Conclusion
He wasn't just an imitator of the Classical antiquity. His figures are original creations that came into being through a thorough study and understanding of the antique prototypes. He is the most important precursor of Italian Renaissance sculpture by reinstating antique representations. Therefore, surveys of the Italian Renaissance usually begin with the year 1260, the year that Nicola Pisano dated this pulpit in the Pisa baptistery.
However, as the pulpit of the Siena Cathedral shows, Nicola Pisano was still attached to the contemporary Gothic art. However this appreciation may arise because this pulpit was finished by his son Giovanni Pisano who didn't appreciate this liking for the Antiquity in the same manner.
Both styles coexisted for several generations and International Gothic and its variations would even become more popular in the 15th century than the Classicism of the High Renaissance.
Nicola Pisano has pushed 13th century Tuscan sculpture in the direction of a Gothic art that already integrated the noble features of Roman art, while simultaneously staying attached to the Gothic art from Northern Europe.
The true inheritor of his classical style was Arnolfo di Cambio (c. 1250-1302), whose early death left the field clear for Giovanni Pisano, who, by then, was already pursuing his own mixture of French Gothic and the classical style.
Giorgio Vasari included a biography of Nicola Pisano in his Lives.
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