SCULPTURE

NICCOLO AND GIOVANNI PISANO. -(1205-1278.)

THERE can be no doubt that Tuscany was the cradle of the Renaissance of sculpture, for though the precedence has been claimed for Apulia, the works of sculpture which decorate the eleventh and twelfth century monuments in that part of Italy are more or less of a Saracenic or Byzantine type. Pisano, who may be regarded as the originator of Tuscan art, was not a native of Florence, and his place of birth is uncertain, though he is generally believed to have been born at Siena. He was a man of genius, in the full acceptation of the term, for he was the creator and founder of a great school. He at first devoted his attention to architecture, and at sixteen years of age followed the Emperor Frederick H. to Naples, where be is supposed to have remained twelve years, during which period he undoubtedly worked at the celebrated Castel dell' Ovo and the Castel Capuano. From Naples he went to Padua, where he is said to have superintended the building of the church erected in honor of San Antonio, the famous Santo of whom the city of Padua is so proud, though there is no direct proof of his having taken part in this great work. From Padua he went to Lucca, where he first gave evidence of his skill as a sculptor, carving a "Descent front the Cross " for one of the side doors of the cathedral of San Martino. This work was in his early manner, the outcome of his natural acquirements and personal observations, and to this period doubtless belong the Madonna, the St. Dominic, and the Magdalene on the Misericordia Vecchia at Florence this Madonna being the prototype of all the subsequent Madonnas of the Pisan School.

Henceforth his labors as an architect and sculptor were blended together, but it is difficult to assign an exact date to each of his works. He built the Santa Trinita Church at Florence restored in 1593 by Buontalenti San Domenico d'Arezzo, the Duomo at Volterra, the Pieva, and Santa Margherita at Cortona. In 1260, by which time his fame both as a sculptor and an architect was firmly established, be executed the beautiful pulpit in the Baptistery of Pisa, which may be regarded as one of those works which inspire a whole school. In this creation he shows the influence of the ancient sculptures which had conic tinder his observation as, for instance, the sarcophagus containing the ashes of the wife of Boniface Marquis of Tuscany, and mother of the celebrated Countess Matilda who died in 1076. He also altered the accepted shape which had been adopted from the earliest ages of Christianity, conforming himself, however, to the traditions of the Lombard Church, by letting the columns of the pulpit rest upon the backs of lions. As a proof of his having been in some measure inspired by antique art, the fact of his having taken from the Campo Santo of Pisa the bearded Bacchus of the Greek vase has often been mentioned by writers on this subject.

From Pisa Niccolo .went to Bologna, where he fashioned the sarcophagus for the remains of San Domenico (the Arca di San Domenico), which is one of the marvels of that city. The ashes of the saint were placed in it on the 12th of June, 1267, as we know by the documents brought to light by Professor Bonaini, but Niccolo had started the year before for Siena, where he arranged to carve the cathedral pulpit, leaving his pupil Guglielmo Agnelli to complete a few unfinished details. The pulpit at Siena was erected with the assistance of his son Giovanni, and of his pupils, Arnolfo di Cambio, Donato, and Lapo. It is octagon in shape, and rests upon nine columns. The upper part has six panels, filled in with bas-reliefs representing the Nativity, the Adoration of the Alagi, the Flight into Egypt, the Massacre of the Innocents, the Crucifixion, and the Last Judgment. The centre pillar is surrounded by allegorical figures, in semi-relief, of Astronomy, Grammar, Dialectics, Philosophy, Arithmetic, Geometry, and Music.

The frequent journeys of Pisano from town to town, and the great works which he executed in each, naturally exercised no little influence upon art in the places which he visited, and at Siena more especially he acted as a pioneer for all the sculptors of a later date.

The name of Pisano is connected with one of the bloodiest episodes in the history of his time the execution of Conradin, by order of Charles of Anjou, after the battle of Tagliacozzo for he was employed to build an abbey and convent upon the battlefield, to receive the remains of the dead. There is not, however, a single stone of these buildings now standing, the name of Santa Maria della Vittoria, given to a neighboring church, alone remaining to indicate the spot.

In 1274 Pisano was at Perugia, where he erected the beautiful fountain which may be said to embody in its decorations the attributes of many of the cities which he had previously visited. This fountain comprises twenty-four statuettes attributed to Niccolo, fifty bas-reliefs done by his son Giovanni, and a basin from which springs a column bearing up a bronze Tazza, from which, in turn, springs another column surrounded by nymphs, and surmounted by the griffins of Perugia and a lion. The magistrates of Perugia set so much store by this fountain that severe edicts were issued to insure its preservation from damage.

Pisano was the founder of Tuscan sculpture, and exercised an influence, the extent of which cannot well be exaggerated, upon after generations. Perkins, in his " Tuscan Sculptors," well says of him, "Respected and esteemed by all, he is one of the truly great men to whom the whole world owes an undying debt of gratitude, and he stands out like a beacon light in the darkness of these five centuries. What Dante was to Italian literature, Niccolo Pisano was to Italian art."