- Andrea Pisano
Andrea Pisano (
Pontedera , 1290 –Pontedera , 1347 [Murray, P. & L. (1996). "Dictionary of art and artists". Penguin Books. ISBN 0-14-051300-0.] ), also known as Andrea da Pontedera, was an Italian sculptor andarchitect .He first learned the trade of a goldsmith. [CathEncy|wstitle=Andrea Pisano] Pisano then became a pupil of
Mino di Giovanni , about 1300, and worked with him on the sculpture for S. Maria della Spina atPisa and elsewhere. He made his chief works in Florence, and the formation of his mature style was due rather toGiotto di Bondone than to his earlier master. Of the three world-famed bronze doors of the Baptistery in Florence, the earliest one that on the south side was Pisano's work; he started it in 1330, finishing in 1336. It consists of a number of small quatrefoil panels the lower eight containing single figures of the Virtues, and the rest scenes from the life ofJohn the Baptist .Andrea Pisano, while living in Florence, also produced many important works of marble sculpture, all of which show strongly Giotto's influence. In 1340 he succeeded Giotto as Master of the Works of
Florence Cathedral . There he produced a series of reliefs, possibly designed by his former teacher as, for instance, the double band of panel-reliefs which Pisano executed for the great campanile. The subjects of these are the "Four Great Prophets", the "Seven Virtues", the "Seven Sacraments", the "Seven Works of Mercy" and the "Seven Planets". The duomo contains the chief of Pisano's other Florentine works in marble. In 1347 he became Master of the Works atOrvieto Cathedral , which had already been designed and begun byLorenzo Maitani . These and the aforementioned doors are Pisano's only known works. Pisano also contributed to freeingmodern art from Byzantine influence. The exact date of his death is not known, but it must have been shortly before the year 1349.Andrea Pisano had two sons, Nino and Tommaso. Both, especially the former, succeeded him as Master of the Works at Orvieto Cathedral.
Giorgio Vasari includes a biography of Andrea Pisano in his "Lives".Pisano's chief pupil was Andrea di Cione, better known as
Andrea Orcagna . Another pupil,Giovanni di Balduccio , executed the shrine ofSant'Eustorgio at Milan.References
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