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.