PISANO, Italian family of goldsmiths and sculptors
The artistic importance of Andrea Pisano, a goldsmith and sculptor, derives principally from the fact that he adapted the 'principles of monumental painting' developed by Giotto 'to the medium of relief,' and by so doing gave a decisive impetus to the development from the Gothic conception of a draped figure towards the weightiness of the Renaissance standing figure with its organically related drapery. The only documented works by Andrea Pisano are the reliefs of the bronze doors on the south portal of the Baptistery of Florence,
Andrea's two sons, Nino and Tommaso were also sculptors. In contrast to his father Andrea, whose conception of the figure was based on the Antique, Nino consistently drew inspiration from a cultivated Gothic formal vocabulary that continued in use after his death and even to the end of the 14th century in the sculpture of both Pisa and Venice.
