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Updated: June 5, 2025
PLATE I. A small portion of a photograph of Nicolo Pisano's Adoration of the Magi, on the pulpit of the Pisan Baptistery. But it may be observed also that there is both a thoughtfulness and a tenderness in the features, whether of the Virgin or the attendant angel, which already indicate an aim beyond that of Greek art. I have only given this general view for convenience of reference.
The pulpit of Niccola da Foggia does not materially differ from other ambones in Italy from several, for instance, in Amalfi and Ravello; while the distinctive features of Niccola Pisano's work the combination of classically studied bas-reliefs with Gothic principles of construction, the feeling for artistic unity in the composition of groups, the mastery over plastic form, and the detached allegorical figures are noticeable only by their total absence from it.
The emotions written on the face became of more importance than the modelling of the limbs, and recourse was had to allegorical symbols or emblematic attitudes for the interpretation of the artist's thought. Andrea Pisano's figure of Hope, raising hands and eyes toward an offered crown, seems but a repetition of the motive expressed by Giotto in the chiaroscuro frescoes of the Arena chapel.
There flashed upon the screen and in quick succession, although the men protested and begged for an extension of exposures, the noble Pisan group and Niccola Pisano's pulpit in the baptistery the horses from the Parthenon frieze the Zeus group from the great altar at Pergamos Theseus and the Centaur the Wrestlers the Discus Thrower and, last, the exquisite little church of Saint Mary of the Thorn, the Arno's jewel, the seafarers' own, that looks out over the Pisan waters to the Mediterranean.
The fascinatingly pretty building at the corner, opposite Pisano's Baptistery doors, is the Bigallo, in the loggia of which foundling children used to be displayed in the hope that passers-by might pity them sufficiently to make them presents or even adopt them; but this custom continues no longer. The Bigallo was designed, it is thought, by Orcagna, and it is worth the minutest study.
The church of S. Sigismondo, outside Cremona, is very interesting for the unity of style in its architecture and decoration. The Pulpits of Pisa and Ravello Having tried to characterise Niccola Pisano's relation to early Italian art in the second chapter of this volume, I adverted to the recent doubts which have been thrown by very competent authorities upon Vasari's legend of this master. Messrs.
A short way with Veronese critics Giotto's missing spire Donatello's holy men Giotto as encyclopaedist The seven and twenty reliefs Ruskin in American At the top of the tower A sea of red roofs The restful Baptistery Historic stones An ex-Pope's tomb Andrea Pisano's doors Ghiberti's first doors Ghiberti's second doors Michelangelo's praise A gentleman artist.
Among the most distinguished scholars of Niccola Pisano's tradition must now be mentioned Andrea da Pontadera, called Andrea Pisano, who carried the manner of his master to Florence, and helped to fulfil the destiny of Italian sculpture by submitting it to the rising art of painting.
Ruskin, I may say, believes several of the carvings to be from Giotto's own chisel as well as design, but other and more modern authorities disagree, although opinion now inclines to the belief that the designs for Pisano's Baptistery doors are also his. Such thoroughness and ingenuity were all in Giotto's way, and they certainly suggest his active mind.
The bald head on the right door is a portrait of Ghiberti; that of the old man on the left is his father, who helped him to polish the original competition plaque. Although commissioned for the south side they were placed where they now are, on the east, as being most worthy of the position of honour, and Pisano's doors, which used to be here, were moved to the south, where they now are.
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