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NICCOLA PISANO (c. 1206-1278)

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Originally appearing in Volume V21, Page 649 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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NICCOLA See also:

PISANO (c. 1206-1278)  , See also:Italian sculptor and architect . Though he called himself Pisanus, from See also:Pisa, where most of his See also:life was spent, he was not a See also:Pisan by See also:birth . There are two distinct accounts of his parentage, both derived mainly from existing documents . According to one of these he is said to have been the son of " Petrus, a See also:notary of See also:Siena;" but this statement is very doubtful, especially as the word " Siena " or " de Senis " appears to be a conjectural addition . Another document among the archives of the Sienese See also:Cathedral calls him son of " Petrus de See also:Apulia." Most See also:modern writers accept the latter statement, and believe that he not only was a native of the See also:province of Apulia in See also:southern See also:Italy, but also that he gained there his See also:early instruction in the arts of See also:sculpture and See also:architecture . Those, on the other See also:hand, who, with most of the older writers, prefer to accept the theory of Niccola's origin being Tuscan, suppose that he was a native of a small See also:town called Apulia near See also:Lucca . Except through his See also:works, but little is known of the See also:history of Niccola's life . As early as 1221 he is said to have been summoned to See also:Naples by See also:Frederick II., to do See also:work in the new See also:Castel del I'Uovo . This fact supports the theory of his southern origin, though not perhaps very strongly, as, some years before, the Pisan Bonannus had been chosen by the See also:Norman See also:king as the sculptor to See also:cast one of the See also:bronze doors for See also:Monreale Cathedral, where it still exists . The earliest existing piece of sculpture which can be attributed to Niccola is a beautiful See also:relief of the Deposition from the See also:Cross in the tympanum of the See also:arch of a See also:side See also:door at See also:San Martino at Lucca; it is remarkable for its graceful See also:composition and delicate finish of See also:execution . The date is about 1237 . In 1260, as an incised inscription records, he finished the See also:marble See also:pulpit for the Pisan See also:baptistery; this is on the whole the finest of his works .

It is a high octagon, on semicircular See also:

arches, with See also:trefoil cusps, supported by nine marble columns, three of which See also:rest on See also:white marble lions . In See also:design it presents that curious See also:combination of See also:Gothic forms with classical details which is one of the characteristics of the See also:medieval architecture of See also:northern Italy; though much enriched with sculpture both in relief and in the See also:round, the See also:general lines of the design are not sacrificed to this, but the sculpture is kept subordinate to the whole . In this respect it is See also:superior to the more magnificent pulpit at Siena, one of Niccola's later works, which suffers greatly from want of repose and purity of outline, owing to its being overloaded with reliefs and statuettes . Five of the sides of the See also:main octagon have panels with subjects—the Nativity, the See also:Adoration of the Magi, the Presentation in the See also:Temple, the Crucifixion and the See also:Doom . These are all, especially the first three, works of the highest beauty, and a wonderful advance on anything of the sort that had been produced by Niccola's predecessors . The drapery is gracefully arranged in broad See also:simple folds; the heads are full of the most See also:noble dignity; and the sweet yet stately beauty of the Madonna could hardly be surpassed . The See also:panel with the Adoration of the Magi is perhaps the one in which Niccola's study of the See also:antique is most apparent (see figure) . The veiled and diademed figure of the Virgin See also:Mother, seated on a See also:throne, recalls the See also:Roman See also:Juno; the See also:head of See also:Joseph behind her might be that of See also:Vulcan; while the youthful beauty of an See also:Apollo and the mature dignity of a See also:Jupiter are suggested by the See also:standing 2 See See also:Schultz, Denkmdler der Kunst in Unter-Italien. vii . 5 . and kne See also:ling figures of the Magi . Certain figures in others of the panels are no less deeply imbued with classical feeling . The next important work of Niccola in date is the See also:Area di San Domenico, in the See also:church at See also:Bologna consecrated to that See also:saint, who died in 1221 .

Only the main See also:

part, the actual See also:sarcophagus covered with sculptured reliefs of St See also:Dominic's life, is the work of Niccola and his pupils . The sculptured See also:base and curved roof with its fanciful ornaments are later additions . This " Arca " The Adoration of the Magi, one of the panels in the pulpit of the Pisan Baptistery, by Niccola See also:Pisano . was made when St Dominic was canonized, and his bones translated; it was finished in 1267, not by Niccola himself, but by his pupils . The most magnificent, though not the most beautiful, of Niccola's works is the See also:great pulpit in Siena cathedral (1268) . It is much larger than that at Pisa, though somewhat similar in general design, being an octagon on cusped arches and columns . Its stairs, and a large landing at the See also:top, with carved balusters and panels, See also:rich with semi-classical foliage, are an addition of about 1500 . The pulpit itself is much overloaded with sculpture, and each relief is far too crowded with figures . An See also:attempt to gain magnificence of effect has destroyed the dignified simplicity for which the earlier pulpit is so remarkable . Niccola's last great work of sculpture was the See also:fountain in the piazza opposite the See also:west end of the cathedral at See also:Perugia . This is a See also:series of basins rising one above another, each with sculptured bas-reliefs; it was begun in 1274, and completed, except the topmost See also:basin, which is of bronze, by Niccola's son and See also:pupil Giovanni . Niccola Pisano was not only pre-eminent as a sculptor, but was also the greatest Italian architect of his See also:century; he designed a number of very important buildings, though not all which are attributed to him by See also:Vasari .

Among those now existing the See also:

chief are the main part of the cathedral at See also:Pistoia, the church and See also:convent of Sta Margherita at See also:Cortona, and Sta Trinity at See also:Florence . The church of Sant' See also:Antonio at See also:Padua has also been attributed to him, but without See also:reason . Unfortunately his architectural works have in most cases been much altered and modernized . Niccola was also a skilled engineer, and was compelled by the Florentines to destroy the great See also:tower, called the Guardamorto, which overshadowed the baptistery at Florence, and had for See also:long been the See also:scene of violent conflicts between the Guelphs and Ghibellines . He managed skilfully so that it should fall without injuring the baptistery . Niccola Pisano died at Pisa in the See also:year 1278, leaving his son Giovanni a worthy successor to his great talents both as an architect and sculptor . Though his importance as a reviver of the old traditions of beauty in See also:art has been to some extent exaggerated by Vasari, yet it is probable that Niccola, more than any other one See also:man, was the means of starting that " new birth " of the plastic arts which, in the years following his See also:death, was so fertile in countless works of the most unrivalled beauty . Both Niccola and his son had many pupils of great See also:artistic See also:power, and these carried the See also:influence of the See also:Pisani throughout See also:Tuscany and northern Italy, so that the whole art of the succeeding generations may be said to have owed the greater part of its rapid development to this one See also:family . See SCULPTURE, and general histories of Italian art; See also:Symonds,See also:Renaissance in Italy; A . Brach, Nicola and Giovanni Pisano and See also:die Plastik See also:des XIV . Jahrhunderts in Siena (See also:Strassburg, 1904) .

End of Article: NICCOLA PISANO (c. 1206-1278)
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