ed, any building is destroyed in very
little time with this most easy method. Niccola was present at the first
foundation of the Duomo of Siena, and designed the Church of S. Giovanni
in the same city; then, having returned to Florence in the same year
that the Guelphs returned, he designed the Church of S. Trinita, and the
Convent of the Nuns of Faenza, destroyed in our day in order to make the
citadel. Being next summoned to Naples, in order not to desert the work
in Tuscany he sent thither Maglione, his pupil, a sculptor and
architect, who afterwards made, in the time of Conradin, the Church of
S. Lorenzo in Naples, finished part of the Piscopio, and made there
certain tombs, wherein he imitated closely the manner of Niccola, his
master.

Niccola, meanwhile, being summoned by the people of Volterra, in the
year 1254 (when they came under the power of the Florentines), in order
that their Duomo, which was small, might be enlarged, he brought it to
better form, although it was very irregular, and made it more
magnificent than it was before. Then, having returned finally to Pisa,
he made the pulpit of S. Giovanni, in marble, putting therein all
diligence in order to leave a memorial of himself to his country; and
among other things, carving in it the Universal Judgment, he made
therein many figures, if not with perfect design, at least with infinite
patience and diligence, as can be seen. And because it appeared to him,
as was true, that he had done a work worthy of praise, he carved at the
foot of it these verses:

ANNO MILLENO BIS CENTUM BISQUE TRIDENO
HOC OPUS INSIGNE SCULPSIT NICOLA PISANUS.

The people of Siena, moved by the fame of this work, which greatly
pleased not only the Pisans but everyone who saw it, gave to Niccola the
making of the pulpit of their Duomo, in which there is sung the Gospel;
Guglielmo Mariscotti being Praetor. In this Niccola made many stories of
Jesus Christ, with much credit to himself, by reason of the figures that
are there wrought and with great difficulty almost wholly detached
from the marble. Niccola likewise made the design of the Church and
Convent of S. Domenico in Arezzo for the Lords of Pietramala, who
erected it. And at the entreaty of Bishop Ubertini he restored the Pieve
of Cortona, and founded the Church of S. Margherita for the Friars of S.
Francis, on the highest point of that city.

[Illustration: _Alinari_

THE VISITATION AND THE NATIVITY

(_Detail, af