Comparing the two Pulpits
of the Baptistery in Pisa and Cathedral
in Siena.
The Pulpit in the
Baptistery of Pisa was completed in 1260 and the Pulpit in Siena’s cathedral
followed five years later and was eventually completed in 1268. Nicola Pisano
was Pivotal in the sculpting of them both. However, Pisano’s son Giovanni,
assisted him in the latter along with a possible relative of Alnorfo Di Cambio.
As with most Pulpits, they have both been moved around in their respective
locations. Furthermore, they both depict the conventional scenes of the life of
Christ. Namely the Annunciation, the Adoration of the Magi, the Slaughter of
the Innocents, the Crucifixion and the Last Judgement.
The earlier Pulpit (Fig.
2) was among the first to step away from what was typical for their form. It
was built at a time when the Gothic style had been introduced by the Pisan
Cardinal as a ‘fashionable’ style. You can see this in the ‘bushy capitals’
which are a supposed ’Gothic variation of the Corinthian capital’.[1]
Furthermore, Pisano also
incorporates classical elements into his work. This can be seen across both
Pulpits, in Fig. 2 with the naked classical figure (believed to be Hercules)
and in Fig. 1 with the naked bodies in the Last Judgement scene. Conversely,
such influences are most notably found in the form of Roman Sarcophagi. In
fact, in the ‘Adoration of the Magi’ scene, St. Mary is depicted with a temple above
her head - this is identical to a depiction found on a sarcophagus in the
Camposanto (Fig. 2). What is more, it is asserted by Fred Kleiner that if you
were to alter the dimensions of the panels slightly, then they would have been
akin in form to Roman Sarcophagi.[2] This is
all an allusion to Pisa as the ‘New Rome’ as they were reproducing exact
replicas in some cases of classical sculpture. The historian Christopher
Klenhenz puts it in the following terms:
‘This hexagonal Pulpit is
decorated with scenes from the life of Christ that are characterized by
classical forms; like the inscriptions on the face of the Cathedral, these
forms connect the work to the popular theme of Pisa as new Rome’. [3]
However, while he did
begin to use new elements he did also continue in Medieval tradition somewhat
in that the bottom of the columns are supported by lions (there is one lion
breastfeeding so we can only assume Pisano wanted to depict a lioness but did
so wrongly as it has a mane). Their inclusion alongside new, innovative
elements, could be because the lions were so symbolically important. Their
importance derives from folklore that states
a lion will breathe into the open mouths of his cubs and give them
vision which is an allusion to Resurrection. This feature was also carried
forward for the later Pulpit in Siena; (Fig.1) but in contrast to the earlier
pulpit, the latter lioness is depicted correctly. This could be either testament to Pisano’s
improvement as an artist or the involvement of others; Charles Norton asserts
the former saying that the ‘Sienese pulpit
shows the advance that Niccola had made in the six years since the Pisan pulpit
was completed’.[4]
Considering the two
Pulpits had were made under the same man, and not even a decade apart, they are
bound to be similar. However, I believe the new generation of artists (in the
form of his son, Giovanni) meant that the style of the latter Pulpit in Siena
was developing akin to Proto - Renaissance sculpture. It was evidently not
completely what we consider ‘Renaissance’ today but the development is evident.
In my opinion, the Sienese Pulpit bridged the difficulties Nicola had with
space and depth with the almost ease at which Giovanni achieved those very
elements in his Pulpit in the Cathedral at Pisa at the beginning of the 14th
century.
[1] C. Mamiya, F. Kleiner, Gardner’s Art Through the
Ages, Western Perspective, (Wadsworth Publishing Co Inc; 12th Revised Edition, 2005),
406.
[2] Ibid.
[3] C.
Klenhenz, Medieval Italy: An Encyclopedia: 002 The Routledge Encyclopaedias of the middle ages (Routledge, 2003), 906.
[4] C.
Norton, Historical Studies of Church Building in the Middle Ages: Venice, Siena, Florence 1902 (Kessinger Publication, 2003), 132.
