As we get closer to the 1300s, there's a noticeable shift toward more naturalistic representation in art. This period marks the beginning of the Renaissance, a revival of the classical styles seen in ancient Greece and Rome.
One example from this transitional period is the pulpit inside the Baptistery of Pisa, a structure that combines Gothic and Romanesque architectural elements. The pulpit was created by Nicola Pisano, an artist whose name likely comes from the city of Pisa. He, along with his father and other family members, worked on various artistic projects in Pisa during the 13th century.
The pulpit, positioned at the center of the baptistery, serves as a raised platform where a priest would stand to deliver sermons. Its design blends several stylistic influences. The structure includes Corinthian columns, a feature associated with classical antiquity, and sculpted lions beneath them, which have a more Byzantine quality. Above the columns, Gothic-style tracery decorates the pulpit, reflecting the architectural trends of the time. The panels on the pulpit depict religious scenes that hold significance in Catholic tradition.
In the upper left corner, you can see the Angel Gabriel, who is gesturing toward Mary. This is an Annunciation scene, where Gabriel delivers the message that she will give birth to Jesus. Mary is slightly recoiling, which suggests both the honor of the moment and a sense of surprise or fear. There’s a bit of human expression in her reaction.
In the lower left corner, we see Joseph. He’s often a bit of a complicated figure in religious art since he’s not Jesus’ biological father but still plays an important role as Saint Joseph. Here, he’s included in the composition, though his role in the scene is somewhat secondary.
Moving to the right, there’s a Nativity scene. Jesus is shown lying in a basket, while Mary reclines beside him. This setup closely resembles the composition of the stained glass window we looked at earlier.
In the upper right corner, the figures of the Magi—the three wise men—are present, but their heads are missing. They are depicted bringing gifts to the baby Jesus.
At the center, we see Jesus, but his head is damaged, and Mary’s arm is missing. This part of the panel shows a Baptism scene, where the infant Jesus is being bathed in a vessel resembling a chalice.
In the lower right corner, there is a manger scene, which also appears to reference the biblical story of David. This could be a typological connection—a way of linking events in the Old Testament to those in the New Testament. The depiction of David as a shepherd may relate to Jesus' role as the Good Shepherd.
This panel presents a continuous narrative, meaning multiple scenes from a story are shown within the same space. Here, three or four different moments are included in a single composition. This approach is similar to earlier works, like the Sarcophagus of Junius Bassus, as well as the stained glass window we looked at previously. There are also other historical examples that use this same method.
Now, looking at the piece from a formal perspective, you’ll notice that it doesn’t create a fully realistic sense of space. There is some use of scale variation—figures in the foreground are larger than those in the background. For example, Gabriel and Mary appear larger than the building behind them, and the three wise men are slightly smaller as they recede into the background. This suggests an early attempt at spatial depth, but overall, the composition doesn’t fully follow natural perspective.
At the center, Mary is reclining, and she is much larger than the surrounding figures. Her size draws attention to her role in the scene. This choice reflects the artistic conventions of the time rather than an attempt at realistic proportion.
The carving style is also more naturalistic than what was common in earlier medieval art. This work dates to around 1260, and by this time—at least in Pisa—there was a shift back toward the classical sculpting techniques of ancient Rome. The drapery, for example, is carved in a way that suggests the form underneath. While it doesn’t fully resemble the wet drapery effect seen in classical sculpture, it does create a sense of volume and movement that is more lifelike compared to earlier medieval figures.
The faces in this sculpture look less Byzantine and are more similar to Greco-Roman sculptures we've studied earlier. One of the key ideas to focus on, especially as we move toward the Renaissance, is how space is represented in images.
One thing to note is that there isn’t enough architecture in this scene to fully demonstrate linear perspective, which includes one-point and two-point perspective. That technique wasn’t commonly used until the 14th or 15th century. Until then, artists used other methods to suggest depth.
For example, in this sculpture, some figures overlap others, which starts to create a sense of space. There's also diminution, where figures in the background are smaller than those in the foreground. A common rule of thumb in medieval and early Renaissance art is that anything higher up in the image is usually meant to be farther back—this is known as vertical perspective. There's also diagonal perspective, where objects lower in the picture plane appear closer, and those positioned diagonally upward seem to recede into the background.
Since this is a sculpture, we don’t see atmospheric perspective, which is more common in painting.
I’ve put together some images that help connect this piece to earlier artistic traditions. One of them is a Byzantine early Christian Psalter, which is basically a book of psalms. In this image, David is shown composing the Psalms. If you compare it to the drapery on Mary in Nicola Pisano’s pulpit, you can see some similarities. The folds in the fabric are treated in a way that resembles early Byzantine styles.
There are also similarities in the poses. For example, in the lower right corner of the Psalter, there’s a Nativity scene that follows a composition similar to the one on Pisano’s pulpit. While Pisano may not have seen this specific manuscript, there were likely many similar versions circulating at the time. Artists frequently borrowed elements from earlier works.
Another connection can be made to classical Greek sculpture. The Three Goddesses from the pediment of the Parthenon (c. 450 BCE) show reclining female figures draped in garments that closely resemble the reclining Mary on Pisano’s pulpit. The wet drapery technique used in Greek sculpture, where fabric clings to the body and reveals the form underneath, seems to reappear here. It’s possible that this classical approach influenced Byzantine art, which was then reinterpreted in Pisano’s work. The draped clothing and reclining pose create a visual link between these different periods.
The last image I want to point out is a panel painting by Duccio. This piece seems to distill or borrow some of the key pictorial elements found in the Baptistery pulpit in Pisa. For instance, it includes Joseph in the lower left corner, a scene of Mary and a maid washing the infant Jesus in a bowl similar to the one in Pisano’s relief, and a manger scene in the lower right corner with animals positioned in a similar way. One difference is that Duccio’s version is surrounded by a group of angels, which is not present in the pulpit relief. On the right side, the Magi—the three wise men—are shown approaching, just as they do in Pisano’s composition.
These examples highlight how artistic traditions were adapted and reinterpreted over time, with elements from Byzantine, classical Greek, and medieval art appearing in different contexts.
This work dates from around 1280 to 1311, making it contemporary with Cimabue and Giotto, two artists we’ll be studying later. The imagery and composition in these pieces—both the relief sculpture and Duccio’s tempera-painted panel—share similar visual structures.
Continuing with the transition from Romanesque art, we
can look at the ways Nicola Pisano builds on earlier styles. One example
is the Virgin and Child from the French Romanesque tradition. The
drapery in this sculpture follows a very Byzantine style, where the
folds are stylized rather than naturalistic. The theme, known as the Throne
of Wisdom, was discussed earlier—it depicts Mary as a symbolic seat for the
Christ child. The figures in this style tend to be stiff, with unrealistic
proportions and limited sense of movement.
Within about a hundred years, however, there is a shift. Nicola Pisano’s work introduces elements that resemble classical sculpture. His figures appear more naturalistic, and the drapery starts to suggest body forms underneath, rather than just decorative folds. This change picks up speed in the late 13th century and becomes more pronounced in the 14th century, leading into the early Renaissance.
One concept we discussed earlier is schema and correction—the idea that artists follow an established model (schema) and then update or modify it (correction). This can be seen in the work of Cimabue, a Florentine painter active between about 1280 and 1300. Even though he was Italian, his style was heavily influenced by Byzantine traditions. I usually tell students to remember the year 1300 as a turning point—almost like a bar mitzvah for Italian art—when it transitions into something more naturalistic. In order to understand the schema that Cimabue and his student, Giotto, worked with, we need to go back in time a bit and look at a couple of earlier works.
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