Nicola Pisano finishes Pisa baptistery pulpit

1260

A Tuscan sculptor trained on antique sarcophagi carved a hexagonal marble pulpit in the baptistery of Pisa, covered with classical nudes and dense narrative reliefs. The work announced a new sculptural language, borrowing Roman form for Christian stories, that would quicken into the Renaissance. His son Giovanni would push the style further, carving figures of such emotional intensity that they seem to strain against the stone.