BUSSOLA, DIONIGI. — Lombard sculptor, d. in 1687. He trained in Rome, in the Berninian and Algardian milieu; from 1645 he worked for Milan Cathedral, executing decorative works and statues: S. Massimo and S. Anastasio (in the transept); S. Andrea (1652), S. Dorotea (1674)—among the finest in modeling and workmanship—Abacuc (1679) on the façade, executed in collaboration with his son Carlo, as was the bas-relief with Caino and Abele (1666). B. also worked for the Certosa di Pavia (bas-reliefs with the Natività di Cristo [1675] and the Strage degli innocenti [1677]). His compositions are well constructed and balanced; the statues are of poorer quality, generally conventional and mannered.
BIBL.: U. Nebbia, La scultura nel duomo di Milano, Milan 1908, p. 215; F. Malaguzzi Valeri, s. V. in Thieme-Becker, V, p. 295 (with bibliography). Elsa Gerlini