Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 16.djvu/80

* PISANIO. 38 PISAREFF. to murder Imogen; but, allowing her to escape, he deceives Posthunius, by means of a bloody handkerchief, into believing that she is dead. PISANO, i>.'-zU'nu, Andhea. See Andrea di VCOI.INO. PISANO, (iio.vA.NNl (C.12o0-1320). One of the greatest bi'ulptors (if niedia-val Italy. He was a son of Xiceola Tisano, and was probably born at Pisa, where he entered his father's workshop as apprentice. His earliest recorded work is his share in the superb pulpit at Siena (12GGG7). (See PiSAXO, NiccoLA.) The crowded composi- tion and dramatic quality of his pulpit was prob- ably due largely to Giovanni, whn differed in these qualities from his father. This tendency was still held in check in such early works as the reliefs and statuettes of the fountain at Porufria (1274-78) and the deeiirations of Santa Maria della Spina at Pisa, it was fully developed in the pulpit of Sant' Andrea at Pistoia (1.300), where the "Crucifixion" and the "Massacre of the Inno- cents" are particularly dramatic and tense, not to sav exaggerated. This tendency to realism was also shown in the heads of many of his statues, which are character studies rather than types. A good instance of this, as well as of his love of allegorical subjects, is the group in the Campo Santo, Pisa, of four figures symliolizing the vir- tues characteristic of Pisa, whose figure crowns the group. The explanation of Giovanni's style lies in the fact that he was the first Italian sculptor thoroughly influenced by the Gothic transalpine school and that this influence came to him from Germany rather tlia;i Franco. One of his works, at least, the tomb of Pope Benedict XI. at Perugia, shows another influence, that of the Roman scliool, with its mosaics, its Gitthic canopy and angels, and cralm reclining figure. One of his" most ambitious works, a large pulpit for the Cathedral of Pisa, has been recon.structed from remaining fragments. Aside from a "Ma- donna and Child" in the Cathedral of Florence, some few iiieeos attributed to him at Siena. Cor- tona. and Arezzo (where the monuments of Saint Margaret and San Doiiato are certainly not by his hand), the majority of his works are in the Camjio Santo at Pisa. He influenced the style of the Pisan school of sculpture far more than his father. Niccola. and his influence extended to Siena and other Tuscan cities. The Life of Giovanni by Vasari would make of him. as in the case of his father, Xiceola, a promi- nent architect as well as sculptor, and with greater reason; from his design for the Campo Santo at Pisa, the facades of the cathedrals at Siena and Prato. if these are correctly attriliutcd to him, he appears to have been the leader in the so-called round arch Gothic. The arcades of the Campo Santo are one of the masterpieces of Italian art. Consult: Perkins, Tuscan Sculptors (London, 1864) ; id.. UislorirnJ llnndbonk. of Italian glculpture (New York, 1S8.S) ; Dobhert, in Dohme. Kunst vnd Kiinsller Italiens, i. (Leipzig. 1878) ; and Marcel P.eymond, JjQ sculp- ture tosrane (Florence. 1000). PISANO, Gii'NTA. An early Italian painter. See CiixTA PiSANO. PISANO, Leonardo. The name sometimes applied to the Italian mathematician Leonardo Fibonacci (q.v.). PISANO, Niccoi-A (c.l20fi78). An Italian sculptor and architect, generally regarded as the founder of the Italian .school of sculpture. His birthplace is a matter of dispute, some maintain- ing that he was a native of Apulia, whence he brought an art formed upon classical models. It is more likely, however, that he was born in Pisa, or in one of the two Tuscan towns called Puglia. Niccola's study of the antique, especially of Roman sarcophagi, led him to treat the nude, to aim at ricli efTects of drap- ciy. and at artistic grouping of figures. His earliest known w<irk is a lunette at the Catlicdral of Lucca representing a "Deposition from the Cross," the "Nativitv of Christ," and the "Adora- tion of the Magi" (c.l237). His master- piece is the famous si.-sidcd marble pulpit of the baptistery at Pisa, finished in 1200; the body of the pulpit decorated with five reliefs rests on Corinthian columns. ]5etweeu the reliefs are charming statuettes and the columns rest on lions. A figure of the high priest seems copied from that of an Indian Bacchus and others from a Roman sarcophagus, still in the Pisan Campo Santo. Among the bas-reliefs of the pulpit, which represent scenes from the life of Christ, those of the "Nativity" and "Adoration" arc the finest. Niccola's style here apjiears at its best, in broad, majestic, w'ell-balanced figures, treated in very high relief. In 1205 Niccola was commissioiUMl to execute a similar pulpit for the catlicdral at Siena, to which city he probably trans- ferred his studio, as he was assisted in its execution by his .son, Giovanni Pisano (q.v.), and his other pupils, Arnolfo (q.v.), Lapo (ioro, and Doiiato. This pulpit was completed in 1208, and while even richer in form and sculp- ture than that at Pisa, has less unity of .style. ]Ieanwhile (120.')) Niccola had furnished a col- league, Guglieluio Agnelli, with the designs for a monumental carved marble shrine for the Church of San Dor.ienico at Bologna, completed in 1207. the "Area di San Pomcnico;" none of the reliefs or statues, however, was executed by his hand. Shortly before his death he designed, in 1274, and paitlv decorated with sculptures the beautiful public fountain at Perugia (see Fountain), completed by his son Giovanni; the statuettes rather than the reliefs are supposed to be by the father's hand. As a sculptor Niccola first freed Italian art from the shackles of imperfect techniipie, created individual types, and had an ideal of beauty. He was rather the culmination of the Romanesque epoch than the creator of a new style. His son Giovanni Pisano (q.v.) was the real founder of the Italian Gothic school of sculpture, slender, dramatic, and allegorical, in contrast to the heavy, calm, and classic style of Niccola. Nic- eola's works as an architect are less certain. The buildings attributed to him by Vasari. in his Life of the artist, are nearly all of problematic authenticity. He is known to have built in Pisa, and probab'lv San Nicola (especially the tower) and Santa Catcrina are by him; possibly even Santa Triuita in Florence. Consult: Dobbert, Veher den fitil Xiccnio Pisanos und dessen Vr- sjn-iinij (Munich, 1873) ; id., "Die Pisani," in Dohme, Kunst und Kiinstler Italiens (Leipzig, 1878). PISANO, ViTTOBE. See Pisanello. PISAREFF, pe'sft-ryff. Dsiitbiy Ivanomtch (1S40-0S). A famous Russian critic. Born at Znamenka, he graduated from the Saint Peters-