Spregiudicata misura. Tecnica, stile e forma in una scultura inedita di Nicola Pisano

A previously unpublished life size head (private collection) of extraordinary quality and beauty, probably representing an Apostle, is attributed by the author to Nicola Pisano. The piece is datable to his early maturity, around 1258, at the time he was completing the third relief of the pulpit for the Baptistery in Pisa, representing Presentation in the Temple. Special attention is given to the technical procedures, the modalities of the use of the instruments, the innovative logic with which the latter were used to achieve a specific formal result, and to the relationship with the concrete possibilities of perception. The technical and stylistic ties with earlier works (such as the pyrite Female Head) and creations that mark the stages of his successful career in Tuscany, are shown, i.e., the corbel heads of the cupola of the Siena Cathedral, details of the Lucca lunette, and the great figural repertory of the Pisa pulpit, completed around 1259–1260. Finally, the author also investigates the material characteristics and possible original function and location, showing how the new head, on par with not a few other works by this master sculptor, seems “perturbing” in comparisons with acquired knowledge, expectations, typological series and documents.