Sculptor, architect, and engineer, probably born in Apulia, SE Italy. His first great work was the sculpted panels for the pulpit in the Baptistery in Pisa, finished in 1260, whose powerful dramatic composition was carved in high relief. He collaborated with his son Giovanni on a pulpit for the cathedral at Siena (1268), and on the Fontana Maggiore in Perugia. Although working in a traditional Gothic style, he studied classical sculpture, and incorporated this into his own work.
Nicola Pisano (also called Niccolò Pisano, Nicola de Apulia or Nicola Pisanus) (1220-1225 in Apulia, probably 1278, but before 1284) was an Italian sculptor whose work is noted for its classical Roman sculptural style.
Early life
His birth date or origins are uncertain.
Around 1245 he moved to Tuscany to work at the Prato Castle.
He moved to Lucca, working at façade of the Cathedral of Saint Martin, resulting in the relief Deposition (on the north tympanum) and the lintel reliefs Nativity and Adoration of the Magi.
Pulpit of the Pisa baptistery
He moved to Pisa between 1245 and 1250, where his son Giovanni was born.
In this pulpit, considered one of his masterworks, he succeeded in making a synthesis of the French Gothic style with the Classical style of ancient Rome, as he had seen on the sarcophagi of the Camposanto in Pisa. These Roman sculptures from Augustan times seem to have deeply impressioned Nicola Pisano.
The pulpit rests on a central column, raised on an octogonal pedestal. This central column rest on sculptures of animals and telamons and is surrounded by six columns of different height, three
of which rest on a lion, while the other three rest on the octogonal base.
The hexagonal pulpit itself consist of five scenes in white Carrara marble from the Life of Christ : the Nativity, the Annunciation, the Annunciation to the Shepherds are juxtaposed in the first relief, the Adoration of the Magi, , the Presentation, the Crucifixion and the Last Judgement.
Between 1260 and 1264 he finished the work of the architect Diotisalvi on the dome of the baptistery.
Shrine of Saint Dominic (Bologna)
During 1264 he was asked to work on the Shrine of Saint Dominic in the Basilica of San Domenico in Bologna. In 1265 he was already at work on the pulpit for the Siena Cathedral. The front side was done in his workshop, partially by Nicola Pisano himself but mostly by his assistant Lapo di Ricevuto. It would almost take 500 years to finish this shrine through the work of famous sculptors : Arnolfo di Cambio, fra Guglielmo da Pisa, Niccolò dell' Arca, the young Michelangelo, Girolamo Coltellini and Giovanni Batista Boudard. The expressive face of saint Dominic, so different from the more blander faces in the front panel "Saint Dominic resurrects Napoleone Orsini", is attributed to Arnolfo di Cambio.
Pulpit of the Siena Cathedral
In September 1265 he was given his next major assignment : a marble pulpit for the Siena Cathedral. This pulpit, made of Carrara marble, was sculpted between the end of 1265 and November 1268 with the extensive participation of his son Giovanni Pisano and his assistants Arnolfo di Cambio, Lapo di Ricevuto and several other artists.
This is the earliest remaining work in the cathedral. Nicola Pisano was given this commission due to his fame by the Pisa pulpit. This pulpit, resembling the Pisa pulpit, is even more ambitious and is considered his masterpiece.
The pulpit is octagonal in shape.
On the middle level, the trefoil arches between the eight columns are separated by small statues, representing the Christian Virtue. In the spandrels, the space between the trefoils and the statues, Pisano has included statuettes of Sibyls, the Evangelists and Prophets, announcing the salvation of mankind.
The seven scenes on the top level of the pulpit explore further the theme of salvation.
The seven scenes on the parapet narrate the Life of Christ.
Visitation and Nativity Journey and Adoration of the Magi Presentation in the Temple and Flight into Egypt Massacre of the Innocents Crucifixion Last Judgment with the Blessed Last Judgment with the DamnedThis pulpit expresses in deeper extent the French Gothic style, adopted by Nicola Pisano, while still showing a more measured classical Roman influence.
Pistoia and Perugia
In July 1273 Nicola Pisano was commissioned by the Operai di San Jacopo of Pistoia to make the altar of San Jacopo in the cathedral of San Zeno. Giovanni Pisano would later make his first pulpit in the same cathedral.
His last major commission was the Great Fountain at Perugia (1277-1278). The fountain certainly shows the delicate hand of Nicolò Pisano, but most sculpting was executed by his son Giovanni Pisano and his assistants.
Nicola Pisano has pushed 13th century Tuscan sculpture in the direction of a Gothic art that still has the noble features of Roman art, while simultaneously integrating Gothic art from Northern Europe.
Giorgio Vasari included a biography of Nicola Pisano in his Lives.
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