ANDREA Pisano. — Goldsmith and sculptor, son of the notary Ugolino di Nino, born in Pontedera, near Pisa, ca. 1295. In January 1330, the Arte di Calimala (Merchants' Guild) commissioned him to execute one of the doors of the Baptistery of Florence; the bronze casting was completed in 1332 and gilded in 1336. The doors bear the artist's signature and the date 1330. After Giotto's death, he was appointed capomaestro of the Opera of the cathedral of S. Maria del Fiore and worked on the continuation of the bell tower, which had been begun in 1334. However, in 1343 he was dismissed from his post, according to Pucci—who mentions it in his *Centiloquio*—for having made alterations to Giotto's original design that were not approved; according to others, it was due to the expulsion of the Duke of Athens, from whom A. had received commissions and favors. In May 1347 he is recorded as capomaestro of the Opera of the Orvieto cathedral. He died in 1348 or 1349, leaving two sons who were also sculptors, NIO (v.) BADIA, TOMMASO (v.).
The bronze doors of the Florence Baptistery are the only work of his that is certainly documented: they are divided into twenty-eight panels and feature, within quadrilobate frames, twenty *Scenes from the Life of St. John the Baptist*, and below them allegorical representations of *Virtues* in relief. The iconographic sources for the stories of the Baptist have been identified in the two-hundreds frescoes of the dome of the Florentine Baptistery, which A., however, skillfully transformed, adapting them to the new taste, and in the frescoes by Giotto in S. Croce, which the sculptor followed more faithfully. Equally certain appears his contribution to the plastic decoration of Giotto's bell tower, specifically in the execution of the lower series of hexagonal relief panels with the *Stories of the Creation of Man* and representations of the *Mechanical Arts*: some of these reliefs were executed in collaboration with Giotto himself, though it is unknown whether he merely provided the designs or even prepared the sketches.
Recent scholarship has succeeded in greatly expanding the catalogue of A.'s works, both by returning to him sculptures traditionally attributed to his son Nino and by reinterpreting with greater reliability the scant documentary evidence and the testimonies of the earliest historians, such as Ghiberti. Thus, alongside the more familiar figure of the goldsmith and master of small reliefs, a clearer picture is emerging of him as a sculptor of full-round statues in marble and wood. Indeed, the following works certainly belong to A.: the exquisitely elegant wooden statue of the *Annunciate Virgin* in the Museum of Pisa, which, upon recent restoration, revealed the date 1321 and would thus be the only surviving work by A. prior to the Florence doors (attributed by Carli and Valentiner); two marble statuettes, the *Redeemer* and *St. Reparata* in the Museo dell'Opera in Florence (attributed by Schmarsow); four large statues—*David*, *Solomon*, the *Erythraean Sibyl*, and the *Tiburtine Sibyl*—on the exterior of Giotto's bell tower (ca. 1338–42, recorded by Ghiberti); parts of the *Monument to Archbishop Simone Saltarelli* (d. 1342) in S. Caterina in Pisa (attributed by Carli and Valentiner); and a splendid *Madonna and Child* in the Museum of the Orvieto cathedral (attributed by Lanyi), which may be his last work and perhaps his masterpiece. Less certain, though not entirely improbable, is the attribution to A. of other statues, such as those inside the Oratorio della Spina in Pisa, a *Madonna* in the Detroit Museum, etc.
A critical assessment of A.'s art cannot overlook the influence he had on Giotto, which profoundly shaped the sculptor's style. He decisively broke away from the tired and mannered tradition of Giovanni Pisano's followers, inaugurating a second and vibrant season in Pisan sculpture. From Giotto, A. derived that clarity of composition, serenity, and rhythmic solidity—monumental and self-contained—that give his creations a classical flavor. Meanwhile, the Gothic taste for line, adopted by A. with its melodic fluidity, permeates his plastic and compositional values without succumbing to decorative excess or hedonistic indulgence. — See *Plates CIII–CIV*.