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Ruskin's manuscript is obscure. The transcript reads it as Nino da Fiesole, but the first letter is unclear and there does not appear to be a sculptor of that name. Nor is it clear whether Ruskin is referring to the statues or to the capitals or both.
The reference might be to Mino da Fiesole, 1429 - 1484. Ruskin’s references to works by Mino in S.Ambrogio, Florence, and the Badia, Florence, are clear and unequivocal. In a letter to his mother dated August 15 1845 and reproduced at Works, 4.26 [n/a] Ruskin refers to Mino’s ‘sweet, living, laughing, holy creatures that I am afraid you will wish they were yours instead of me’. At Works, 4.280 [n/a] Mino’s work seems to ‘cut light and carve breath’. At Works, 8.215 his sculpture represents ‘the highest examples of the kind of sculpture painting’, and the reference to 'sculpture painting' in this passage of M suggests that it is indeed Mino to whom Ruskin is referring. However, the tomb of St Peter Martyr is dated 1339, 90 years before the birth of Mino.
However at Works, 4.300 [n/a] Ruskin appears to confuse Mino da Fiesole and Nino Pisano (working 1349-1368) in his account of statues of Faith and Charity in the church of S. Caterina at Pisa, and it is possible that Ruskin is confusing the two here. That would make sense of the reference to Pisan sculpture in the side heading.
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[Version 0.05: May 2008]