Italian sculptor, who occasionally collaborated with his brother Tomaso della Porta. Giovanni Battista's first documented commission (1567) was for ten stuccoed figures of nymphs for the Oval Fountain in the park of the Villa d'Este, Tivoli, which he was to execute following the designs of Pirro Ligorio. In the 1570s Giovanni Battista worked with his brother Tomaso on the Santa Casa, Loreto. Giovanni Battista contributed the sibyls, which combine the style of antique robed figures with that of Guglielmo della Porta's female allegories from the tomb of Paul III. The two brothers also made the statues of Faith and Charity on the tomb of Cardinal Niccolò Caetani (1579; Loreto, Santuario Santa Casa). After the death of Vespasiano Gonzaga in 1591, Giovanni Battista erected an almost identical tomb in the Chiesa dell'Incoronata in Sabbioneta, with the figures of Justice and Fortitude. The seated bronze figure of Vespasian, by Leone Leoni, was inserted later into the central recess. Giovanni Battista also restored antique sculptures and was active as an art dealer. //