Pulpit

The Carrara marble pulpit of the Cathedral of Siena was made between 1266 and 1268 by Nicola Pisano and his pupils, including his son Giovanni. The octagonal pulpit is supported by nine columns: the pedestal for the central column is decorated with the carved figures of Philosophy and the Seven Liberal Arts, while four of the outer columns bear lion figures. The reliefs on the parapet narrate seven scenes from the life of Christ, beginning with the Visitation and the Nativity and ending with the Last Judgment. Like the reliefs produced by Nicola for the pulpit of the Cathedral of Pisa (1260), the reliefs in Siena bear witness to his familiarity with the relics of classical antiquity. The master successfully fused such influences with the Gothic style of the period. Commissioned by the museum in 1905, the cast was made in the plaster casting workshop of Kaiser-Friedrich-Museum, in Berlin. It was erected in the Romanesque Hall, in 1908.