DELLA PORTA, GIACOMO

(1541?-1604)

   Italian architect, a native of Rome and a pupil of Michelangelo. He completed several unfinished projects of Michelangelo, including the dome of St. Peter's basilica. His outstanding original achievement was the design of the façade of the Gesù, the mother church of the Jesuit order, an influential example of baroque Counter-Reformation architecture. The floor plan and general design of the Gesù were the work of his older associate Giacomo Vignola.