Biography

North Italian sculptor, part of an Italian family of sculptors, stone masons and architects, active from the 15th century to the 17th. Originally they came from Porlezza on Lake Lugano, but they were active in the masons' lodges of Milan Cathedral and the Certosa di Pavia from the 1470s. Around 1500, Antonio della Porta set up a workshop in Genoa, where he collaborated with, among others, his nephew Pace Gagini of the Gagini family of sculptors and stone masons, producing sculpture that was exported to France. Guglielmo della Porta moved c. 1537 to Rome, where his descendants continued to work until the early 17th century.

Guglielmo worked first in Genoa and then (from 1537) in Rome, where he succeeded Sebastiano del Piombo at the Papal Mint (1547). He had a prolific and varied career, his work including several papal busts and tombs in various Roman churches, the most important being that of Paul III in St Peter's (1549-75). He also produced numerous small devotional and pagan statuettes and was known as a restorer and copier of antique works (both activities typical of his age). The major influence on his style was Michelangelo and he had a penchant for reclining figures in the manner of the master's Day and Night, Dawn and Evening in the Medici Chapel, Florence.