NICCOLA PISANO, a distinguished sculptor of Pisa, to the influence of whose works the rise or restoration of sculpture in connection with Gothic architecture is mainly attributable. There is no record of the date of his birth, but from an inscription on a celebrated fountain in Perugia, designed by him and executed by his son Giovanni, it is evident that lie was born at tile beginning of tte 13th century. His earliest work is supposed to be the " Deposition," over one of the doors of the façade of the cathedral at Lucca, dated 1233. He worked on the principle of studying nature, modified or cor rected by the ideal of antique sculpture; and it is said that he first adopted this principle from the sculpture on an ancient sarcophagus brought•frout Greeceltile ships of Pisa; but though most of the finest specimens of Greek sculpture were not discovered till long after Niccola't time, he must have had an opportunity of studying many important remains on the various classic ruins with which Italy abounds. This sculptor's reputation is supported by three important works, which remain and are still admired for their excellence—the pulpit of the baptistery at Pisa, the "area" or shrine of St. Dominic for the church of that saint at Bologna, 'and the pulpit of the cathedral at Siena. The first of these was finished in 1260, mid is reckoned the most elegant pulpit in Italy, It is of white marble, six-sided, supported by seven Corinthian columns, and adorned with five bas-reliefs of subjects from the New Testament. The second work, the "area" of St. Dominic, is one of even greater extent. It is composed of six large bas-reliefs, delin eating the six principal events in the legend of St. Dominic, and is ornamented with statues of our Savior, the virgin, and the four doctors of the church. The operculum or lid was added about 200 years afterwards. The subjects on the pulpit at Siena, the third of these works, are the same as those on that at Pisa, with the substitution of the "Flight into Egypt" and the "Massacre of the Innocents" for the "Presentation"; and the enlargement of the concluding composition, the "Last Judgment." In these com positions there is great felicity of invention and grouping, truth of expression, and grace in the attitudes and draperies; and in that of the "Last Judgment" the boldness dis played in the naked figures, twisted and contorted into every imaginable attitude, is wonderful, and evinces the skill with which Niceola drew on the antique and on nature. But it must be admitted that there is a degree of confusion or overfullness in
the grouping, and that the heads of his figures are often large in proportion to the bodies; faults incidental to all early efforts. In this last work it appears by the contract for its execution that Niccola was assisted by his scholars Lapo and Arnolfo, and his son Giovanni ; and this accounts for a certain feebleness that may be observed in portions of it. He died at Pisa in 1276 or 1277, and was buried in the Campo Santo. Niecola's influence on art extended widely; his pupils Arnolfo and Lapo executed numerous works at Rome, Siena, and other cities. His son and heir in reputation, though not his equal in talent, Giovanni Pisano. was constantly engaged on works of importance; in Pisa, where the Campo Santo (for be was also an architect) was erected from his designs; in Naples, which he visited ou the invitation of Charles I. of Anjou; at Arezzo, where he executed the marble shrine of St. Donato for the cathedral; at Orvieto, the bas-reliefs on the facerata of the Duomo, by many ascribed to Niccola, being by him; at Pistoja, where he executed the pulpit, etc. The year of his death is not ascertained ; it was probably about 1320; After Giovanni's death the Pisan school split into two principal branches, Florence and Siena; that of Naples may also be reckoned a branch, from the influence exercised over it by Giovanni.—ANDREA PtsAxo, the ablest of Giovanni's pupils, was called to Florence to execute in marble the statues, bas-reliefs, etc., designed by Giotto in ornamenting the cathedral of S. Maria del Fiore, then in course of erection. The talent he displayed soon raised him to a high position and important employment. He executed numerous statues for the facade of the cathedral, and a bronze gate for the baptistery, of very great excellence. This gate still exists, along with the later and still more Celebrated gates of Ghiberti. Under the influence of Giotto's genius he became completely Giottesque in thought and style; and his works bear so distinctly the impress of that master-mind that the design of many of them, and particularly the baptistery gate, are ascribed to Giotto. He died in 1315, aged 76. See Vasari; Christian Art, by lord Lindsay; Agincourt, Davin Memorie Istoriche; Rosini, Storia, etc.; Cicognara (tom. i.), Monumenti, Sepolcrali della Toscana.