FONTANA, DOMENICO (1543-1607)

This article appears in Volume V10, Page 607 of the Encyclopedia Britannica.

Encyclopedia Britannica - Main :: FLA-FRA

FONTANA, DOMENICO (1543-1607) , Italian architect and
mechanician, was born at Mili, a

village

VILLAGE

on the Lake of Como, in 1543. After a good training in mathematics, he went in 1563 to join his elder brother, then studying architecture at Rome.
He made rapid progress, and was taken into the service of Cardinal Montalto, for whom he erected a chapel in the church of Santa Maria

Maggiore

MAGGIORE, LAGO (Lacus Verbanus of the Romans; Fr. Lac Majeur; Ger. Langensee)

and the villa Negroni. When the cardinal's pension was stopped by the

pope

, Gregory XIII.,

Fontana

volunteered to complete the works in hand at his own expense. The cardinal being soon after elected

pope

, under the name of Sixtus V., he immediately appointed

Fontana

his

chief

CHIEF (from Fr. chef, head, Lat. caput)

architect. Amongst the works executed by him were the Lateran palace, the palace of Monte Cavallo (the Quirinal), the Vatican library, &c. But the undertaking which brought Fontana the highest repute was the removal of the

great

GREAT

Egyptian obelisk, which had been brought to Rome in the reign of Caligula, from the place where it lay in the

circus

CIRCUS (Lat. circus, Gr. Kipeos or Kptxot, a ring or' circle; probably " circus " and " ring " are of the same origin)

of the Vatican. Its erection in front of St Peter's he accomplished in 1586. After the death of Sixtus V., charges were brought against Fontana of misappropriation of public moneys, and Clement VIII. dismissed him from his post (1592). This appears to have been just in time to save the Colosseum from being converted by Fontana into a huge cloth factory, according to a project of Sixtus V. Fontana was then called to Naples, and accepted the appointment of architect to the viceroy, the

count

COUNT (Lat. comes, gen. comitis, Fr. comte, Ital. conte, Span. conde)

of Miranda. At Naples he built the royal palace, constructed several canals and projected a new harbour and bridge, which he did not live to execute. The only literary

work

WORK

left by him is his account of the removal of the obelisk (Rome, 1590). He died at Naples in 1607, and was honoured with a public funeral in the church of Santa Anna. His plan for a new harbour at Naples was carried out only after his death. His son Giulio Cesare succeeded him as royal architect in Naples, the university of that town being his best-known building.

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