481 



NICANDER, KARL AUGUST. 



NIOCOIA DI PISA. 



482 



scorpions, toads, and spiders,' and coDsiders his poems as fit only for 

 the apothecaries. Probably his poetical genius has been a good deal 

 cramped by the prosaic character of the subjects that he has chosen 

 for his theme ; and we may fairly say that his writings contain quite 

 as much poetry as could be expected from such unpromising materials. 

 As for hia style and language, probably every one who has ever read 

 half a dozen lines of either of his poems will agree with Bentley, who 

 says that he studiously affected obsolete and antiquated words, and 

 must have been an obscure writer even to his contemporaries. ('Cam- 

 bridge Museum Crit.,' vol. i., p. 371.) 



The ' Theriaca ' and the ' Alexipharmaea ' were first published in 

 Greek, with the Scholia to both poems, by the elder Aldus, Venet., 

 1499, fol., at the end of his edition of Dioscorides. The best editions 

 are Schneider's, who published the ' Alexipharmaca ' in Greek and 

 Latin, with the Scholia and copious notes, Halas, 1792, 8vo, and the 

 ' Theriaca,' edited in the same manner, and containing also the frag- 

 ments of Nicander's other poems, in 8vo, Lips., 1816; and that of 

 Lehrs (in Didot's Greek Classics) large 8vo, Paris 1846. The ' Theriaca ' 

 was publised in the ' Cambridge Museum Criticum," with Bentley's 

 emendations, vol. t, p. 370, &c. There is extant a Greek paraphrase 

 in prose of both poems (printed fn Schneider's editions) by Eutech- 

 niu*, of whom nothing is known, except that he has done the same to 

 Oppian's ' Cynegetica ' and ' Halieutica.' 



NICANDER, KARL AUGUST, a recent Swedish poet of consider- 

 able celebrity, was torn at Stregniis, on the 20th March, 1799. He 

 was educated at the University of Upsala, where he made his literary 

 de'but in 1820, first under the pseudonym ' August,' in the ' Kalender 

 for Dame,' and almoet immediately afterwards by his ' Runesvardet, 

 eller den forete Riddarn ' (' The Runic Sword, or the First Knight '), a 

 tragedy which manifested great power. His next production, which 

 wax illustrated with designs by his friend Baron von Hamilton, was 

 that entitled ' Runor ' (the ' Runes '), a series of sixteen legendary 

 'romaunts,' among which that which has for its subject Erik Vasa is 

 the most interesting. Another production of the same kind, though 

 founded not upon northern but southern story, namely, his ' Enzio,' 

 an historical lyric in eleven romaunts, appeared in a collection of 

 poems by him in 1825-26; and in each of those years he obtained a 

 prize medal from the Swedish academy, the latter of which was for 

 his poem on the ' Death of Tasso,' a subject previously treated with 

 great beauty and energy by the Russian poet Batiushkov. Admirable 

 and touching as are the strains in which the tragic tale of ' King 

 Knzio ' are poured forth, deep as is the patho*, rich as is the poetic 

 colouring, pure and graceful as is the language,. this piece did not 

 become a favourite with the public. It was however translated into 

 German by Mohnike (1829), and the collection in which it appeared 

 procured for iU author the applause and patronage of the academy, 

 which enabled him to travel and visit Italy in 1 827. Of this journey 

 the literary fruit was the poet's ' Minnen fran Sodern ' (' Recollections 

 of the South, after a Tour through Denmark, Germany, Switzerland, 

 and Italy '). Its chief merit lies in the poetical pieces with which it is 

 interspersed. Among his minor poetical compositions, that on 

 'Silence' is a piece of singular beauty and pathos. Nicander died 

 February 7, 1839. 



NICCOLA DI PISA, or PISA'NO, is a celebrated name in the 

 history of art. He was among the very earliest restorers of sculpture : 

 he quitted the hard, dry, and mechanical manner of his predecessors, 

 and introduced a style which, though it falls short of the antique, was 

 based upon similar principles, and in which he displayed a vigorous 

 mind and much feeling, if not always the most refined taste. None 

 of his biographers bav been able to ascertain the precise date either 

 of his birth or death ; but he must have been born very near the 

 commencement of the 13th century, as he was greatly advanced in 

 age, and became quite decrepid iu the year 1273, after which date no 

 certain mention of him can be traced. That he had attained to great 

 kill in hi* profession in 1225 may be takeu for grunted, as he was in 

 that year employed to execute the 'area' or tomb of San Domenico at 

 Bologna, which he embellished with a series of bas-reliefs and figures 

 truly admirable for that time. Several of these subjects are given by 

 Cicognara, in his ' Storia della Scultura," and many of the heads and 

 coijntenanees are finely expressed. This work clearly shows that 

 Niccola had diligently studied the antique, and also that be must then 

 have been almost in the maturity of bis powers. For a description of 

 and remarks on this masterly production, we refer to Cicognara and to 

 Moronna's ' Pisa Illustrate.' 



Niccola appears to have continued at Bologna till 1231, when he 

 began the celebrated church of San Antonio, or II Santo, at Padua, 

 which acquired for him no less fame as an architect. He had pre- 

 viously given evidence of his skill in architecture by the church and 

 convent of San Domenico at Bologua, which were designed by him 

 during his residence in that city, aud supposed to have been his first 

 works of the kind. Immediately after completing the building at 

 Padua, he was engaged to erect the church Dei Fr^ri at Venice, and 

 his reputation as an architect became so great that he was successively 

 employed on many other buildings at Florence, Pistoja, Volterra, 

 Naples, and in his native city. Among those which be executed at 

 Florence, the most celebrated in the church and monastery of .Santa 

 Trinita, which edifice was extolled by Michel Angelo as one of sur- 

 passing excellence for its simple grandeur and the nobleness of its 

 Bioo. DTV. vor. IT. 



proportions. He begun the cathedral of Pistoja in 1240, and likewise 

 improved and embellished that at Volterra. At Arezzo, the convent 

 of S. Domenico, at Viterbo, the church and convent of the Domi- 

 nicans, where he did much in the way of repairs and restorations, 

 and at Naples, the Church of Lorenzo, besides the magnificent abbey 

 on the plain of Tagliacozz-j, erected by Charles I. of Anjou (1268) in 

 commemoration of his decisive victory over Corradino, and thence 

 called Santa Maria della Vittoria, testify to the repute in which his 

 architectural talents were held and how extensively he was employed. 

 Besides the Palazzo degli Anziani nnd S. Michele, amon? the edifices 

 by him at Pisa the most noted is the campanile of S. Niccola, or the 

 Augustines, which is an octangular structure externally, except at its 

 upper story, which has sixteen sides, with as many arches sprin^in? 

 from columns, and forming an open gallery around it, and above this 

 is a lesser story crowned by a short spire, or rather a steep roof, where 

 the octagonal form is resumed. The interior is circular, and forms an 

 open well-staircase with arches resting upon columns, of which latter 

 there are altogether four and twenty, fifteen of oriental granite, and 

 the rest of various marbles. Moronna gives an elevation and section 

 of this structure, but they ara so wretchedly executed, that they 

 cannot be relied upon for anything further than the general idea and 

 shape of the design. 



Another very celebrated work by him at Pisa, though of a different 

 class, is the pulpit in the Baptistery a hexagon supported on seven 

 columns, there being ono in the centre beneath it, besides those at the 

 angles. It was executed by him in 1260 ; and in 1266 he was employed 

 to make another for the cathedral at Sienna, which latter is considerably 

 larger and richer, and octagonal in plan, so that instead of five there 

 are seven sides occupied with compartments, in bas-relief, and likewise 

 nine columns instead of seven. Had he produced nothing else, these 

 two works alone (as to which Cicognara enters into a minute descrip- 

 tion), would suffice to establish Niccola's fame as a sculptor, and show 

 the great perfection to which he advanced the art from what he found 

 it in the hands of his immediate predecessors. Another work, of 

 which the historian of Italian sculpture speaks at great length, is the 

 representation of the Last Judgment and Inferno, in the fasacle of the 

 Duomo of Orvieto, which has been generally attributed to Niccola, 

 but is asserted by that critic to have been tta production of 



GIOVANNI DI PISA, the son and pupil of Niccola. He may have been 

 born somewhere about 1235, as at the time of his death, in 1320, he is 

 said to have been ' vecehissimo," exceedingly old. \Ve may at least sup- 

 pose him to have been nearly twenty-five when he was invited to Perugia 

 to erect a splendid monument to Urban IV., who died in that city in 

 1264. That work gave such satisfaction, that he was employed also 

 upon the embellishments of the fountain in front of the Duomo, 

 wherein he displayed extraordinary" ability in the architecture, the 

 sculpture, and the bronzes. Scarcely had he completed this work, 

 when his father died, and he returned to Pisa to take possession of his 

 patrimony. One of the first tasks committed to him by hU fellow- 

 citizens was that of adorning the small but celebrated church of Santa 

 Maria della Spina, one of the richest and most remarkable specimens 

 of its peculiar gothic style in Italy. For the fajade and other parts 

 of the exterior he executed a number of statues, bas-reliefs, and other 

 ornaments of sculpture, and is said in one of the figures to have 

 portrayed his father Niccola. What he there did however were merely 

 the embellishments to a building, in which others shared with him ; 

 but it was not long before opportunity was afforded him of displaying 

 his architectural ability on an ample scale, for in 127S he began, aud 

 in 1283 completed, the renowned Campo Santo, or cemetery, one of 

 the most remarkable monuments of its period, and that which, together 

 with the adjacent cathedral, campanile, and baptistery, offers a most 

 interesting group of studies to the architect. The edifice is of marble, 

 aud forms a cloister of sixty-two arches (five at each ead and twenty- 

 six on each side), inclosing the inner area or burial-ground ; but neither 

 this latter nor the exterior is a perfect parallelogram, the cloister 

 being fifteen feet longer on one side than on the other, namely 430 

 and 415 feet, and consequently the ends not at right angles to the 

 sides. This defect would almost seem to have been occasioned by 

 oversight, as it could not have been worth while to sacrifice regularity 

 for the sake of a few feet. 



After this, according to Vaaari, he went to Sienna, where he made a 

 model or design for the fuyade of the Duomo ; this however is question- 

 able. One of the first commissions he received after finishing the 

 Campo Sauto was from Charles I. of Anjou, who invited him to 

 Naples, where he erected the Castel Nuovo, and built Santa Maria 

 Novella. In 1286 he was employed to erect the high altar in the 

 Duomo at Arezzo, an exceedingly sumptuous work, in the Tedesco 

 style, with a profusion of figures and sculptures, oil in marble. This 

 work, and his Virgin and Child, on one side of the cathedral of 

 Florence, are reckoned by Cicognara as his best productions; but 

 another of great celebrity is the marble pulpit by him in the church of 

 San Andrea, at Pistoja, which, like that by Niccola in the Duomo at 

 Pisa, is a hexagon supported by seven columns. He also executed 

 many of the sculptures of the Duomo of Orvieto, where he employed 

 various assistants and pupils, some of the latter of whom afterwards 

 became celebrated, particularly Agostino and Agnolo di Sienna. At 

 the instance of the Perugians, be returned to their city, and executed 

 the mausoleum of Benedict XI. He was also invited by the citizens 



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