PORTA, Giacomo della

Gian Lorenzo Bernini brought the fountain sculpture from the villa to the city, from the natural to the social setting. With him, the sculpture is conceived in relation to the water, to its ceaseless flow, to its shape and course, and thus it becomes one of the “symbolic forms” of the Baroque. Not so in the Atlas fountain at the Villa Aldobrandini in Frascati, where the water brought in by force has little connection with the mythological personage in the centre of the fountain, which was made in collaboration between Giacomo della Porta and Giovanni Fontana (1540-1614).

Vatican prelate Alessandro Rufini built the original villa in 1550. Pope Clement VIII gave his nephew Cardinal Pietro Aldobrandini the villa in 1598 as a reward for the negotiations he undertook with France which resulted in the peace treaty of 1595 and for his role in annexing Ferrara to the Papal States.

Aldobrandini commissioned the Roman architect Giacomo della Porta to convert the villa into suitable accommodation in which a Cardinal could live and also entertain a Pope. Work started in 1598. While the core of the villa was completed by the time of Giacomo della Porta’s death in 1603, work continued for another 20 years on the various aspects of the villa and the garden under the supervision of Carlo Maderno, who added the loggia, and Giovanni Fontana.

The villa has an imposing 17th century fa�ade and some other interesting architectural and environmental features, such as the double gallery order on the rear fa�ade, the spiral-shaped flights, the large exedra of the Water Theatre and a magnificent park.

The photo shows a view from the garden.

From the beginning of the sixteenth century almost all of Rome’s leading architects were involved in the planning and construction of San Giovanni dei Fiorentini, the church of the Florentine community in Rome. The end of this process was marked by the completion of the fa�ade in 1733, from a design by Giacomo della Porta.

Giacomo della Porta’s responsibilities included the construction of public fountains in Rome, and he designed those in Piazza Navona (from 1574), Piazza Colonna (from 1575), Piazza del Pantheon (begun 1575; remodeled 1711 by Filippo Barigioni) and Piazza San Marco (from 1588).

The Fontana del Moro (Moor Fountain) is located at the southern end of the Piazza Navona. It represents a Moor, or African (perhaps originally meant to be Neptune), standing in a conch shell, wrestling with a dolphin, surrounded by four Tritons. It is placed in a basin of rose-coloured marble.

The fountain was originally designed by Giacomo della Porta in 1575 with the dolphin and four Tritons. In 1653, the statue of the Moor, by Gian Lorenzo Bernini, was added. In 1874, during a restoration of the fountain, the original statues were moved to the Galleria Borghese and replaced with copies.

Giacomo della Porta’s responsibilities included the construction of public fountains in Rome, and he designed those in Piazza Navona (from 1574), Piazza Colonna (from 1575), Piazza del Pantheon (begun 1575; remodeled 1711 by Filippo Barigioni) and Piazza San Marco (from 1588).

The Fontana del Moro (Moor Fountain) is located at the southern end of the Piazza Navona. It represents a Moor, or African (perhaps originally meant to be Neptune), standing in a conch shell, wrestling with a dolphin, surrounded by four Tritons. It is placed in a basin of rose-coloured marble.

The fountain was originally designed by Giacomo della Porta in 1575 with the dolphin and four Tritons. In 1653, the statue of the Moor, by Gian Lorenzo Bernini, was added. In 1874, during a restoration of the fountain, the original statues were moved to the Galleria Borghese and replaced with copies.

Roman Baroque fountains stand out as a novel reworking of a venerable civic tradition, especially when compared with fountains produced elsewhere in Italy. The major factor contributing to the new prominence of fountain design in Rome was a practical one: the restoration of the city’s extensive network of ancient aqueducts. From the reign of Pope Nicholas V (1447-1455) onwards, most pontiffs paid attention to the city’s water supply, both out of necessity and in emulation of their imperial predecessors. Some twenty fountains were erected between the reigns of Gregory XIII (1572-1585) and Clement VIII (1592-1602) Most of these - such as the many created in Rome by Giacomo della Porta - remained essentially geometric in design.

The fountain was designed by the Lombardian architect - a pupil and follower of Michelangelo - Giacomo della Porta. The bronze statues were executed by the Florentine architect-sculptor Taddeo Landini (1550-1576).

Roman Baroque fountains stand out as a novel reworking of a venerable civic tradition, especially when compared with fountains produced elsewhere in Italy. The major factor contributing to the new prominence of fountain design in Rome was a practical one: the restoration of the city’s extensive network of ancient aqueducts. From the reign of Pope Nicholas V (1447-1455) onwards, most pontiffs paid attention to the city’s water supply, both out of necessity and in emulation of their imperial predecessors. Some twenty fountains were erected between the reigns of Gregory XIII (1572-1585) and Clement VIII (1592-1602) Most of these - such as the many created in Rome by Giacomo della Porta - remained essentially geometric in design.

Work on the Jesuits’ church in Rome, the Gesù, was begun in 1568 from plans by Vignola, but Giacomo della Porta’s design for the fa�ade from 1571 moved in a different stylistic direction. His frontage, with its aediculas, is a classic example of the Counter-Reformation church fa�ade, with broad nave and flanking side chapels.

View the ground plan of Il Gesù, Rome.

Work on the Jesuits’ church in Rome, the Gesù, was begun in 1568 from plans by Vignola, but Giacomo della Porta’s design for the fa�ade from 1571 moved in a different stylistic direction. His frontage, with its aediculas, is a classic example of the Counter-Reformation church fa�ade, with broad nave and flanking side chapels.

View the ground plan of Il Gesù, Rome.

In 1561 Cardinal Alessandro Farnese provided funding for much of the building of Il Gesù with the stipulation that no other patron be allowed at the site and that he be buried in the church. Typically for this period, the fa�ade of the building was considered a separate commission and Alessandro Farnese chose the design of Giacomo della Porta over those submitted by Giacomo Vignola and Galeazzo Alessi. Della Porta deployed paired pilasters across the fa�ade to give it additional dignity while retaining the integrity of the architectural surface. Columns frame, and thus accentuate, the central portal and the benediction loggia above it. The combination of double pediments over the portal, broken entablatures across the fa�ade, and the projection of the central unit of the building forward toward the piazza give the surface a muscular strength.

View the ground plan of Il Gesù, Rome.

The drawing shows the comparison of the plans by Giacomo da Vignola and Giacomo della Porta.