GIOVANNI PISANO. – Sculptor, son of the sculptor Nicola di Pietro d'Apuila, born in Pisa ca. 1284, but between 1316 and 1318. A pupil and assistant of his father, he collaborated with him, with Arnolfo di Cambio, and others on the execution of the pulpit for the Siena cathedral (1267–68), and later, still with Nicola, he is mentioned in the inscription of the Fonte di Piazza in Perugia. Nicola died before March 1284, and G. went to Siena where, between October 1284 and September 1285, he was granted citizenship and exemption from all honors, duties, taxes, collections, factions, and military expeditions.
Indeed, as is evident from a document of 1287, he worked under the Opera del Duomo, of which he was appointed capomaestro; in 1290 he was sentenced for an undetermined crime, but in recognition of his merits, which made him indispensable in the cathedral works, his prison sentence was commuted to a fine. In August 1295
GIOVANNI PISANO – Madonna and Child, Ivory sculpture, Pisa, sacristy of the Cathedral.
His body was buried in the church of the Conventual Friars Minor. The cult was approved by Pius VII in 1866. It is kept on September 25; in the Franciscan Order on October 31.