Dionigi or Dionisio Bussola (1615–1687) was an Italian

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

 sculptor active mainly in Milan

Milan

Milan is the second-largest city in Italy and the capital city of the region of Lombardy and of the province of Milan. The city proper has a population of about 1.3 million, while its urban area, roughly coinciding with its administrative province and the bordering Province of Monza and Brianza ,...

 and its environs during the Baroque

Baroque

The Baroque is a period and the style that used exaggerated motion and clear, easily interpreted detail to produce drama, tension, exuberance, and grandeur in sculpture, painting, literature, dance, and music...

 era.

Bussola was probably born in Lombardy

Lombardy

Lombardy is one of the 20 regions of Italy. The capital is Milan. One-sixth of Italy's population lives in Lombardy and about one fifth of Italy's GDP is produced in this region, making it the most populous and richest region in the country and one of the richest in the whole of Europe...

 around 1615. He trained in Rome

Rome

Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...

 with Ercole Ferrata

Ercole Ferrata

Ercole Ferrata was an Italian sculptor of the Roman Baroque.-Biography:A native of Pellio Inferiore, near Como, Ferrata initially apprenticed with Alessandro Algardi, and became one of his prime assistants...

, then returned to Milan in 1645 to work on statuary for the cathedral there. He also contributed sculptural relief

Relief

Relief is a sculptural technique. The term relief is from the Latin verb levo, to raise. To create a sculpture in relief is thus to give the impression that the sculpted material has been raised above the background plane...

s of the early life of Christ

Christ

Christ is the English term for the Greek meaning "the anointed one". It is a translation of the Hebrew , usually transliterated into English as Messiah or Mashiach...

 to the Certosa of Pavia.

In addition to his work in the Cathedral and Certosa, Bussola is known for the statuary which he produced for the Sacri Monti of Piedmont and Lombardy. The embellishment of these sacri monti (literally “sacred mounts”) became especially popular during the Counter Reformation: they are typically hills dotted with shrines or chapels which contain polychrome tableaux (or sculptural groups) which depict biblical

Bible

The Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...

 or other pious subjects. For nearly two decades (1666-1684), he worked in the sacri monti of Orta San Giulio

Orta San Giulio

Orta San Giulio is a town and comune in the Province of Novara in the Italian region of Piedmont, located about 100 km northeast of Turin and about 40 km northwest of Novara....

, Varallo Sesia

Varallo Sesia

Varallo , commonly known as Varallo Sesia, is a comune and town of c. 7,400 inhabitants in the province of Vercelli in the Piedmont region of Italy...

, Varese

Varese

Varese is a town and comune in north-western Lombardy, northern Italy, 55 km north of Milan.It is the capital of the Province of Varese. The hinterland or urban part of the city is called Varesotto.- Geography :...

, and Domodossola

Domodossola

Domodossola is a city and comune in the Province of Verbano-Cusio-Ossola, in the region of Piedmont, northern Italy...

. For the Sacro Monte of San Francesco

Sacro Monte di Orta

The Sacro Monte di Orta is a Roman Catholic devotional complex in the comune of Orta San Giulio on the summit of a hill known as San Nicolao, which faces the western shore of Lake Orta...

 in Orta alone he created hundreds of terracotta figures.

Bussola had a son Cesare, born in 1653, who also became a sculptor.

Dionigi Bussola died in Milan in 1687.

External links (images)

• A tableau at Orta San Giulio, from the Italian Wikipedia
  Italian Wikipedia
  The Italian Wikipedia is the Italian-language edition of Wikipedia. This edition was created on May 11, 2001 and first edited on June 11, 2001. As of 2011 it has over articles and more than registered accounts...
  
  
• Another tableau at Orta San Giulio, from the Italian Wikipedia.
• A sculptural group depicting the canonosation of Saint Francis from the sacro monte of Orta San Giulio