Nicola Pisano
Nicola Pisano (also called Niccolò Pisano, Nicola de Apulia or Nicola Pisanus; c. 1220/1225 – c. 1284[1]) was an Italian sculptor whose work is noted for its classical Roman sculptural style. Pisano is sometimes considered to be the founder of modern sculpture.[2]
Early life
His birth date or origins are uncertain. He was born in Apulia, as the son of "Petrus de Apulia", as stated in the archives of the Cathedral of Siena.[citation needed] Nicola Pisano was probably trained in the local workshops of the emperor Frederick II, and he attended his coronation.[3] Here he was trained to give to the traditional representations more movement and emotions, intertwining Classical and Christian traditions. His only remaining works from this period are two griffon heads with a soft chiaroscuro effect.
Around 1245 he moved to Tuscany to work at the Prato Castle. The lions on the portal of this castle are probably by his hand. "The head of a young girl" (now displayed in the Museo del Palazzo Venezia in Rome), cut in the hardstone of Elba, is also ascribed to Nicola Pisano in the same period.
He moved to
Pulpit of the Pisa baptistery
He moved to
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 probably learned in South Italy and must have seen on the
The pulpit rests on seven columns. A raised central column is supported by sculptures of animals and
The hexagonal pulpit itself consists of five
The scene The Last Judgement was probably based on a
Another inspiration for this pulpit he may have found also in the triumphal arches he could have seen in Rome when travelling to Ostia. The form of this pulpit diverges completely from contemporary art. The sculptures are represented in the same manner as those of the Arch of Constantine in Rome, with the figures standing atop columns. Furthermore, the same arch has an attic storey with sculpted scenes, as does the pulpit.Ref?
Between 1260 and 1264 he finished the work of the architect Diotisalvi on the dome of the baptistery.Ref? He increased its height with a system of two domes: a small truncated cone on top of the hemispherical dome. The two rows of traceried gables were later decorated by his son Giovanni Pisano between 1277 and 1284.
Shrine of Saint Dominic (Bologna)
During 1264 he was asked to work on the
Siena Cathedral Pulpit
In September 1265 he was given his next major assignment: a marble pulpit for 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 but larger, is even more ambitious and is considered his masterpiece. The whole message of the pulpit is concerned with the doctrine of Salvation and the Last Judgment.
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 Pistoia Cathedral. He worked on it together with his son Giovanni. The chapel of San Jacopo was demolished in 1786. The Holy Water stoup with its three female figures was probably sculpted at the same time. Giovanni Pisano would later make his first pulpit in the same cathedral.
His last major commission was the relief panels on the Fontana Maggiore ("Great Fountain") at Perugia (1277–1278). Fra Bevignate and Boninsegna designed the fountain with three superposed basins. The fountain certainly shows the delicate hand of Nicolò Pisano, but most sculpting was executed by his son Giovanni Pisano and his assistants. By its richness in details and by its iconography, this last work shows a rapprochement to French Gothic art.
Conclusion
Although influenced by the works of Classical Antiquity, Nicola was not simply an imitator. His figures are original creations that came into being through a thorough study and understanding of the antique prototypes and the reinstating of antique representations. His works are the most important precursors of Italian Renaissance sculpture. Surveys of Italian Renaissance art often begin with the year 1260, the year that Nicola Pisano dated his pulpit in the Pisa baptistery.
On the other hand, as the pulpit of the Siena Cathedral shows, Nicola Pisano was still attached to contemporary Gothic art. This characteristic may arise because this pulpit was finished by his son Giovanni Pisano who did not appreciate Antiquity in the same manner. Both styles coexisted for several generations. International Gothic and its variations became briefly more popular in the Early 15th century than the Classicism of the High Renaissance.
Nicola Pisano has pushed 13th-century Tuscan sculpture in the direction of art that integrated the features of Roman art, while simultaneously staying attached to the Gothic art from Northern Europe. The true inheritor of Nicola's classical style was Arnolfo di Cambio (c. 1250–1302), whose early death left the field clear for Giovanni Pisano, who, by then, was already pursuing his own mixture of French Gothic and the classical style.
Giorgio Vasari included a biography of Nicola Pisano in his Lives.
Notes
- ISBN 0-7172-5300-7..
- ^ Michael Greenhalgh (1978). "Nicola Pisano and Giotto: Founders of Renaissance Classicism". Retrieved 2007-09-18.
- ^ "Niccola Pisano". Catholic Encyclopedia.
- ^ Pope-Hennessy, John (1996) [1955]. Italian Gothic Sculpture. An Introduction to Italian Sculpture. Vol. 1 (4th ed.). London: Phaidon. pp. 16, 229.
- ^ Giorgio Vasari - The Lives of the Painters, Sculptors & Architects, Volume 1 online
- ^ Pope-Hennessy 1996, p. 230.
- ^ Pope-Hennessy 1996, p. 230.
- ^ Pope-Hennessy 1996, p. 16.
References
- Benezit, E. (1976). Dictionnaire des Peintres, Sculpteurs, Dessinateurs et Graveurs (in French). Paris: ISBN 2-7000-0155-9.
- public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Pisano, Niccola". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. This article incorporates text from a publication now in the