DEL DUCA, JACOPO. - Sicilian architect and sculptor; b. perhaps at Cefalù, about 1520; assistant in Michelangelo’s workshop during the last years of the great master’s life; d. at Messina about 1601.
As an architect, he collaborated on and carried out Michelangelo’s designs for Porta Pia, the Palazzo dei Conservatori, and the transformation of part of the Baths of Diocletian into the church of S. Maria degli Angeli; independently, he built the fine gate of S. Giovanni, perhaps making use of a drawing by Michelangelo, the lantern, the bell tower, and the side doors of the church of S. Maria di Loreto, the church of S. Maria in Trivio, and the adjoining convent. The Palazzo del Bufalo and the Villa Mattei, much altered, are also attributed to him.
As a sculptor, his principal works are the bronze ciborium decorated with eight panels depicting scenes of the Passion, intended for the church of S. Maria degli Angeli, likewise inspired by Michelangelo and now in the picture gallery of the National Museum of Naples, as well as the tomb of Elena Savelli in S. Giovanni in Laterano.
An excellent bronze founder, he was also an architect of considerable merit, if only as a faithful interpreter of Michelangelo’s ideas.