GIOVANNI di BALDUCCIO (BALDUSCI, GIOVANNI DA PISA). — Sculptor, born in Pisa toward the end of the 13th century. Documents concerning him extend to 1349. In Pisa between 1317 and 1318 he worked in the Cathedral under the direction of Giovanni Pisano, Tino di Camaino, and Lupo di Francesco.
Some time later he executed the pulpit now in the Oratory of the Misericordia at S. Casciano near Florence, and in 1328 the tomb for the son of Castruccio Castracane in S. Francesco at Sarzana. Then in 1339 the master was in Milan, where he carved the ark of S. Peter Martyr in S. Eutorgio, drawing upon his Tuscan experience as well as his knowledge of the works of the masters of Campione. Not long after, he is believed to have been in Cremona, where three statues are assigned to him in the loggia above the entrance of the Cathedral. Returning to Milan in 1347, he signed the door of S. Maria di Brera, now fragmentary, in the Archaeological Museum of that city. In 1349 he was recalled to his native city to take charge of the works of the Cathedral, but there is no evidence that he accepted the invitation. After having made known in Lombardy the strengths of the new Tuscan sculpture and exercised considerable influence in that artistic milieu, G. di B. in turn showed that he understood some intimate values of the sculpture of the masters of Campione, so that both in the tomb of S. Peter Martyr and in the three statues of Cremona there are evident, compared to his earlier works, a sudden refinement of form and feeling. These show how G. was able to make use of his new experience in Lombardy, grafting it onto his previous Tuscan culture.