Nicola Pisano
Leone stiloforo
Il motivo architettonico
romanico del leone reggi-colonna non spinge lo scultore a ricerche di
carattere naturalistico; ma il suo sottofondo simbolico ne è assecondato
in astratta monumentalità, con una precisa volontà costruttiva che
squadra i volumi in chiare geometrie. |
Nicola Pisano
Lion,
supporting
column of pulpit
In its
measured, hexagonal structure, and,
contrary to Tuscan custom, its isolation from the wall, the pulpit of
the Pisa Baptistery is defined in primarily architectonic terms. The
five reliefs of the parapet, separated by slender, tapered colonettes,
establish with quiet composure a rigorously controlled space, to which
conform the measured, rhythmic relationships of the supporting columns
and trilobate arches in a slow yet dynamic modulation. The vigorous
design of the zone of arches includes representations of the Virtues
on pedestals at the corners, and in the spandrels figures of prophets
and the four Evangelists. In this first known work by Nicola Pisano,
finished in 1260 according to the inscription beneath the Last judgment
panel, we have that admirable synthesis of doctrinal, narrative,
symbolic, and decorative motifs that will be a model for many centuries
of Italian art. It is a synthesis that corresponds perfectly to the
complex
contemporary summations, poetic or philosophic, from Saint Thomas
Aquinas to Dante Alighieri.
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