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It is Nicola Pisano, one of the sculptors/architects, whom Vasari in his Vite (Lives) credits with initiating the first of three stages of Renaissance sculpture. Nicola's first authenticated work, a signed pulpit for the Pisa Baptistery, justifies Vasari's choice. Dated 1260, it fuses southern and Tuscan elements into a truly original vision, reinforcing the consensus on the artist's unknown birthplace: he was probably born in southern Italy (in two documents he is referred to as "de Apulia") and may have either been trained in Pisa or worked for Frederick II before settling in Pisa.
The pulpit is a hexagon supported by seven columns. The upper part is decorated with five large-scale narrative reliefs, which are separated from each other by clusters of three columns and rest on an archivolt with figurated spandrels ornamented at the angles with figure sculpture. Three of the external columns are supported by lions, treated naturalistically with strongly defined sinews and heavy manes.
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