , caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits , abbreviation = SJ , nickname = Jesuits , formation = , founders = ...

order, and in 1584 modified its façade after his own designs. He also worked on the construction of

Palazzo Albertoni Spinola The Albertoni Spinola Palace, with entrances in Campitelli square n. 2, Capizucchi square and vicolo Capizucchi is located in the 10th District (Rione Campitelli). It was projected and executed by Giacomo Della Porta and Girolamo Rainaldi around t ...

by acting on the load-bearing structures and internal partitions creating, through the orthogonality of the entrance gallery and the entrance hall of the Palace, a unique prospective visual effect. From 1573 he was in charge of the ongoing construction of St. Peter's Basilica, and later, in collaboration with

Domenico Fontana Domenico Fontana (154328 June 1607) was an Italian architect of the late Renaissance, born in today's Ticino. He worked primarily in Italy, at Rome and Naples. Biography He was born at Melide, a village on the Lake Lugano, at that time join ...

, completed Michelangelo's dome between 1588-1590. It's important to underline that Della Porta and Fontana were not mere performers of Michelangelo's drawings; in fact, they had the merit of the technical execution of a firm that sanctioned an important stage of technological advances at the end of the sixteenth century. Not only did they make a noticeable change in the bend curvature of Michelangelo's projected design, making it closer to the

Brunelleschi Filippo Brunelleschi ( , , also known as Pippo; 1377 – 15 April 1446), considered to be a founding father of Renaissance architecture, was an Italian architect, designer, and sculptor, and is now recognized to be the first modern engineer, ...

model, but inserted a series of chains in the masonry (especially in the upper part of the dome) to hold the transverse forces pushed by the vault they used high quality materials, hinging travertine plates with molten lead; features, which allowed the dome not to bear any serious damage after the earthquake of 1703. They also made the costumes with the help of sophisticated wooden finishes and drew the technical details of the 1: 1 scale dome directly on the floor of the Basilica of

St. Paul outside the Walls The Papal Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls ( it, Basilica Papale di San Paolo fuori le Mura), commonly known as Saint Paul's Outside the Walls, is one of Rome's four major papal basilicas, along with the basilicas of Saint John in the ...

. Giacomo della Porta completed a number of Rome's fountains from the 16th century; these included the fountains in the Piazza del Popolo, the

Fountain of Neptune, Rome The ''Fountain of Neptune'' ( it, Fontana del Nettuno) is a fountain in Rome, Italy, located at the north end of the Piazza Navona. Name It was once called "Fontana dei Calderari" because it was located close to a small alley with blacksmith' ...

and

La Fontana del Moro Fontana del Moro (''Moor Fountain'') is a fountain located at the southern end of the Piazza Navona in Rome, Italy. It represents a Moor, or African (perhaps originally meant to be Neptune), standing in a conch shell, wrestling with a dolph ...

in the Piazza Navona and

Fontana delle Tartarughe Fontana may refer to: Places Italy *Fontana Liri, comune in the Province of Frosinone *Fontanafredda, comune in the Province of Pordenone *Fontanarosa, comune in the Province of Avellino *Francavilla Fontana, comune in the Province of Brindisi * ...

very important for the Roman legends. He died suddenly in 1602 coming back to Rome from Frascati where he was building Villa Belvedere commissioned by the

Aldobrandini family The House of Aldobrandini is an Italian noble family originally from Florence, where in the Middle Ages they held the most important municipal offices. Now the Aldobrandini are resident in Rome, with close ties to the Vatican. History Their ...

Selected works

* St. Peter's Dome (

1564 Year 1564 ( MDLXIV) was a leap year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events January–June * January 26 – Livonian War – Battle of Ula: A Lithuanian surprise attack resul ...

) * Palazzetto Inside Palazzo Albertoni Spinola Perspective (

1600 __NOTOC__ In the Gregorian calendar, it was the last century leap year until the year 2000. Events January–June * January 1 – Scotland adopts January 1 as New Year's Day instead of March 25. * January ** Hugh O'Neill, 2nd Earl of T ...

) * Oratorio del SS. Crocifisso (1562-1568) * Chiesa del Gesù (1571-1575) *Fountains at the

Palazzo Borghese Palazzo Borghese is a palace in Rome, Italy, the main seat of the Borghese family. It was nicknamed ''il Cembalo'' ("the harpsichord") due to its unusual trapezoidal groundplan; its narrowest facade faces the River Tiber. The entrance at the oppo ...

(1573) *Fountains in

Piazza Colonna Piazza Colonna is a piazza at the center of the Rione of Colonna in the historic heart of Rome, Italy. It is named for the marble Column of Marcus Aurelius, which has stood there since AD 193. The bronze statue of Saint Paul that crowns the column ...

(1574) *Small fountains at Piazza Navona (1574) *One fountain at the

Piazza della Rotonda The Piazza della Rotonda is a piazza (city square) in Rome, Italy, on the south side of which is located the Pantheon. The square gets its name from the Pantheon's informal title as the church of ''Santa Maria Rotonda''. History Although the ...

* Palazzo Senatorio at the Capitol Hill (1573-1602) * Palazzo della Sapienza (1578-1602) * Palazzo Capizucchi (1580) * Santa Maria dei Monti (1580) *

Sant'Atanasio dei Greci The Church of Saint Athanasius ( it, Sant’Atanasio, la, S. Athanasii), also known as Sant'Atanasio dei Greci (, ''Ekklisia Agiou Athanasiou ton Ellinon''), is a Greek Catholic titular church located on Via del Babuino 149, near the Spanish step ...

(1581) *Façade of

San Luigi dei Francesi The Church of St. Louis of the French ( it, San Luigi dei Francesi, french: Saint Louis des Français, la, S. Ludovici Francorum de Urbe) is a Roman Catholic church in Rome, not far from Piazza Navona. The church is dedicated to the Virgin Mar ...

(1589) *

(1584) * Santa Maria Scala Coeli *Palazzo Marescotti (1585) * Palazzo Serlupi (1585) * SS. Trinità de' Monti (1586) *Fontana di Piazza alli Monti (1589) *Cupola of

(1588–90) *Fountains at the Piazza di Santa Maria in Campitelli (1589) * Fontana di Piazza d'Aracoeli (1589) *Fontana della Terrina (1590) *Sculpture ''Christ delivering the keys of Heaven to St. Peter'' (1594), altar of the St. Peter chapel, church

Santa Pudenziana Santa Pudenziana is a church of Rome, a basilica built in the 4th century and dedicated to Saint Pudentiana, sister of Praxedes and daughter of Pudens (mentioned by Paul the Apostle in '' 2 Timothy'', 4: 21). It is one of the national churches in ...

*Palazzo Fani (1598) * San Paolo alle Tre Fontane (1599) * San Nicolò in Carcere (1599) *

(1600) *

Villa Aldobrandini The Villa Aldobrandini is a villa in Frascati, Italy. It is still owned and lived in by the Aldobrandini family, and known as Belvedere for its location overlooking the valley toward the city of Rome. It is the only grand Papal garden not owned b ...

(1600–02) in Frascati *Cappella Aldobrandini (1600–02) in Santa Maria sopra Minerva

References

*Katherine Rinne, "Fluid Precision: Giacomo della Porta and the Acqua Vergine fountains of Rome", in Landscapes of Memory and Experience, ed. Jan Birksted (London, 2000), 183-201. *Katherine W. Rinne, "Between Precedent and Experiment: the Restoration of the Acqua Vergine (1560-1570)", in L. Roberts, S. Schaffer and P. Dear (eds.), The mindful hand: inquiry and invention from the late Renaissance to early industrialisation (Edita/University of Chicago Press: 2007), 95-115.

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Della Porta, Giacomo Italian Mannerist architects Italian Mannerist sculptors 1530s births 1602 deaths Architects from Genoa 16th-century Italian architects 16th-century Italian sculptors