ANDREA, an eminent Italian sculptor, born at Pisa about 1280, and had the honour at a very early age of introducing a new style of art. Taking as his models the collection of ancient statues which were preserved in the cathedral and the Campo Santo of his native city, and also adopting Giotto's new method in design, he improved immensely upon the coarse and infelicitous manner of his predecessors, and rose to the first place in his profession. As a result of this proficiency, it came to pass that Pisano was summoned by the Florentines to take up his abode amongst them, to adorn their city, and to receive their patronage. He was employed to ornament with statues of the apostles and saints the façade of Santa Maria del Fiore. He was engaged during twenty-two years in executing the great gate of bronze for the church of San Giovanni, a work which still remains a proof of his genius. Many other commissions, both in sculpture and in architecture, continued to be entrusted to him until he died in 1345, surrounded with affluence, and dignified with the titles of citizen and magistrate.

Pisano, Niccolò, a very celebrated Italian sculptor and architect, was born at Pisa about the beginning of the thirteenth century. The restoration of art was the great task of his life. Studying the ancient sarcophagi in his native place, he acquired a style closely resembling the antique. Then being extensively employed both as a sculptor and an architect, he gave in many different cities of Italy many specimens of a new and improved manner of design, invention, and composition. The urn at Bologna, which procured for him the name of "Niccolò of the Urn," and the marble pulpit in the church of San Giovanni at Pisa, which was sculptured over with the "Universal Judgment," were especially instructive to the artists of the day. Architects, sculptors, and even painters, felt themselves stimulated and assisted in their several pursuits. Nor did his influence cease when he died in 1278. The revival in art was continued by his son Giovanni, who died in 1320, leaving many memorials throughout Italy of his excellence in sculpture and architecture.