Guiniforte Solari also known as Boniforte, was an Italian

Italian people

The Italian people are an ethnic group that share a common Italian culture, ancestry and speak the Italian language as a mother tongue. Within Italy, Italians are defined by citizenship, regardless of ancestry or country of residence , and are distinguished from people...

 sculptor, architect and engineer.

Born 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 ,...

, he was the son of the architect Giovanni Solari

Giovanni Solari

Giovanni Solari was an Italian architect and engineer.He was born in Milan, the son of the architect Marco Solari, who was chief of the works of the Duomo of Milan. Giovanni Solari directed the construction of the Certosa di Pavia from 1428 to 1462 and that of the Duomo from 1452 to 1469. He was...

, and brother of Francesco Solari

Francesco Solari

thumb|240px|Madonna with Child, church of Sant'Angelo, Milan.Francesco Solari was an Italian sculptor, architect and engineer.He was born in Milan, the son of Giovanni Solari and the brother of Guiniforte Solari....

.

Guiniforte was chief engineer of the Duchy of Milan

Duchy of Milan

The Duchy of Milan , was created on the 1st of may 1395, when Gian Galeazzo Visconti, Lord of Milan, purchased a diploma for 100,000 Florins from King Wenceslaus. It was this diploma that installed, Gian Galeazzo as Duke of Milan and Count of Pavia...

 during his life. He is especially remembered for his disputes with Filarete

Filarete

Antonio di Pietro Averlino , also "Averulino", known as Filarete was an Italian Renaissance architect, sculptor and architectural theorist from Florence. He is perhaps best remembered for his design of the ideal city of Sforzinda, the first ideal city plan of the Renaissance.-Biography:Antonio di...

, who had been called by Duke Francesco I Sforza

Francesco I Sforza

Francesco I Sforza was an Italian condottiero, the founder of the Sforza dynasty in Milan, Italy. He was the brother of Alessandro, with whom he often fought.-Early life:...

 to modernize the Lombard architecture according the new Renaissance

Renaissance

The Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Italy in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe. The term is also used more loosely to refer to the historical era, but since the changes of the Renaissance were not...

 styles. However, Solari represented the local Gothic

Gothic architecture

Gothic architecture is a style of architecture that flourished during the high and late medieval period. It evolved from Romanesque architecture and was succeeded by Renaissance architecture....

 tradition.

Buildings which he worked on include the Duomo, the church of Santa Maria delle Grazie

Santa Maria delle Grazie (Milan)

Santa Maria delle Grazie is a church and Dominican convent in Milan, northern Italy, included in the UNESCO World Heritage sites list...

 and the Ospedale Maggiore

Ospedale Maggiore

The Ospedale Maggiore, traditionally named Ca' Granda , is a building in the center of Milan, northern Italy, constructed to house one of the first community hospitals, the largest such undertaking of the fifteenth century...

 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 the Certosa of Pavia. Also attributed to him is the Portinari Chapel

Portinari Chapel

The Portinari Chapel is a Renaissance chapel at the Basilica of Sant'Eustorgio, Milan, northern Italy. Commenced in 1460 and completed in 1468, it was commissioned by Pigello Portinari as a private sepulchre and to house a silver shrine given by Archbishop Giovanni Visconti in 1340 containing the...

, in the church of Sant'Eustorgio, Milan.

He died in Milan around 1481. His son Pietro

Pietro Antonio Solari

Pietro Antonio Solari , also known as Pyotr Fryazin, was a Swiss Italian architect....

was also a distinguished sculptor and architect.