582 Pisano, Niccolò
sought ideas and models different from those of his
father. He died probably at Siena between 1314 and 1318.
See alsoGOTHIC ART AND ARCHITECTURE.
Further reading:Michael Ayrton, Giovanni Pisano,
Sculptor(New York: Weybright & Talley, 1969); John
Pope-Hennessy, Italian Gothic Sculpture,Vol. 1, 4th ed.
(London: Phaidon Press, 1996); Adolfo Venturi, Gio-
vanni Pisano: His Life and Work(Paris: Pegasus Press,
1928); John White, Art and Architecture in Italy,
1250–1400, 2d ed. (1967; reprint, New York: Viking
Penguin, 1987).
Pisano, Niccolò (Nicola) (ca. 1220–1280/84)regarded
by some as the founder of modern sculpture, Italian artist
Niccolò was probably a native of Apulia in southern Italy.
He was probably trained in LOMBARDYand in the work-
shops of the emperor FREDERICKII, in the revived classi-
cal style. He knew French and GOTHICsculpture mainly
through ivory and bronze works and studied the works of
antiquity, as preserved in ancient sarcophagi or caskets in
the graveyard at PISA.
His most famous work was a pulpit in the Pisan bap-
tistery. It was a hexagonal construction, remarkable for
its monumental conception as well as its adaptation of
the iconographical program to the style of the surround-
ing architecture. Its panels illustrated the narrative of
Christ’s infancy and Crucifixion and the LASTJUDGMENT.
In 1264 he carved with other artists the shrine for Saint
DOMINICin San Domenico in BOLOGNAand a deposition
from the Cross in the CATHEDRALin LUCCA. From 1260
to 1268 he worked on the pulpit in the cathedral of
SIENA. Its structure was also octagonal, with the iconog-
raphy again centered on Christ. Much more innovation
was his bas-relief done for the lower basin of a major
fountain at Perugia made between 1277 and 1278. Much
of this was done with his son, Giovanni PISANO, who
worked in his workshop for years. Niccolò was cele-
brated by Vasari in connection with the architecture of
the church of Santa Trinità in FLORENCE. He died in Pisa
between 1280 and 1284.
See alsoGOTHIC ART AND ARCHITECTURE.
Further reading:G. H. Crichton, Nicola Pisano and
the Revival of Sculpture in Italy(Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 1938); Barbara W. Dodsworth, The Arca
di San Domenico (New York: P. Lang, 1995); Anita
Fiderer Moskowitz, Nicola Pisano’s Arca di San Domenico
and Its Legacy(University Park: Published for College
Art Association by the Pennsylvania State University
Press, 1994).
Pius II, Pope (Aeneas Silvius Piccolomini, Enea
Silvio)(1405–1464)Italian humanist
Born in Corsignano near SIENAin 1405, Aeneas Silvius
Piccolomini was a member of an impoverished branch of
that noble family. Despite preferring humanist studies, he
first became a doctor of LAW. From 1432 he was a house-
hold familiar of cardinals and bishops, whom he accom-
panied on their missions in ITA LYand elsewhere. In 1436
attended the COUNCIL OFBASELwhere he supported con-
ciliar ideas as secretary to the antipope Felix V (Amadeus
VIII of Savoy, 1383–1451).
He joined the imperial chancery of the emperor Fred-
erick III (r. 1440–93), who crowned him poet laureate in
1442 and in 1450 appointed him a councilor of the
empire. In 1446 he went to ROMEas an ambassador. After
making amends to Pope EUGENIUSIV for his past indis-
cretions in supporting conciliarism, having several illegit-
imate children, and writing erotic stories, he was
ordained a priest in 1446. Pope Nicholas V (r. 1447–55)
appointed him bishop of Trieste in 1447, then of SIENAin- In 1456 Pope Calixtus III (r. 1455–58) made him
cardinal of Santa Sabina. After 1455 he lived in Rome and
was elected pope on August 19, 1458, and crowned on
September 3 at age 53, though already in failing health.
He took the name Pius after Virgil’s Pius Aeneas in the
Aeneid.According to his own account, he was chosen
over the French candidate, Guillaume d’Estouteville
(1403–83), because of the support of the duke of MILAN,
King Ferdinand I (r. 1458–94) of NAPLES, and the cardi-
nals Borgia, Colonna, and Barbo.
ATTEMPT AT CRUSADE
His main preoccupation during his reign was the CRU-
SADEagainst the OTTOMANTURKSbecause of the catas-
trophic defeat at the Battle of Varna in 1444 and the fall
of CONSTANTINOPLE in 1453. Pius II issued the bull
Vocavit nosin October 1458 and summoned all princes
to a congress at Mantua in 1459. There was littleThe late 15th-century palace and loggia of the Piccolomini
family in Siena, made possible by the benefits derived from
the papacy of Pius II (Courtesy Edward English)