|
The parapet, set between corbelled cornices, is circular, but the statues at the corners, set on projecting, semicircular platforms, define its octagonal plan. On the sides are narrative reliefs with scenes arranged in superimposed strips. The height of the pulpit is very great, and for this reason the buildings and figures are conceived in relation to the viewing point of the spectator not to the plane of relief.
The seventh panel shows the Crucifixion. The Crucifixion relief, with its angular Christ between two thieves and the milling, emotional crowd below, shows an increase in descriptive naturalism. It is Giovanni Pisano's masterpiece. In accordance with the pattern introduced in the Pistoia pulpit, the full scene of Calvary with all three crosses is displayed. As for pictorial realism is concerned, it matches and surpasses the majority of the painted Crucifixions of the first half of the fourteenth century.
|
