Guglielmo della Porta

Relief with Jesus Descent from the Cross, today in Castello Sforzesco , Milan .

Guglielmo della Porta (born 1500/10 in Porlezza , Lombardy ; died 1577 in Rome ) was an Italian sculptor , architect and restorer of Mannerism .

Della Porta was the son of Cristoforo della Porta and his wife Caterina. He received his education from his uncle Giovanni Battista della Porta in Genoa . During his training for the Cathedral of Genoa , he worked with his brother Giacomo and under the direction of his uncle on the statues of the chapel of John the Baptist as early as 1531 .

In 1537 he moved to Rome and became a student of Michelangelo there . For Pope Paul III. he made a bust around 1547, after his death also the tomb in St. Peter's Basilica , his main work that occupied him from 1555 to 1575, but which was later reworked by Bernini . His career as court sculptor of the Farnese went back to the contact with Mario Maccarone, the overseer of the papal building projects, who became aware of him in 1540 when della Porta designed the tomb for Vincenzo degli Ubaldi in the church of Santi XII Apostoli . Della Porta was a lay brother of the Cistercians and was called to the papal mint from 1547.

Among other things, his studio was commissioned to complete the legs of the torso of Hercules Farnese found in 1546 . The result was so convincing for his contemporaries that, on Michelangelo's advice, they decided not to connect the statue's ancient legs, which had been excavated in the meantime, to the body. For Michelangelo, the replicas of della Portas were evidence of the skills of his own time, which did not need to shy away from direct comparison with the ancient original.

According to his will, della Portta had a sister named Marta and four children. He was wealthy in Luggino, a town in the municipality of Porlezza .

Works (selection)

• Moses for San Lorenzo fuori le mura
• Giuliano Cybo Chapel in Genoa Cathedral
• Tomb for Berardino Elvino in Santa Maria del Popolo
• Porphyry reliefs of the parents of Urban VIII in Sant'Andrea della Valle
• Bust of Pope Paul III, today in the Museo di Capodimonte , Naples

literature

• Werner Gramberg : The Düsseldorf sketchbooks of Guglielmo della Porta. Two volumes (text and panels). Mann brothers, Berlin 1964.
• Yasmine Helpers: Guglielmo della Porta: dal Duomo di Genova al Duomo di Milano. In: Prospettiva. Volume 132, 2008, pp. 61-77.
• Lothar Sickel: At the beginning of Guglielmo della Portas in Rome - An unknown project for the tomb of Vincenzo degli Ubaldi in the Capella del Crocifisso in Santi Apostoli. In: Marburg Yearbook for Art History . Volume 39, 2012, pp. 119-138.
• Giorgio Vasari : Lives of the Most Eminent Painters, Sculptors & Architects. Volume 9, 1915, pp. 234-238 (online in the Gutenberg project) .

Web links

Commons : Guglielmo della Porta  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Union List of Artist Names, Getty
• Guglielmo della Porta. In: arch INFORM .
• Work images at the Courtauld Institute of Art