Andrea Pisano

In 1330, Andrea Pisano began cutting bronze. When the resulting doors were installed in the Florence Baptistery six years later, he had produced the first monumental bronze doors made in Italy since antiquity, each of the twenty-eight panels gilded and set within a Gothic quatrefoil frame borrowed from the facade of Rouen Cathedral. The doors, signed "Andreas Ugolini Nini de Pisis me fecit ad MCCCXXX", still hang on the south portal today. Pisano's training as a goldsmith shaped everything that followed. The 28 panels, twenty of which illustrate the life of Saint John the Baptist (patron of Florence and the wool merchants' guild who commissioned the work), show a refinement of surface that large-scale stone carving rarely permits. The figures move with a freedom that the art historian Ferdinand Schevill called an advance even on Giotto, who had established the rules. In the Salome panel, Pisano matched the painted architecture precisely to the proportional logic of the quatrefoil frame, turning a border into a compositional argument. His relationship with Giotto was mutual. When Giotto took charge of the Campanile of Florence's cathedral in 1334, Pisano was brought in to execute reliefs for its lower storeys, including the hexagonal panel of Tubal Cain at the smithy that Lorenzo Ghiberti later attributed to him. After Giotto died in 1337, Pisano took over as director of works, overseeing construction to the third storey. By 1347 he had moved to Orvieto as capomaestro of the cathedral, dying there the following year, most likely in the Black Death. The Baptistery doors he left behind formed the benchmark against which Ghiberti's two later sets, including the Gates of Paradise, would inevitably be measured. 1. 1290Born as Andrea Pisano. 2. 1330Began cutting bronze for the Florence Baptistery doors. 3. 1334Brought in to execute reliefs for the lower storeys of the Campanile of Florence's cathedral, including the hexagonal panel of Tubal Cain at the smithy. 4. 1336The bronze doors for the Florence Baptistery were installed; Pisano created the first monumental bronze doors made in Italy since antiquity. The doors were signed "Andreas Ugolini Nini de Pisis me fecit ad MCCCXXX". 5. 1337Took over as director of works at the Campanile of Florence's cathedral after Giotto's death, overseeing construction to the third storey. 6. 1347Moved to Orvieto as capomaestro of the cathedral. 7. 1348Died in Orvieto, likely from the Black Death. Andrea Pisano is known for producing the first monumental bronze doors made in Italy since antiquity. He sculpted 28 scenes from the life of Saint John the Baptist for the doors of the Florence Baptistery. Andrea Pisano is best known for his work on the south doors of the Baptistery of Florence. He signed the doors, dating them to 1330, although they were not installed until 1336. The doors are made of bronze and include 20 episodes from the life of John the Baptist, Florence's patron saint, along with eight panels representing the theological and cardinal virtues. The doors are designed to be read from top to bottom, moving first down the left side, then down the right. The left door depicts events from the Baptist's public life and preaching, while the right door shows his martyrdom and burial. The figures are rendered in gold against simple backgrounds of buildings and rudimentary scenery. Pisano was also involved with sculptures for the base of Giotto's campanile (bell tower) in Florence. He collaborated closely with Giotto on this project; it is thought that Pisano executed some of the panels on the west side of the tower. One relief, the "smithy scene" showing Tubal Cain, is attributed to Pisano. He also directed construction on the Campanile until about 1343. Andrea Pisano, born in Pontedera around 1290[[1]]( , was an Italian[[1]]( sculptor and architect who died in Orvieto in 1348[[1]]( (or perhaps 1350). Though best known for sculpture, he may have produced drawings, and he worked as a goldsm