In 1269 he was commissioned to build a convent and an abbey at La Scorgola, which are now in ruins. In 1274 Nicola commenced his last work, the Fountain of Perugia. He did not remain constantly in that city, but after making the plans he left his son Giovanni in charge of the work, while he returned to Pisa and occupied himself with making the figures for its decoration. This fountain was held in such esteem that laws were enacted for its preservation, and it was called the most valuable possession of the city, while some went so far as to say that it could not be surpassed in the world. Even now, after all it has suffered from time and weather, it commands our admiration. In 1278 Nicola died, after a life of great achievements. He left an untarnished name, too, for he had been loved and respected by all his associates, and as patron, friend, and servant had done all his duty. Mr. Perkins, in his "Tuscan Sculptors," says of him: "Inestimable were the services rendered to art by this great man. He gave the death-blow to Byzantinism and barbarism; established new architectural principles; founded a new school of sculpture in Italy, and opened men's eyes to the degraded state of art by showing them where to study and how to study; so that Cimabue, Guido da Siena, the Masuccios and the Cosmati all profited by his pervading and enduring influence. Never hurried by an ill-regulated imagination into extravagances, he was careful in selecting his objects of study and his methods of self-cultivation; an indefatigable worker, who spared neither time nor strength in obedience to the numerous calls made upon him from all parts of the peninsula; now in Pisa, then in Naples, Padua, Siena, Lucca, or Florence; here to design a church, there to model a bas-relief, erect a pulpit, a palace or a tower; by turns architect and sculptor, great in both, original in both, a reviver in both, laying deep and well the foundations of his edifices by hitherto unpractised methods, and sculpturing his bas-reliefs upon principles evolved from the study of antique models long unheeded. Ever respected and esteemed by the many persons of all classes with whom he came in contact, he was truly a great man--one to whom the world owes an eternal debt of gratitude, and who looms up in gigantic proportions through the mist of five centuries, holding the same relation to Italian art which Dante holds to Italian literature." FRA GUGLIELMO D'AGNELLO (1238-1314?), also a Pisan, was a pupil of Nicola Pisano, and worked with him at Bologna. There is little to be said of his works after his master's death.