della Porta, Guglielmo (c. 1500-1577)

Italian sculptor. In 1537 he went to Rome, where he became the principal sculptor to Pope Paul III. He was appointed to the office of the papal seal (piombatore) in 1547 and executed busts of the pope in bronze and marble. His finest is his monument to Paul III, central to which is a bronze seated portrait of the pope, in St Peter's in Rome.

Born in Milan, Guglielmo is first recorded working with other, older members of his sculptor family at Genoa in 1534. He was an admirer of Michelangelo, until their dispute over the nature and location of a monument to Paul III in St Peter's, of which Michelangelo was architect: this was Guglielmo's major work and now stands to the left of the high altar, though he had initially hoped that it would stand free under the dome. This work is a major contribution to a series of portraits of popes in St Peter's, the others including Pope Innocent VIII by Pollaiuolo and the baroque portraits by Bernini and Algardi.

Della Porta was a prolific draughtsman and also produced many smaller statuettes and reliefs of religious subjects in gold, silver, or bronze.