Pulpit in the Duomo of Siena
The marble pulpit in the cathedral of Siena , one of the most important works of sculpture of the Middle Ages and a landmark at the beginning of Gothic in Italy, was created by Niccolò Pisano with the help of his son Giovanni and Arnolfo di Cambio in the years 1266–1268.
history
Since the beginning of the 13th century, the Sienese have been working on a renovation and extension of their cathedral . The transept was built around 1260 and the nave was newly vaulted in Gothic shapes. In that year Niccolò had completed the pulpit of the Baptistery in Pisa as the first work he could prove . In 1265 the cathedral builders brought him to Siena and signed a contract with him for the production of a pulpit, the scope (seven reliefs instead of five as in Pisa), the material (Sienese marble), and the payment for him and his students. In 1543 the pulpit was detached from the structural connection with the choir screens that were then torn down. A new staircase, now designed in Renaissance style, was required for free installation.
construction
The platform, which is surrounded by a parapet of large relief fields, rises on a profiled base (which belongs to the changes of 1543), supported by a central column and eight at the corners. Every second column rests on lion bases, Gothic three-pass arches lead over to the pulpit. The sculptures and reliefs are made of white marble, the columns of granite, porphyry and green marble.
Image program
Personifications of the seven liberal arts and philosophy are grouped around the foot of the central support . Seven fields with scenes from the life of Jesus surround the parapet:
- Visitation and Birth of Christ
- Holy Three Kings
- Offering in the temple and flight to Egypt
- Child murder in Bethlehem
- The redeemed of the Last Judgment
- The damned of the Last Judgment
The edges between these fields are occupied by standing figures of evangelists and prophets. Between the two world judgment tables, Christ as judge. The Mother of God is considered to be the oldest fully plastic statue of the Virgin Mary in Italian art.
Adoration of the Magi
crucifixion
Last Judgment: Christ as Judge between the redeemed on his right hand and the damned on his left
style
Nicolas style, as it appears on the Sienese pulpit, is characterized both by the relief art on ancient sarcophagi, as well as by the articulated structure, which has its origin in the French Gothic. Compared to the Pisan pulpit, the reliefs in Siena are more anecdotal, the bodies more flexible and the style of folds approaches even more Gothic beauty, while the antique style model recedes.
Individual evidence
- ^ Elisabeth Wünsche-Werdehausen: Tuscany. 2017, p. 160.
literature
- Georg Swarzenski : Nicolo Pisano. Iris publishing house, Frankfurt am Main 1926.
- Elisabeth Wünsche-Werdehausen: Tuscany (= Reclams Universal Library . No. 19463). Reclam, Ditzingen 2017, ISBN 978-3-15-019463-8 , pp. 159-160.
