Nicola Pisano

Timeline

1. c. 1220–1255Apulia · ApuliaNicola may have received his stonecarving training in southern Italy; the classical drapery and proportions of his later pulpits are often linked to ancient sarcophagus traditions around the Hohenstaufen court. No signed work datable with precision survives from before his Pisa commission.
2. 1255–1260Pisa Baptistery · PisaNicola created a hexagonal marble pulpit for the Pisa Baptistery, its reliefs depicting the life of Christ, with figures approaching the scale of ancient sarcophagi while the structure remained Gothic. Completed and signed in 1260, it was the first milestone work confirming his artistic standing.
3. 1265–1268Siena Cathedral · SienaIn 1265 the Sienese authorities contracted with Nicola for a pulpit, completed in 1268. The octagonal pulpit has denser compositions and stronger narrative, with assistants including his son Giovanni and Arnolfo di Cambio. This work pushed the classical tendency of the Pisa pulpit toward more dramatic Gothic narrative.
4. 1273–1284Perugia · PerugiaBetween about 1273 and 1278, Nicola and Giovanni jointly completed the marble decoration of the Fontana Maggiore in Perugia's Piazza IV Novembre. Documents then fall silent; he may have died between 1278 and 1284. His workshop tradition was carried by Giovanni and Arnolfo to Pisa, Siena, and Florence respectively.