Bronze doors (detail)

The picture shows a panel of the bronze doors in the Cathedral of Pisa. Bonanno da Pisa (Bonannus of Pisa), architect and sculptor, created the doors of Pisa Cathedral after having worked on the bell-tower in about 1173. These doors have many points in common with those at Monreale, which are almost certainly the work of Bonanno. Twenty-four panels trace the lives of Jesus and of the Virgin. The scene of the Nativity, set in a cave in accordance with Byzantine tradition, is skillfully composed and achieves real monumentality. Influences from antique and Byzantine sculpture are mixed with realism in the rendering of the shepherds.