Guglielmo della Porta
Illustration — Bas-relief of Descent from the Cross, now in Castello Sforzesco Guglielmo della Porta (c. 1500–1577) was an Italian architect and sculptor of the late Renaissance or Mannerist period. He was born to a prominent North Italian family of masons, sculptors and architects.
Also recorded as Guglielmo Della Porta · Guglielmo del Piombo · Fra Guglielmo della Porta · Fra Guglielmo del Piombo
Guglielmo della Porta
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- Born
- Guglielmo della Porta was born, sources differ on the date (in 1500 and in 1515). · Porlezza.
- Died
- Guglielmo della Porta died on 6 January 1577. · Rome.
- Nationality
- Italy
- Occupation
- architect · sculptor · restorer
- Teachers
- Michelangelo
- Known for
- David Victorious
VALÉORINE Encyclopedia
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Documentary summary
Illustration — Bas-relief of Descent from the Cross, now in Castello Sforzesco Guglielmo della Porta (c. 1500–1577) was an Italian architect and sculptor of the late Renaissance or Mannerist period. He was born to a prominent North Italian family of masons, sculptors and architects.
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Note VALÉORINE
Guglielmo della Porta (died 1577) was an architect, restorer and sculptor, of Italian nationality. The architect was born in Porlezza and died in Rome. Guglielmo della Porta worked in Genoa and Rome.
Among the works is David Victorious. Works are held at Museo di Capodimonte, Museum of Saint Augustine and National Museum in Warsaw, among others.
Composed from admitted, traceable facts · 01 October 2026
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Authority files
wikidata · Q1623328 · wikipedia · Guglielmo della Porta
In this article
Major works
Major works
His father Giovanni Battista della Porta was a sculptor. He trained in his uncle's workshop in Genoa and moved to Rome in about 1537, where he was very much influenced by Michelangelo. Della Porta provided legs for the Farnese Hercules when it was first excavated; when the original legs were found some years later, Michelangelo recommended that Della Porta's legs be retained, 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 until about 1530. Later he moved with his uncle to Genoa where he perfected his design under the guidance of the painter Perin del Vaga in the works for Villa del Principe, Palazzo di Andrea Doria.
Training under Michelangelo is recorded. Places of work recorded in the authority are Genoa and Rome. Works named in the authority record are David Victorious. Work by Guglielmo della Porta is recorded in the collections of Nationalmuseum, Vanderbilt Museum of Art, National Museum in Warsaw, Museo di Capodimonte and Museum of Saint Augustine.
• Genoa Cathedral, Chapel of Peter and Paul. Main altar, 1534-37. A triumphal arch 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, Rome; now fragmented. • Bust of Pope Paul III, ca. 1547; white and yellow marble (Museum of Capodimonte, Naples) One of a number of busts of the Farnese pope. • Tomb of Paul III, bronze and marble, Saint Peter's Basilica, Rome, 1549-75. Della Porta's signal work, the tomb was shifted and modified by Bernini.
Identity
Identity
Guglielmo della Porta is recorded with the occupation architect. Established in Library of Congress under no96056559. Recorded as architect, sculptor and restorer. Established in RKDartists under 64340. Established in FAST under 382516. Recognition and collections.

Capilla de San Francisco de Asís, Catedral de Málaga. Sepulcro de Luis de Torres (Málaga 1495-Roma 1553), nombrado arzobispo de Salerno (1548) por el papa Paulo III a petición de Carlos I. Fue enterrado en la iglesia de Santa Caterina dei Funari y por testamento, trasladaron sus restos a la Catedral de Málaga. El sepulcro es obra de Giovanni Antonio Dosio (1550-1599) con figura yacente en bronce
José Luis Filpo Cabana
Life and career
Dated record
Life and career
The full dated record · 2 entries
1500
Guglielmo della Porta was born on 1 January 1500.
1577
Guglielmo della Porta died on 1 January 1577.
Places
Named by the record
Places
Only places the record itself states, plotted where the house gazetteer settles their coordinates. Nothing is inferred from a name or a nationality.
Guglielmo della Porta was born in Porlezza.
Birthplace
Guglielmo della Porta died in Rome.
Deathplace
Porlezza.
Birth place
Rome.
Death place
Context
Primary material
Context
The circumstances in which Guglielmo della Porta stands.
Documents and archives
Primary material
Documents and archives
reference work
- “Guglielmo della Porta”, English Wikipedia, consulted as further reading
Reputable secondary · Wikipedia
institutional register
- Wikidata, structured authority record Q1623328: Guglielmo della Porta
General reference · Wikimedia Foundation
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.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. Ghezzi was in possession of the important code of Leonardo: the manuscript 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 for more than five million dollars
Bibliography printed in the source article · 20
- Giovanni Baglione, 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, 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, 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
Citations
References
Each reference names the institution holding it, so a reader may go to the document itself.
reference work
Secondary witnessinstitutional register
Wikidata, structured authority record Q1623328: Guglielmo della PortaWikimedia Foundation
General reference
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 16 August 2026.
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