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348 EARLY CHRISTIAN ART. Chap. XII. Orvieto to direct the labourers at the mosaics, and to com plete the numerous works of sculpture which still remai ned unfinished there.' He laboured at Orvieto several years with his son Nino; and no doubt, many of the reliefs of the more modern time were by him. In 1351 he had finished and coloured the Virgin and child above the cen tral portal, of which some thing has been said in the no tice of the Orvietan works; and in 1359, he was one of those who received and welcomed Andrea Orcagna, his rival in sculpture, and one of the greatest masters of his time in painting. 1 2 It is not stated when he died, but Vasari’s assertion that this occurred in 1335, is manifestly wrong. 3 Of the sculptures assigned to him, in addition to those already mentioned, some have disappeared and others are not the produce of his hand; and, without alluding further to these, one may trace in a rapid sketch the progress of his sons, Nino and Tommaso, the first of whom, having assisted his father in the bronzes of the Baptistery, 4 and in the works at Orvieto, inherited the maxims of Giotto’s art, whilst the latter sunk to the rank of a very inferior sculptor. It will thus appear that the Pisan school having first extended its influence over Giotto, and afterwards, received its last embellishment from him, 5 sunk into insignificance, and shared the decline of the city which gave it life. Nino Pisano seems after his father’s death to have left Orvieto for Pisa. In Florence he had executed, probably 1 Della Valle, Storia del Duomo d’Orvieto, p. 113, no tices this fact, but assumes that the Andrea mentioned in the re cords is a painter and not the celebrated sculptor of that name. A renewed search in the records, however, reveals the name also of Nino, the son of Andrea di Pontedera. Vide Vasari,Vol.III. note to page 11. 2 Vide Orcagna. Andrea Pisano is noted in Document 44 of Della Valle’s Duomo d’Orvieto, p. 284, as present at the dinner given to Orcagna. 3 Vasari. Vol. II. p. 44. Ghi berti is the only authority for assigning to Andrea works at S. Maria della Spina of Pisa. Com ment. ubi sup. p. XXVII. 3 Vas. Vol. II. p. 39. 5 “Essendo poi migliorato il di segno per Giotto, molti migliora- rono ancora le figure de’ marmi e delle pietre; come fece Andrea Pisano e Nino. Vasari Proemio. Vol. III. p. 10.
