Ippolito Scalza (1532 – 22 December 1617) was a sculptor and architect of the Italian Renaissance, active in his native Orvieto as well as Todi and other towns in Umbria.
Biography and works
Group of the Pieta
Ippolito was born in Orvieto to a family of moderate resources; his father was likely a mason in the Fabbrica (construction works) of the Duomo of this town.[1] Three of his siblings, Francesco, Alessandro, and Lodovico, gained training as mosaicists, sculptors, and minor architects. Of Ippolito, the first we see documented of his work is the 1554 completion of cornice molding of a chapel in the cathedral. In 1556, he completed a statue of a St Sebastian for the cathedral.[2] This apparently allowed him to apprentice in the studio of Michelangelo Buonaroti. In 1567, he succeeded Raffaello da Montelupo as architect for the Fabbrica del Duomo.[3] He next sculpted, all for the Duomo, the statue of St Thomas Apostle and, from a single piece of Carrara marble, the Group of the Pieta (1570–1579) located in the Cappella della Madonna di San Brizio.[4] In addition to his many works in the cathedral the following years, he designed various buildings including:[5]
