Giunta Pisano

( fl 1236-54). Italian painter. He was one of the most important and influential figures in Italian painting of the first half of the 13th century. He is known to have signed four painted Crucifixes, three of which survive (Assisi, S Maria degli Angeli; Bologna, S Domenico; and Pisa, ex-S Ranierino, now Mus. N. S Matteo).  

The fourth, painted for S Francesco, Assisi, bore the inscription, 'Brother Elias had me made, Giunta Pisano painted me, in the year of our Lord 1236, Jesus Christ have mercy on the prayers of pious Elias ...'. The first generally accepted documentary reference to the artist originates from Rome in May 1239 and testifies that his son, the priest Leopardo, was in the city with Giovanni Pisano, a pupil of Master Giunta.

This suggests that Giunta was involved in a commission in Rome (Verani). His name also appears in documents from Calci and Pisa dated 28 January 1241 and 28 August 1254. The latter describes him as Giunta di Capitino ( Juncta Capitinus pictor), a name that recurs in the fragmentary inscription at the foot of the Crucifix in S Maria degli Angeli ([IU]NTA PISANUS [CAP]ITINI).

This is the only known variant of the painter's name, and it is therefore unlikely that the Giunta di Guidotto mentioned in a document of 30 January 1229 is Giunta Pisano. According to a document of 1257, Giunta was by then dead, but this reference cannot be securely linked to the artist.