Middle+Ages+Letter

Dear Giovanni Pisano, My name is Ryan Meinke and I just read a biographical essay about your life story and how you discovered Gothic art. Since I have learned so much about you I would like to share what I learned about you with you. First off your name is Giovanni Pisano and you were born in C.1250 in Pisa, Italy. You are also an Italian sculptor and architect who set a stage for the development of the Renaissance style. I know that when you were little you were listed as an assistant to your father in the contract of September 29, 1265, for the pulpit in the Siena Cathedral. In the 1270’s and 1280’s I found out that you made big accomplishments. In the early 1270’s you carved the holy-water font in St. Giovanni Fuorcivitas, Pistoia, in the early 1270’s and collaborated with his father on the Fontana Maggiore, Perugia, which was finished in 1278. I also found out that you executed a group of half-length figures including a propet, St.Mark,and the Madonna which is now in the Civic Museum, Pisa between 1278 and 1284. From 1284 to 1294 you worked on the Siena Cathedral, executing a number of life-sized statues of kings, prophets, and sibyls for the facade and flank. In 1295 to 1300 you worked in Pisa and when you went to build a marble pulpit for St. Andrea in Pisoia in 1301, you met your finest goth syle. In this sculpture you introduced the ogive arch, emphasized the abstractt movement of light and shade, emphasized the rhythmic movements of the figures and backgrounds, and finaly the poses and gestures of your individual figures were tended to be made part overall a rhythmic design that was always graceful and elegant. One of your biggest jobs was in 1313 which is when you were called to Genoa to execute the tomb of Margaret of Luxemburg. The thing that inspired you to become a sculptor is Nicola's classical style, which inspired you by the surviving ancient sculptures in Pisa. I am glad that you got an idea from Nicola's art and made your own art that is now used today.

Sincerely, Ryan Meinke