PISANO, NICOLA

(active 1258-1278)

Italian sculptor, credited with introducing the Gothic vocabulary to Tuscany. Nicola is believed to have been born in Apulia, then ruled by Frederick II (d. 1250) who brought French masters, mainly architects, to his kingdom, and this is how the sculptor may have been exposed to the Gothic style. In 1258, Nicola is documented in Pisa. His best-known commission is thepulpitfor the Pisan Baptistery (1255-1260), a work he signed and dated. For this building, he also provided exterior sculptures (c. 1278), including the figures of the arcade on the second level, the Gothictraceryabove it, and the half-figures of Christ and theVirgin Mary, John the Baptist, and other saints at the points of the tracery. In 1265, Nicola was in Siena executing a pulpit for the cathedral, a commission completed in 1268. He was also involved in the execution of an elaborate fountain, theFontana Maggiore, in Perugia (fin. 1278) along with his son,Giovanni Pisano. Nicola's work mingles the French Gothic style with ancient Roman elements, as exemplified by his pulpit in Pisa. Here, the overall form is Gothic (the trilobed columns and the lions that support them), yet the individualreliefsmake extensive use of ancient prototypes.