Giovanni Pisano, Lectern for the
Reading of the Gospels with the Eagle of Saint John the Evangelist,
Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York) ■
Sculpted by Giovanni Pisano, one of the finest sculptors of the Gothic period,
this lectern was once a part of the pulpit at the Church of Sant' Andrea at
Pistoia. It is in the shape of an imposing full-size figure of an eagle,
grasping a book in its talons, which stands with head erect, facing to its
left, wings held poised as if ready for flight. The head is a later
replacement. A marble bookrest, hexagonal in form with a protruding ledge at
the bottom, meant to hold the Gospels for liturgical reading, rests on the
bird's wings. The eagle served as the crowning element of a Tetramorph, a
sculptural composite of the symbols of the four Evangelists ■
