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Andrea Pisano
Italian, c. 1295 - 1348
He was the son of the Pisan Notary Ugolino di Nino and the father of (2) Nino Pisano and (3) Tommaso Pisano. He was a goldsmith, sculptor and Master of the Cathedral Works in both Florence and Orvieto, a position that was not necessarily connected to the function of architect. His artistic importance derives principally from the fact that he adapted the ‘principles of monumental painting’ developed by Giotto ‘to the medium of relief’ (Falk 1940), and by so doing gave a decisive impetus to the development from the Gothic conception of a draped figure towards the weightiness of the Renaissance standing figure with its organically related drapery.
1. Florence.
The only documented works by Andrea Pisano are the reliefs of the bronze doors on the south portal of the Baptistery of Florence, which are signed andreas ugolino nini de pisis me fecit and dated 1330. Originally on the east portal of the Baptistery, they were later moved to accommodate Lorenzo Ghiberti’s doors. Their history is well documented. From the end of 1329 the Florentine goldsmith Piero di Jacopo was working on the design for the frames of the doors, evidently inspired by the frescoed wall decoration of the Pulci Chapel, Santa Croce, Florence; he was later entrusted with their completion after casting. The figural reliefs, depicting twenty scenes from the Life of St John the Baptist (see fig. [not available online] and ) and eight Virtues in quatrefoil frames, were the work of Andrea. From January 1330 to October 1331 the wax models for the frames and reliefs were being prepared for casting, which was carried out between October 1331 and April 1332 by the Venetian bell founder Leonardo Avanzi and two assistants. Andrea, evidently working without assistants, continued to polish and gild the reliefs until August 1333, when he received 98 florins. The first (left) door was completed and hung in the spring of 1333, but the casting of the second wing was not completely successful, and corrective work was begun by the Florentine goldsmith Lippo Dini and finished by Andrea at the end of 1335. The doors were dedicated on the Feast of St John the Baptist on 24 June 1336.
Andrea Pisano’s reliefs are related artistically to the work of the Pistoian goldsmith Andrea di Jacopo d’Ognabene (responsible for the silver altar of 1316 in Pistoia Cathedral), to whom he was probably apprenticed and through whom he may have come into contact with the workshops of Sienese goldsmiths. The sources for Andrea’s technique of placing the figures in front of a plain background can be found in early 14th-century Sienese metalwork and sculpture. French Gothic influences are apparent in the way in which the figures have solid ground under foot instead of being perched on the edge of the lower relief frame. The tender, graceful figures reflect the art of Duccio, while Giotto’s influence is shown in the arrangement of the reliefs in planes and the well-balanced compositions with the elements disposed across the whole surface of the relief. Andrea was clearly already a proficient master by the time he began work on the reliefs, but the only work that may possibly be attributed to an earlier period is the silver crucifix on a reliquary of the Cross (h. 110 mm), the signatures on which include the name andreas, in Massa Marittima Cathedral. The task of producing the bronze doors took Andrea Pisano to the limits of his goldsmith’s art, which may explain why in 1333–4 he extended his range into the realm of monumental sculpture. His early pieces in marble, however, still show the signs of work with soft wax: a small statue of the Virgin and Child (h. 482 mm; Berlin, Skulpgal.) and the statues of Christ and St Reparata (h. 750 and 700 mm; Florence, Mus. Opera Duomo).
The foundation stone of the new campanile of Florence Cathedral was laid in April 1334. The lower third of the tower was built according to Giotto’s plans, and the lower section of the socle and the first floor were carried out under his direction to 1337, but the remaining sections were built from 1337 to 1341 under Andrea Pisano (the middle and upper levels completed by 1359, by Francesco Talenti). According to the account of the contemporary Antonio Pucci, Andrea was dismissed after attempting to deviate from Giotto’s plan, which suggests that he was not an architect. Both levels of the socle were decorated with reliefs, in a coherent iconographic programme. The lower zone (originally with the exception of the north side) bore reliefs with three scenes from Genesis followed by the trovatori del-l’arti [sic] (Ghiberti), the ‘discoverers of the crafts’, while cycles of the Planets, Virtues, the Liberal Arts and the Seven Sacraments decorated the upper socle zone. Directly above were sixteen life-size statues of Sibyls, David, Solomon, Moses and Prophets in niches, eight of which were made in the 14th century. Giotto would have provided the designs for the sculptures (except for the Sacrament reliefs), apparently with the help of Andrea, but the Cathedral Works seem to have employed eight different sculptors, including Andrea and his son Nino, for their execution. Andrea’s contribution has been much debated, but his sculptures can be distinguished by the plasticity of the figures, their relaxed stances and convincing proportions, the sensitive modelling and accurate representation of detail. The following can be attributed to him: the Creation of Adam, the Creation of Eve, the Labours of Adam and Eve, Jabal, Tubalcain, Equitatio, Lanificium, Daedalus, Navigatio, Hercules, Agricultura and Sculptura on the lower socle zone, and Rhetorica and Geometrica on the upper zone; the tympanum relief of the Virgin and Child (835×880 mm) from the small north portal and the statue of Solomon (h. 1.85 m; all now Florence, Mus. Opera Duomo). Under the influence of Giotto and antique art, Andrea achieved a sense of monumentality in these works, a quality that also characterizes the statue of St Stephen (h. 1.77 m; Florence, Mus. Opera Duomo), to be identified with that carved by Andrea for the niche of the Arte di Calimala on Orsanmichele in 1339–40.
2. Pisa and Orvieto.
Around 1341 Andrea Pisano returned to Pisa, where a series of fine sculptures may be attributed to him: an equestrian relief of St Martin (h. 1.37 m; Pisa, S Martino), the Virgin Suckling the Infant Christ (Pisa, Mus. N. & Civ. S Matteo), a group of statues with the Virgin and Child, St Peter and St John the Baptist (h. 1.66 m, 1.65 m, 1.57 m; Pisa, S Maria della Spina) and the over life-size statue of the Virgin and Child over the façade of Pisa cathedral. Vasari and subsequent writers considered these sculptures, and especially also a Virgin and Child in Orvieto (h. 860 mm; Orvieto, Mus. Opera Duomo), to be early works by Andrea’s son Nino Pisano, but later scholars, notably Lányi, identified them as late works by Andrea; the latter’s figures are characterized by quiet balance, relaxed bearing and harmonious proportions, and they show an increasing correspondence to the Classical canon, whereas Nino in his signed statue of the Virgin and Child in S Maria Novella, Florence, created a figure ‘that rises from the bottom to the top in contradiction of the laws of gravity’ (Lányi, 1933). These fundamental differences of approach tend to disprove the idea that father and son worked together on the sculptures, and it seems more likely that Andrea shared a workshop with his sons Nino and Tommaso in a sort of family business, each receiving independent commissions.
In May 1347 Andrea Pisano went to Orvieto to work as Master of the Cathedral Works, although he retained his workshop in Pisa; in early 1348 he had delivered from there a statue of the Virgin and Child as well as two blocks of marble for statues of angels, one of which is attributed to Nino (all Orvieto, Mus. Opera Duomo). The fragment of a tabernacle gable with a relief of the Eucharistic Christ (h. 440 mm; Orvieto, Mus. Opera Duomo) is possibly by Andrea. The gable fragment suggests that Andrea was required to produce statue groups for at least two altars as well as a ciborium. His death in 1348–9 may have been the result of the plague.
G. Kreytenberg. "Pisano (ii)." In Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online, http://www.oxfordartonline.com.proxy.lib.fsu.edu/subscriber/article/grove/art/T067906pg1 (accessed April 11, 2012).
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