History
According to an inscription running between the pulpit's arcades and parapets, it was commissioned by Canon Arnoldus (Arnoldo) and supervised by the treasurers Andrea Vitelli and Tino di Vitale. Vasari says the commission was given in 1297, and the inscription records its completion in 1301. There is no false modesty: " Giovanni carved it, who performed no empty work. The son of Nicola, and blessed with higher skill, Pisa gave him birth, endowed with mastery greater than any seen before".
Giovanni was approaching the age of fifty when he began the work, and had worked on his father's projects, and possibly visited France.
Read more about this topic: Pulpit By Giovanni Pisano In Sant'Andrea, Pistoia
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“American time has stretched around the world. It has become the dominant tempo of modern history, especially of the history of Europe.”
—Harold Rosenberg (19061978)
“One classic American landscape haunts all of American literature. It is a picture of Eden, perceived at the instant of history when corruption has just begun to set in. The serpent has shown his scaly head in the undergrowth. The apple gleams on the tree. The old drama of the Fall is ready to start all over again.”
—Jonathan Raban (b. 1942)
“Its not the sentiments of men which make history but their actions.”
—Norman Mailer (b. 1923)