Nicola Pisano

(b c. 1220-25; d before 1284).

Two documents drawn up in Siena on 11 May 1266 describe Nicola as 'de Apulia'; in his signed works and other documents he appears as 'Pisanus'. This has caused controversy over his origins, but he is now thought to have been trained in the Apulian workshops of Emperor Frederick II, perhaps those at Castel del Monte, and to have moved to Tuscany c. 1245, working on projects associated with Frederick, such as Prato Castle. This would have brought him into contact with artists and craftsmen from the Mediterranean lands and from north of the Alps, where a new figure style was emerging in the cathedral workshops of the Ile-de-France and Germany; he would also have worked alongside Cistercian builders who later went to Tuscany under Frederick's protection, to work at S Galgano Abbey, near Pisa. In the imperial workshops the representational traditions of Classical art were given new life and spiritual force, and there was concern to convey movement, emotion and the signs of age and illness. This new art was encouraged by Frederick, who favoured the fusion of Classical with Christian traditions as an instrument of policy. The lifelike features that characterize it can be seen, for example, in the Barletta bust (c. 1231; Barletta, Mus.-Pin. Com.), which is almost certainly a portrait of Frederick himself, dressed as a Roman emperor: deep wrinkles line the face and the folds of the mantle seem to flutter in the breeze. At Castel del Monte, the fragmentary 'Molaioli' portrait head shows the marks of age and suffering and the wrinkled telamons supporting the vaults are animated by violent grimaces.

Part of the Pisano family

See the Abbreviations for further details.