BUZZI, Ippolito
Ippolito Buzzi (or Buzio) was an Italian sculptor from Viggiù, near Varese, in northernmost Lombardy, a member of a long-established dynasty of painters, sculptors and architects from the town, who passed his mature career in Rome. His personality as a sculptor is somewhat overshadowed by the two kinds of work he is known for: restorations to ancient Roman sculptures, some of them highly improvisatory by modern standards, and sculpture contributed to architectural projects and funeral monuments, where he was one among a team of craftsmen working under the general direction of an architect in projects for Pope Clement VIII or for Pope Paul V - who would provide the designs from which the work was executed, always in consultation with the patron.
From about 1620 Buzzi was virtually the house restorer for Cardinal Ludovisi, who possessed in his villa on the Quirinale one of the finest collections of Roman sculptures in Rome, and commissioned repairs from Gian Lorenzo Bernini, Alessandro Algardi, as well as Buzzi. Some of Buzzi’s restorations are minor interventions to satisfy the taste of the day, while others are more creative by assembling unrelated fragments to create essentially new compositions.
In the other main aspect of his career, Buzzi was a member of the team of sculptors who cooperated under the direction of Giacomo della Porta in the redecoration of the transept in the Basilica of San Giovanni in Laterano, 1597-1601, under the direction of Clement VIII Aldobrandini, providing high reliefs.
Della Porta was also responsible for the architectural framework and the overall design of the richly sculptural monument that was erected by Clement VIII Aldobrandini to commemorate his parents Silvestro Aldobrandini and Luisa Dati, in the Basilica of Santa Maria sopra Minerva; Buzzi, again part of Della Porta’s team, executed the allegorical figure of Prudence and the sculpture in a niche of Clement VIII himself, probably his most prominent commission, though he was doubtless provided with a design.
In a similar commission, this time under the direction of Flaminio Ponzio, Buzzi was one of the team of sculptors working in the Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore on the funerary Pauline Chapel commissioned by Paul V Borghese. Here Buzzi contributed one of five relief panels illustrating Scenes of the Pontificate of Paul V.
Another project of Paul V was the Acqua Paola (1612), erected in emulation of the stylistically more successful Acqua Felice. The architect for the fountain where the aqueduct arrived in Rome was Flaminio Ponzio, and Buzzi was part of the team, though his contribution may have been limited to the sculptural Borghese coat-of-arms supported by two putti, that crowns the cornice of the triumphal arch feature, through which nothing may pass.
Buzzi’s other sculptures include a St James in the church of San Giacomo in Augusta in Rome, completed in about 1615, and one of the Angels in the angle niches in the Church of the Gesù in Rome. His St Bartholomew may be seen in the Duomo in Orvieto.
