Andrea Pisano first learned the trade of…
1347 CE
Andrea Pisano first learned the trade of a goldsmith, then became a pupil of Mino di Giovanni, about 1300, and worked with him on the sculpture for S. Maria della Spina at Pisa and elsewhere.
He made his chief works in Florence, and the formation of his mature style was due rather to Giotto 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 of John the Baptist.
While living in Florence, Andrea also produced many important works of marble sculpture, all of which show strongly the influence of Giotto, who he had succeeded in 1340 as Master of the Works of Florence Cathedral.
There he had 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 Pisano's other principal Florentine works in marble.
He is in 1347 placed in charge of the construction and decoration of Orvieto Cathedral, which had already been designed and begun by Lorenzo Maitani.
It is a post he will retain until his until his death the following year.
These and the aforementioned doors are Pisano's only known works.
Images
Detail of Andrea Pisano's panel for the Florence Baptistery.
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Southwest Europe
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