Giacomo della Porta (c. 1533 – 1602) was an Italian architect and sculptor, who worked for many important buildings in Rome, including St. Peter's Basilica.^[1] He was born at Porlezza, Lombardy.

Façade of the famous church of Gesù in Rome.

Biography

Della Porta was influenced by and collaborated with Michelangelo, and Giacomo Barozzi da Vignola, his teacher of architecture. After 1563 he carried out Michelangelo's plans for the rebuilding of the capital's open spaces: in the Capitoline, della Porta intervened on the façade and steps of Palazzo Senatorio, and the Cordonata capitolina. After the death of Vignola in 1573, he continued the construction of Il Gesù, and in 1584 modified its façade after his own designs. From 1573 he was leader for the ongoing reconstruction of St. Peter's Basilica, and later, in collaboration with Domenico Fontana, completed the cupola in 1588-1590.

Giacomo della Porta completed much of Rome's fountains from 16th century. These include the fountains in Piazza del Popolo, the Fontana di Nettuno and Fontana del Moro in Piazza Navona.

He died in Rome in 1602.

Selected works

• Oratorio del SS. Crocifisso (1562-1568)
• Chiesa del Gesù (1571-1575)
• Fountains at the Palazzo Borghese (1573)
• Fountains in Piazza Colonna (1574)
• Small fountains at Piazza Navona (1574)
• One fountain at the Piazza della Rotonda
• 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 (1581)
• Façade of San Luigi dei Francesi (1589)
• Fontana delle Tartarughe (1584)
• Santa Maria Scala Coeli
• Palazzo Marescotti (1585)
• Palazzo Serlupi (1585)
• SS. Trinità de' Monti (1586)
• Fontana di Piazza alli Monti (1589)
• Cupola of St. Peter's Basilica (1588-90)
• Fountains at the Piazza di Santa Maria in Campitelli (1589)
• Fountains opposite SS. Venanzio e Ansovino (1589)
• Fontana della Terrina (1590)
• Palazzo Fani (1598)
• San Paolo alle Tre Fontane (1599)
• San Nicolò in Carcere (1599)
• Palazzo Albertoni Spinola (1600)
• Villa Aldobrandini (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.

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