PISANO, NiccotA (e.1206-78). An Italian sculptor and architect, generally regarded as the founder of the Italian school of sculpture. llis birthplace is a matter of dispute, maintain ing that he was a native of Apulia, whence he brought an art formed upon classical models. It is more likely, however, that lie was born in or• in one of the two Tuscan towns called Puglia. Nievola's study of the antique, especially of Roman sarcophagi, led him to treat the nude, to aim at rich effects of drap ery. and at artistic grouping of figures. Ilia earliest known work is a lunette at the Cathedral of Lucca representing a "Deposition from the Cross," the "Nativity of Christ," and the ''Adorn Lion of the _Magi" (e.1237). His master piece is the famous six-sided marble pulpit of the baptistery at Pisa, finished in 1260; the body of the pulpit decorated with five reliefs rests on Corinthian columns. Between the reliefs are charming statuettes and the columns rest on lions. A figure of the high priest seems copied from that of all Indian Brice!' US and others from a Roman sarcophagus, still in the Pisan Campo Santo. Among the has-reliefs of the pulpit, which represent scenes from the life of Christ, those of the "Nativity" and "Adoration" are the finest. Niceola's style here appears at its best, in broad, majestic, well-balanced figures. treated in very high relief. In 1205 Nicuida was commissioned to execute a similar pulpit for the cathedral at Siena, to which city lie probably trans ferred his studio, as he was assisted in its execution by his son, Giovanni Pisano (q.v.), and his other pupils, Ai'nolfo (q.v.), Lap° Goro, and Donato. This pulpit was completed in 1268, and while even richer in form and sculp ture than that at Pisa, has less unity of style.
AIP:tucc•hile (1265) Niccola had furnished a col league, Guglielmo Agnelli, with the designs for a monumental carved marble shrine for the Church of San Domenico at Bologna, completed in 1267, the "Area di San Domenico;" none of the reliefs or statues, however, was executed by his hand. Shortly before his death he designed, in 1274, and partly decorated with sculptures the beautiful public fountain at Perugia (see FouNTAnc), completed by his son Giovanni; the statuettes rather than the reliefs are supposed to be by the father's hand.
As a sculptor Nieeola first freed Italian art from the shackles of imperfect technique, created individual types, and had an ideal of beauty. fie was rather the culmination of the Romanesque epoch than the creator of a new style. His son Giovanni Pisano (q.v.) was the real founder of the Italian Gothic school of sculpture, slender, dramatic, and allegorical, in contrast to the heavy, calm, and classic styli.: of Nieeola. Nie cola's works as an architect are less certain. The buildings attributed to him by Vasari. in his Life of the artist, tire nearly all of problematic authenticity. He is known to have built in Pisa, and probably San Nicola (especially the tower) and Santa Caterina are by him; possibly even Santa Trinitii in Florence. Consult: Dobbert. Ccher den Ptil .Vireol(1 PiRanCIS 1111d (lessen Fr sprn nu (1\lunieh, 1S73) ; id., "Die Pisani," in Dohme, Kunst vnd K Rustler Maims (Leipzig, 1878).