PISANO, GIOVANNI (c. 1249–after 1314), Italian archi tect and sculptor, was the son of Niccola Pisano. He developed and extended into other parts of Italy the renaissance of sculp ture initiated by his father. He spent the first part of his life as a pupil and fellow worker of Niccola and appears as his col laborator at the fountain of the great piazza at Perugia. Between 1278 and 1283 he was employed on the cloister, which surrounds the Campo Santo at Pisa. In 1284 Giovanni was appointed "capo maestro" of the new cathedral at Siena. He began the magni 'The date on the door, 1330, refers to the original wax model.
ficent facade. His design, however, was modified by the archi tects who succeeded him. From 1298 to 1301 he was employed on the pulpit of San Andrea at Pistoia. Then followed the pulpit of the cathedral at Pisa, completed in 1311. It was taken to pieces some two hundred years later, but fragments are to be seen at Pisa, and in the Berlin museum. The figures for the tomb of the Empress Margaret, now in the Palazzo Bianco at Genoa, were executed soon after the Empress' death in 1311. A number
of statues of "The Virgin and Child" have been attributed to him on stylistic evidence. Among these the three most important are at Prato; in the Campo Santo, Pisa; and in the Arena chapel at Padua. The Cathedral of Pisa has a fine figure of the Madonna carved in ivory. Giovanni's early work was inspired by his father Niccola. Later his figures and draperies displayed the expressive flow of lines appertaining to the Gothic style. Like the work of most stonemasons in mediaeval times, his sculpture forms part of an architectural design. The subject matter of his carving was dictated by the liturgy of the church, and his inter pretations are imbued with deep religious feeling.
See M. Sauerlandt, Bildwerke des Giovanni Pisano etc. (19o4) ; A. Brach, Nicola and Giovanni Pisano and die Plastik des XIV. Jahr hunderts in Siena (1904) ; I. Supino, Arte Pisana (Florence, 1904), and Pisa (1918) ; V. Lusini, Il duomo dd Siena (Siena, 1911) ; P. Bacei, Dedalo I. p. 319.