Guglielmo della Porta (c. 1500–1577) was an Italian architect and sculptor of the late

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history The history of Europe is traditionally divided into four time periods: prehistoric Europe (prior to about 800 BC), classical antiquity (800 BC to AD ...

Mannerist Mannerism, which may also be known as Late Renaissance, is a style in European art that emerged in the later years of the Italian High Renaissance around 1520, spreading by about 1530 and lasting until about the end of the 16th century in Ita ...

period. He was born to a prominent North Italian family of masons, sculptors and architects. His father Giovanni Battista della Porta was a sculptor. He trained in his uncle's workshop in

Genoa Genoa ( ; it, Genova ; lij, Zêna ). is the capital of the Italian region of Liguria and the sixth-largest city in Italy. In 2015, 594,733 people lived within the city's administrative limits. As of the 2011 Italian census, the Province of ...

and moved to

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

about 1537, where he was very much influenced by Michelangelo. Della Porta provided legs for the

Farnese Hercules The ''Farnese Hercules'' ( it, Ercole Farnese) is an ancient statue of Hercules, probably an enlarged copy made in the early third century AD and signed by Glykon, who is otherwise unknown; the name is Greek but he may have worked in Rome. Like ...

when it was first excavated; when the original legs were found some years later, Michelangelo recommended that Della Porta's legs be retained, as showing how modern artists were capable of direct comparison with the Ancients. He was appointed to the papal mint in 1547. His prolific output is varied. He began his artistic training under the guidance of his uncle Giovanni Giacomo, who takes him on his construction site of the Cathedral of Milan and assigned him the task of sculpturing and reinterpreting the works of

Leonardo da Vinci Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci (15 April 14522 May 1519) was an Italian polymath of the High Renaissance who was active as a painter, Drawing, draughtsman, engineer, scientist, theorist, sculptor, and architect. While his fame initially res ...

In the study of Maria Gibellino Krasceninnicowa we learn that the drawings and writings of Guglielmo are collected in two volumes in gold parchment with the words: "Opera di F. G. Della Porta", author of the collection is Giuseppe Ghezzi, a relative of Della Porta. The drawings show his complex personality, showing us the pictorial side of his art, and in them we feel the breath of classical

Roman sculpture The study of Roman sculpture is complicated by its relation to Greek sculpture. Many examples of even the most famous Greek sculptures, such as the Apollo Belvedere and Barberini Faun, are known only from Roman Imperial or Hellenistic "copies". A ...

. Ghezzi was in possession of the important code of Leonardo: the

manuscript A manuscript (abbreviated MS for singular and MSS for plural) was, traditionally, any document written by hand – or, once practical typewriters became available, typewritten – as opposed to mechanically printed or reproduced in ...

'' the nature, weight and motion of water'' then said " Codex Hammer" from the name of the financier who bought it. Of this code, owned by Guglielmo at Leonardo's death, the traces were lost and reappeared when the Ghezzi in 1717 decided to sell it to a rich Englishman, Thomas Coke, 1st Earl of Leicester, whose heirs sold it to financier

Armand Hammer Armand Hammer (May 21, 1898 – December 10, 1990) was an American business manager and owner, most closely associated with Occidental Petroleum, a company he ran from 1957 until his death. Called "Lenin's chosen capitalist" by the press, ...

for more than five million dollars until about 1530. Later he moved with his uncle in

where he perfected his design under the guidance of the painter

Perin del Vaga Perino (or Perin) del Vaga (nickname of Piero Bonaccorsi) (1501 – October 19, 1547) was an Italian painter and draughtsman of the Late Renaissance/Mannerism. Biography Perino was born near Florence. His father ruined himself by gambling, an ...

in the works for Villa del Principe, Palazzo di Andrea Doria.

Major works

Genoa Cathedral Genoa Cathedral or Metropolitan Cathedral of Saint Lawrence ( it, Duomo di Genova, ''Cattedrale di San Lorenzo'') is a Roman Catholic cathedral in the Italian city of Genoa. It is dedicated to Saint Lawrence (San Lorenzo), and is the seat of th ...

, Chapel of Peter and Paul. Main altar, 1534-37. A

triumphal arch A triumphal arch is a free-standing monumental structure in the shape of an archway with one or more arched passageways, often designed to span a road. In its simplest form a triumphal arch consists of two massive piers connected by an arch, cro ...

motif that fills one end of the chapel, with a central niche containing a seated Christ flanked by the two apostles. * ''Tomb of Odoardo Cicada'', ca. 1545; originally a Late Renaissance wall tomb in Michelangelo's style in the Cicada Chapel of the

Basilica of Santa Maria del Popolo it, Basilica Parrocchiale Santa Maria del Popolo , image = 20140803 Basilica of Santa Maria del Popolo Rome 0191.jpg , caption = The church from Piazza del Popolo , coordinates = , image_size ...

; now fragmented. *''Bust of Pope Paul III'', ca. 1547; white and yellow marble (

Museum of Capodimonte Museo di Capodimonte is an art museum located in the Palace of Capodimonte, a grand Bourbon palazzo in Naples, Italy. The museum is the prime repository of Neapolitan painting and decorative art, with several important works from other Italia ...

, Naples) One of a number of busts of the Farnese pope. *''Tomb of Paul III'', bronze and marble,

Saint 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 (building), church built in the Renaissance architecture, Renaissanc ...

, Rome, 1549-75. Della Porta's signal work, the tomb was shifted and modified by Bernini.

Bibliography

Giovanni Baglione Giovanni Baglione (1566 – 30 December 1643) was an Italian Late Mannerist and Early Baroque painter and art historian. He is best remembered for his acrimonious and damaging involvement with the slightly younger artist Caravaggio and ...

, ''Le Vite de' Pittori, Scultori et Architetti dal Pontificato di Gregorio XIII fino a tutto quello d'Urbano VIII'', Roma 1642, 70–71, 143, 169, 211, 307. *

Filippo Titi Abate Filippo Titi was an Italian Roman Catholic Protonotary apostolic, and an art historian, best known for his inventory of the artistic content of churches in Rome, titled ''Studio di Pittura scoltura et architettura nelle Chiese di Roma'', publ ...

, ''Descrizione delle Pitture, Sculture e Architetture esposte in Roma'', Marco Pagliarini, Roma 1674, rivista da Giovanni Bottari 1763, 15, 19, 111, 265. *S. Varni, ''Delle opere di Gian Giacomo, di Guglielmo Della Porta e di Nicolò Da Corte Scultori'', in Atti della Società Ligure di Storia patria, VII, Genova 1866. *

Giorgio Vasari Giorgio Vasari (, also , ; 30 July 1511 – 27 June 1574) was an Italian Renaissance Master, who worked as a painter, architect, engineer, writer, and historian, who is best known for his work '' The Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculp ...

, ''Vite: Vita di Guglielmo Della Porta, di Michelangelo, di Leone Leoni e di Pierin del Vaga'', VII, Milano 1880. *Giuseppe Merzario, ''I Maestri Comacini. Storia artistica di mille duecento anni (600–1800)'', I–II, G. Agnelli, Milano 1893. *Ernesto Steinmann, ''Monumento a Paolo II a S. Pietro'', Roma 1912. *Angelo Borzelli, '' Il capolavoro di Guglielmo Della Porta: la tomba di Paolo III in S. Pietro in Vaticano'', Napoli 1920. *Guglielmo Matthiae, ''Attività romana di Guglielmo Della Porta'', in Capitolium, 7, 1935, 313–326. *Ugo Donati, ''Vagabondaggi. Contributi alla storiografia artistica ticinese'', I, Arturo Salvioni & Co. Editori, Bellinzona 1939, 33. *Maria Gibellino Krasceninnicowa, ''Guglielmo Della Porta. Scultore lombardo'', Fratelli Palombi Editori, Roma, 1944, 67, 72. *Alessandro Giobbi, ''Testimonianze di Storia di Claino con Osteno'', Osteno 1971. *Clario Di Fabio, ''Il "mito delle origini" e il nome di Genova nel Medioevo, in Bollettino Ligustico, XXXI, 1979 (ma 1981), 1/4, 37–44. *AA.VV., ''Dizionario biografico degli italiani'', ad vocem, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia italiana, Roma. *AA.VV., ''La scultura a Genova e in Liguria'', 1, 1987. *Idem, ''La scultura bronzea a Genova nel Medioevo e il programma decorativo della Cattedrale nel primo Trecento'', in Bollettino d’Arte, s. VI, LXXVI, 1989, 55, 1–44. *Elena Parma Armani, ''Precisazioni sull’attività grafica di Guglielmo della Porta nel periodo genovese e nel primo momento romano'', in Le vie del marmo. Aspetti della produzione e della diffusione dei manufatti marmorei tra Quattrocento e Cinquecento, atti del colloquio (Pietrasanta) a cura di R.P. Ciardi e S. Russo, Firenze 1994, 45–52. *Clario Di Fabio, ''Davide vincitore'', in Amici dei Musei, 1995, 62/63, 34–35; Idem, ''La Cattedrale di Genova nel Medioevo (secoli VI–XIV), Cinisello Balsamo 1998. *Alverio Gualandris, ''Porlezza. Storia – Arte – Statuti – Artisti – Documenti'', Attilio Sampietro Editore, Menaggio 2003, 170–172, 178. *Riccardo Navone, ''Viaggio nei Caruggi, edicole votive, pietre e portali'', Fratelli Frilli Editori, Genova 2007, 473. *Yasmine Helfer, ''Guglielmo della Porta: dal Duomo di Genova al Duomo di Milano'', in «Prospettiva», 132, 2008, 61–77.

References

Art on-line:Guglielmo della Porta

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Della Porta, Guglielmo 1500s births 1577 deaths Italian Mannerist architects Italian Mannerist sculptors Italian male sculptors 16th-century Italian architects 16th-century Italian sculptors