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Gothic Sculpture: Italy. Italian sculptors accepted the Gothic sculpture impulse reluctantly. Nicola Pisano (died about 1278) was trained in the highly classic school of sculpture at Capua in southern Italy, but spent his life in Pisa. The reliefs of his pulpit in the Baptistery (1260) at Pisa have few Gothic sculpture elements. In the Nativity scene, the reclining Madonna might be a Roman matron. Her features and her costume alike are more classical than Gothic sculpture. Moreover, she is carved in marble, whereas the Gothic sculpture north depended on the freestone used in the building.
The large Cathedral of Florence is austere within, but its exterior is sheathed in polychromatic marble panels. The facade of Orvieto Cathedral, with its sculpture and mosaics, is a screen to hide the church. In this case, a timber Roof replaces Gothic sculpture vaults. The most striking Italian Gothic sculpture church is Milan Cathedral, largely of the 15th century. Despite its almost flat roofs, the forest of pinnacles in marble give it some Gothic sculpture feeling, as do the rich patterns of Flamboyant tracery.
The Gothic sculpture period of the 13th and 14th centuries witnessed a gradual and partial emancipation of sculpture from architecture. Then, as seen on the great cathedrals of Amiens, Reims, and Bourges, sculpture in low relief and sculpture that was placed high remained, as in the Romanesque period, a part of the architecture giving textural richness and added emphasis to architectural form. But statues in niches or scenes in high relief which were near eye level began to be more independent of their architectural setting, though still heeding its demands. |
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