Pisanello
Encyclopedia
Pisanello known professionally as Antonio di Puccio Pisano or Antonio di Puccio da Cereto, also erroneously called Vittore Pisano by Giorgio Vasari
, was one of the most distinguished painters of the early Italian Renaissance
and Quattrocento
. He was acclaimed by poets such as Guarino da Verona
and praised by humanists of his time who compared him to such illustrious names as Cimabue
, Phidias
and Praxiteles
.
Pisanello is known for his resplendent fresco
es in large murals, elegant portraits, small easel pictures, and many brilliant drawings. He is the most important commemorative portrait medal
list in the first half of the 15th century.
He was employed by the Doge of Venice
, the Pope in the Vatican
and the courts of Verona
, Ferrara
, Mantua
, Milan
, Rimini
, and by the King of Naples
. He stood in high esteem of the Gonzaga
and Este
families.
Pisanello had many of his works wrongly ascribed to other artists such as Piero della Francesca
, Albrecht Dürer
and Leonardo da Vinci
, to name a few. While most of his paintings have perished, a good many of his drawings and medals have survived.
. He was probably given his early training by a Veronese painter (perhaps Altichiero
or Stefano da Verona
) as his early style is in the tradition of veronese painting.
Gentile da Fabriano
from whom he acquired his refined, delicate, detailed style. Pisanello also acquired from him a taste for precious materials and beautiful fabrics that can be found in his later paintings. The frescoes in the Doge's Palace at Venice, on which they worked together, have perished as well as the frescoes in the Basilica of St. John Lateran
and the palaces of Mantua and Pavia.
In 1422, Pisanello was reported to be in Mantua in the service of young Ludovico Gonzaga, son of the Marchese of Mantua Gianfrancesco Gonzaga. He continued to work for the Gonzaga family till the 1440s.
Giorgio Vasari
, an artist and biographer of the Italian Renaissance
, states that Pisanello also worked in the workshop of Andrea del Castagno
, author of the painted equestrian monument of Niccolò da Tolentino (1456) in the Cathedral in Florence
. He must also have known Paolo Uccello
, the painter of the Battle of San Romano
with its many horses. Pisanello's love of drawing horses probably finds its origin in this relationship; but as there is so much unknown of his life, this attribution by Vasari is not reliable and may only be a legend.
Pisanello's Madonna of the Quail, now in the Museo di Castelvecchio in Verona
, is signed by "Antonius Pisanus". It is tentatively dated at c. 1420. The style is a blend of the styles of Gentile da Fabriano and Stefano da Verona
. This might show that Pisanello was also a pupil of the latter in Verona.
Pisanello stayed again in Verona in 1424. However, according to some scholars, he painted frescoes about hunting and fishing and jousts in Pavia the same year. These were commissioned by the Duke of Milan Filippo Maria Visconti
. There is no trace of these frescoes left.
Back in Mantua with the Gonzagas between 1424 and 1426, Pisanello painted one of his important surviving works: the fresco
Annunciation in San Fermo, Verona. It was used to embellish the funeral monument of Nicolò di Brenzoni by the Florentine sculptor Nanni di Bartolo.
When Gentile da Fabriano died in Rome between August and October 1427, his work at the Basilica of St. John Lateran
was unfinished. Pisanello completed the frescoes of his former master between 1431 and 1432. All these frescoes were destroyed when the basilica was rebuilt in the 17th century by Francesco Borromini
. The Kupferstichkabinet in Berlin has a pale sketch of this fresco, drawn by Borromini. While in Rome, he became more and more influenced by the classical style of Renaissance
art.
, and are good examples of the elegant garb of the time, including spectacular hats. In contrast with his contemporaries, his drawings are not drafts for future paintings but are autonomous works of art. He compiled several books of drawings, detailed and accurate studies of fauna and flora drawn with a poetic naturalism, and elegant costumes.
, Vienna (but the attribution is still contested) and Portrait of a Man (now in the Palazzo Rosso, Genoa).
Pisanello returned to Verona
between 1433 and 1438. His fresco masterpiece from this period is Saint George and the Princess of Trebizond (c. 1433–1438) at the Pellegrini Chapel, church of Sant'Anastasia, Verona. It had to be restored after water seepage badly damaged the fresco at the end of the 19th century. He prepared for this painting with a large number of drawings, many of which are on display in the Louvre Museum, Paris.
From 1435, Pisanello became more and more interested in portraiture and medalmaking. He was introduced to Leonello d'Este
, Marquess of Ferrara. His famous Portrait of an Este Princess
dates from this period.
Pisanello's Vision of Saint Eustace, now at the National Gallery in London, long ascribed to Albrecht Dürer
because of its perfection of this very fine panel, shows most animals in profile or defined poses with miniature-like delicacy. The story in this small painting (egg tempera on wood) is probably only a pretext for showing "noble" animals (horses, hunting dogs, stag, bear...) and the most noble creature of all: the hunting courtier.
In 1439, the Council of Florence
negotiated with the Byzantine Emperor John VIII Palaiologos
. On this occasion Pisanello struck a commemorative medal of the emperor. He also made some drawings with portraits of the emperor and his retinue (on display at the Louvre, Paris), suggesting he had a commission for a painting or fresco for the Este residence.
Pisanello thus became the inventor of the fields of portrait medals and related medallic art. During his lifetime Pisanello was best known for his medals. He has been copied many times in later generations. The medalist art declined when it deviated from the art of Pisanello. Before him, medals were struck like minted coins. Pisanello, on the other hand, melted his medals the same as a bronze low-relief, clearly showing the work of a painter and a modeler. He even signed his medals with Opus Pisani pictoris (made by the painter Pisano). In his view the portraits in his medals equal the portraits in his paintings. He even adds allegories at the reverse of his medals, such as the unicorn in the Cecilia Gonzaga medal, underlying the noble character of the princess.
and the republic of Venice. Pisanello was in Mantua with Gianfancresco Gonzaga. They decided to play a part in the capture of Verona. Consequently the Venetian government called him a rebel and threatened him with a stiff sentence. Only an intercession by a powerful friend could preserve him.
After a stay in Milan between 1440 and 1441, Pisanello went back to Ferrara in 1441. There he painted his acclaimed portrait of Lionello d'Este, now on display at the Accademia Carrara
, Bergamo. His Virgin and the saints Anthony the Abbot and George (National Gallery, London) probably dated from the same period. The impressive fresco cycle Scenes of War and Chivalry in the Palazzo Ducale di Mantova
, Mantua probably dates from 1447.
, where he enjoyed great repute at the Aragon court. The poet Porcellio
even wrote an ode in his honor. He may have lived five or six years longer, but there is no more mention of him in the records.
, Venice
, Verona
, Pistoia
and two in the National Gallery, London
(Vision of Saint Eustace and The Virgin and Child with Saint George and Saint Anthony Abbot). Many of his drawings can now be found at the Biblioteca Ambrosiana
in Milan, Italy and the Louvre
, Paris.
Pisanello influenced many of his contemporaries, but he did not create his own school. His genius shone briefly and after his death he was quickly forgotten in the rise of the humanistic and classical culture of the Renaissance. He is now considered the last and most magnificent artist of the courtly style of the Gothic art in the 15th century, called the International Gothic
style. On the other hand, he may also be considered as one of the first leaders of the Renaissance movement.
Giorgio Vasari
Giorgio Vasari was an Italian painter, writer, historian, and architect, who is famous today for his biographies of Italian artists, considered the ideological foundation of art-historical writing.-Biography:...
, was one of the most distinguished painters of the early Italian Renaissance
Renaissance
The Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Italy in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe. The term is also used more loosely to refer to the historical era, but since the changes of the Renaissance were not...
and Quattrocento
Quattrocento
The cultural and artistic events of 15th century Italy are collectively referred to as the Quattrocento...
. He was acclaimed by poets such as Guarino da Verona
Guarino da Verona
Guarino da Verona was an early figure in the Italian Renaissance.He was born in Verona, Italy and later studied Greek at Constantinople, where for five years he was the pupil of Manuel Chrysoloras. When he set out to return home, he had with him two cases of precious Greek manuscripts which he had...
and praised by humanists of his time who compared him to such illustrious names as Cimabue
Cimabue
Cimabue , also known as Bencivieni di Pepo or in modern Italian, Benvenuto di Giuseppe, was an Italian painter and creator of mosaics from Florence....
, Phidias
Phidias
Phidias or the great Pheidias , was a Greek sculptor, painter and architect, who lived in the 5th century BC, and is commonly regarded as one of the greatest of all sculptors of Classical Greece: Phidias' Statue of Zeus at Olympia was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World...
and Praxiteles
Praxiteles
Praxiteles of Athens, the son of Cephisodotus the Elder, was the most renowned of the Attic sculptors of the 4th century BC. He was the first to sculpt the nude female form in a life-size statue...
.
Pisanello is known for his resplendent fresco
Fresco
Fresco is any of several related mural painting types, executed on plaster on walls or ceilings. The word fresco comes from the Greek word affresca which derives from the Latin word for "fresh". Frescoes first developed in the ancient world and continued to be popular through the Renaissance...
es in large murals, elegant portraits, small easel pictures, and many brilliant drawings. He is the most important commemorative portrait medal
Medal
A medal, or medallion, is generally a circular object that has been sculpted, molded, cast, struck, stamped, or some way rendered with an insignia, portrait, or other artistic rendering. A medal may be awarded to a person or organization as a form of recognition for athletic, military, scientific,...
list in the first half of the 15th century.
He was employed by the Doge of Venice
Venice
Venice is a city in northern Italy which is renowned for the beauty of its setting, its architecture and its artworks. It is the capital of the Veneto region...
, the Pope in the Vatican
Vatican City
Vatican City , or Vatican City State, in Italian officially Stato della Città del Vaticano , which translates literally as State of the City of the Vatican, is a landlocked sovereign city-state whose territory consists of a walled enclave within the city of Rome, Italy. It has an area of...
and the courts of Verona
Verona
Verona ; German Bern, Dietrichsbern or Welschbern) is a city in the Veneto, northern Italy, with approx. 265,000 inhabitants and one of the seven chef-lieus of the region. It is the second largest city municipality in the region and the third of North-Eastern Italy. The metropolitan area of Verona...
, Ferrara
Ferrara
Ferrara is a city and comune in Emilia-Romagna, northern Italy, capital city of the Province of Ferrara. It is situated 50 km north-northeast of Bologna, on the Po di Volano, a branch channel of the main stream of the Po River, located 5 km north...
, Mantua
Mantua
Mantua is a city and comune in Lombardy, Italy and capital of the province of the same name. Mantua's historic power and influence under the Gonzaga family, made it one of the main artistic, cultural and notably musical hubs of Northern Italy and the country as a whole...
, Milan
Milan
Milan is the second-largest city in Italy and the capital city of the region of Lombardy and of the province of Milan. The city proper has a population of about 1.3 million, while its urban area, roughly coinciding with its administrative province and the bordering Province of Monza and Brianza ,...
, Rimini
Rimini
Rimini is a medium-sized city of 142,579 inhabitants in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy, and capital city of the Province of Rimini. It is located on the Adriatic Sea, on the coast between the rivers Marecchia and Ausa...
, and by the King of Naples
Naples
Naples is a city in Southern Italy, situated on the country's west coast by the Gulf of Naples. Lying between two notable volcanic regions, Mount Vesuvius and the Phlegraean Fields, it is the capital of the region of Campania and of the province of Naples...
. He stood in high esteem of the Gonzaga
House of Gonzaga
The Gonzaga family ruled Mantua in Northern Italy from 1328 to 1708.-History:In 1433, Gianfrancesco I assumed the title of Marquis of Mantua, and in 1530 Federico II received the title of Duke of Mantua. In 1531, the family acquired the Duchy of Monferrato through marriage...
and Este
Este
The House of Este is a European princely dynasty. It is split into two branches; the elder is known as the House of Welf-Este or House of Welf historically rendered in English, Guelf or Guelph...
families.
Pisanello had many of his works wrongly ascribed to other artists such as Piero della Francesca
Piero della Francesca
Piero della Francesca was a painter of the Early Renaissance. As testified by Giorgio Vasari in his Lives of the Artists, to contemporaries he was also known as a mathematician and geometer. Nowadays Piero della Francesca is chiefly appreciated for his art. His painting was characterized by its...
, Albrecht Dürer
Albrecht Dürer
Albrecht Dürer was a German painter, printmaker, engraver, mathematician, and theorist from Nuremberg. His prints established his reputation across Europe when he was still in his twenties, and he has been conventionally regarded as the greatest artist of the Northern Renaissance ever since...
and Leonardo da Vinci
Leonardo da Vinci
Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci was an Italian Renaissance polymath: painter, sculptor, architect, musician, scientist, mathematician, engineer, inventor, anatomist, geologist, cartographer, botanist and writer whose genius, perhaps more than that of any other figure, epitomized the Renaissance...
, to name a few. While most of his paintings have perished, a good many of his drawings and medals have survived.
Early life
Pisanello's life is somewhat shrouded in mystery. He was born between 1380 and 1395 and died between 1450 and 1455 (probably between 14 July and 8 October 1455). He was a native of Pisa but spent his early years in San Vigilio sul Lago in the territory of VeronaVerona
Verona ; German Bern, Dietrichsbern or Welschbern) is a city in the Veneto, northern Italy, with approx. 265,000 inhabitants and one of the seven chef-lieus of the region. It is the second largest city municipality in the region and the third of North-Eastern Italy. The metropolitan area of Verona...
. He was probably given his early training by a Veronese painter (perhaps Altichiero
Altichiero
Altichiero da Verona , also called Aldighieri da Zevio, was an Italian painter of the Gothic style. A follower of Giotto, Altichiero is credited with founding the Veronese school...
or Stefano da Verona
Stefano da Verona
Stefano da Verona was an Italian painter who was active in Verona.He was the son of the French painter Jean d'Arbois, who had come to Italy at the court for Gian Galeazzo Visconti after working for Philip II of Burgundy. He likely apprenticed at Pavia in the workshops of illuminators of the Visconti...
) as his early style is in the tradition of veronese painting.
Training
Between 1415 and 1420, Pisanello was the assistant of the renowned painter and illuminatorIlluminated manuscript
An illuminated manuscript is a manuscript in which the text is supplemented by the addition of decoration, such as decorated initials, borders and miniature illustrations...
Gentile da Fabriano
Gentile da Fabriano
Gentile da Fabriano was an Italian painter known for his participation in the International Gothic style. He worked in various places in central Italy, mostly in Tuscany. His best known works are his Adoration of the Magi and the Flight into Egypt.-Biography:Gentile was born in or near Fabriano,...
from whom he acquired his refined, delicate, detailed style. Pisanello also acquired from him a taste for precious materials and beautiful fabrics that can be found in his later paintings. The frescoes in the Doge's Palace at Venice, on which they worked together, have perished as well as the frescoes in the Basilica of St. John Lateran
Basilica of St. John Lateran
The Papal Archbasilica of St. John Lateran , commonly known as St. John Lateran's Archbasilica and St. John Lateran's Basilica, is the cathedral of the Diocese of Rome and the official ecclesiastical seat of the Bishop of Rome, who is the Pope...
and the palaces of Mantua and Pavia.
In 1422, Pisanello was reported to be in Mantua in the service of young Ludovico Gonzaga, son of the Marchese of Mantua Gianfrancesco Gonzaga. He continued to work for the Gonzaga family till the 1440s.
Giorgio Vasari
Giorgio Vasari
Giorgio Vasari was an Italian painter, writer, historian, and architect, who is famous today for his biographies of Italian artists, considered the ideological foundation of art-historical writing.-Biography:...
, an artist and biographer of the Italian Renaissance
Italian Renaissance
The Italian Renaissance began the opening phase of the Renaissance, a period of great cultural change and achievement in Europe that spanned the period from the end of the 13th century to about 1600, marking the transition between Medieval and Early Modern Europe...
, states that Pisanello also worked in the workshop of Andrea del Castagno
Andrea del Castagno
Andrea del Castagno was an Italian painter from Florence, influenced chiefly by Tommaso Masaccio and Giotto di Bondone. His works include frescoes in Sant'Apollonia in Florence and the painted equestrian monument of Niccolò da Tolentino in the Cathedral in Florence...
, author of the painted equestrian monument of Niccolò da Tolentino (1456) in the Cathedral in Florence
Santa Maria del Fiore
The Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore is the cathedral church of Florence, Italy. The Duomo, as it is ordinarily called, was begun in 1296 in the Gothic style to the design of Arnolfo di Cambio and completed structurally in 1436 with the dome engineered by Filippo Brunelleschi...
. He must also have known Paolo Uccello
Paolo Uccello
Paolo Uccello , born Paolo di Dono, was an Italian painter and a mathematician who was notable for his pioneering work on visual perspective in art. Giorgio Vasari in his book Lives of the Artists wrote that Uccello was obsessed by his interest in perspective and would stay up all night in his...
, the painter of the Battle of San Romano
Battle of San Romano
The Battle of San Romano was fought on June 1st 1432, some 30 miles outside Florence, between the troops of Florence, commanded by Niccolò da Tolentino, and Siena, under Francesco Piccinino. The outcome is generally considered favourable to the Florentines, but in the Sienese chronicles it was...
with its many horses. Pisanello's love of drawing horses probably finds its origin in this relationship; but as there is so much unknown of his life, this attribution by Vasari is not reliable and may only be a legend.
Pisanello's Madonna of the Quail, now in the Museo di Castelvecchio in Verona
Verona
Verona ; German Bern, Dietrichsbern or Welschbern) is a city in the Veneto, northern Italy, with approx. 265,000 inhabitants and one of the seven chef-lieus of the region. It is the second largest city municipality in the region and the third of North-Eastern Italy. The metropolitan area of Verona...
, is signed by "Antonius Pisanus". It is tentatively dated at c. 1420. The style is a blend of the styles of Gentile da Fabriano and Stefano da Verona
Stefano da Verona
Stefano da Verona was an Italian painter who was active in Verona.He was the son of the French painter Jean d'Arbois, who had come to Italy at the court for Gian Galeazzo Visconti after working for Philip II of Burgundy. He likely apprenticed at Pavia in the workshops of illuminators of the Visconti...
. This might show that Pisanello was also a pupil of the latter in Verona.
Pisanello stayed again in Verona in 1424. However, according to some scholars, he painted frescoes about hunting and fishing and jousts in Pavia the same year. These were commissioned by the Duke of Milan Filippo Maria Visconti
Filippo Maria Visconti
Filippo Maria Visconti was ruler of Milan from 1412 to 1447.-Biography:Filippo Maria Visconti, who had become nominal ruler of Pavia in 1402, succeeded his assassinated brother Gian Maria Visconti as Duke of Milan in 1412. They were the sons of Gian Galeazzo Visconti, Gian Maria's predecessor, by...
. There is no trace of these frescoes left.
Back in Mantua with the Gonzagas between 1424 and 1426, Pisanello painted one of his important surviving works: the fresco
Fresco
Fresco is any of several related mural painting types, executed on plaster on walls or ceilings. The word fresco comes from the Greek word affresca which derives from the Latin word for "fresh". Frescoes first developed in the ancient world and continued to be popular through the Renaissance...
Annunciation in San Fermo, Verona. It was used to embellish the funeral monument of Nicolò di Brenzoni by the Florentine sculptor Nanni di Bartolo.
When Gentile da Fabriano died in Rome between August and October 1427, his work at the Basilica of St. John Lateran
Basilica of St. John Lateran
The Papal Archbasilica of St. John Lateran , commonly known as St. John Lateran's Archbasilica and St. John Lateran's Basilica, is the cathedral of the Diocese of Rome and the official ecclesiastical seat of the Bishop of Rome, who is the Pope...
was unfinished. Pisanello completed the frescoes of his former master between 1431 and 1432. All these frescoes were destroyed when the basilica was rebuilt in the 17th century by Francesco Borromini
Francesco Borromini
Francesco Borromini, byname of Francesco Castelli was an architect from Ticino who, with his contemporaries, Gian Lorenzo Bernini and Pietro da Cortona, was a leading figure in the emergence of Roman Baroque architecture.A keen student of the architecture of Michelangelo and the ruins of...
. The Kupferstichkabinet in Berlin has a pale sketch of this fresco, drawn by Borromini. While in Rome, he became more and more influenced by the classical style of Renaissance
Renaissance
The Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Italy in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe. The term is also used more loosely to refer to the historical era, but since the changes of the Renaissance were not...
art.
Style
Pisanello's drawings are generally prized as jewels of the quattrocentoQuattrocento
The cultural and artistic events of 15th century Italy are collectively referred to as the Quattrocento...
, and are good examples of the elegant garb of the time, including spectacular hats. In contrast with his contemporaries, his drawings are not drafts for future paintings but are autonomous works of art. He compiled several books of drawings, detailed and accurate studies of fauna and flora drawn with a poetic naturalism, and elegant costumes.
Nobility
Pisanello traveled to several Italian cities and was introduced to a number of courts. He stayed for a while in Florence. In this period he painted two important portraits: Emperor Sigismund, now in the Kunsthistorisches MuseumKunsthistorisches Museum
The Kunsthistorisches Museum is an art museum in Vienna, Austria. Housed in its festive palatial building on Ringstraße, it is crowned with an octagonal dome...
, Vienna (but the attribution is still contested) and Portrait of a Man (now in the Palazzo Rosso, Genoa).
Pisanello returned to Verona
Verona
Verona ; German Bern, Dietrichsbern or Welschbern) is a city in the Veneto, northern Italy, with approx. 265,000 inhabitants and one of the seven chef-lieus of the region. It is the second largest city municipality in the region and the third of North-Eastern Italy. The metropolitan area of Verona...
between 1433 and 1438. His fresco masterpiece from this period is Saint George and the Princess of Trebizond (c. 1433–1438) at the Pellegrini Chapel, church of Sant'Anastasia, Verona. It had to be restored after water seepage badly damaged the fresco at the end of the 19th century. He prepared for this painting with a large number of drawings, many of which are on display in the Louvre Museum, Paris.
Portraitures and medalmaking
Leonello d'Este
thumb|220px|Leonello D'Este portrayed by Pisanello.Leonello d'Este was marquis of Ferrara and Duke of Modena and Reggio Emilia from 1441 to 1450.-Biography:...
, Marquess of Ferrara. His famous Portrait of an Este Princess
Portrait of Princess (Pisanello)
Portrait of Princess is a tempera on panel painting attributed to the Italian Late-Gothic master Pisanello. It was probably executed between 1435 and 1449 and is also known as Portrait of a Princess of the House of Este...
dates from this period.
Pisanello's Vision of Saint Eustace, now at the National Gallery in London, long ascribed to Albrecht Dürer
Albrecht Dürer
Albrecht Dürer was a German painter, printmaker, engraver, mathematician, and theorist from Nuremberg. His prints established his reputation across Europe when he was still in his twenties, and he has been conventionally regarded as the greatest artist of the Northern Renaissance ever since...
because of its perfection of this very fine panel, shows most animals in profile or defined poses with miniature-like delicacy. The story in this small painting (egg tempera on wood) is probably only a pretext for showing "noble" animals (horses, hunting dogs, stag, bear...) and the most noble creature of all: the hunting courtier.
Council of Florence
The Council of Florence was an Ecumenical Council of the Roman Catholic Church. It began in 1431 in Basel, Switzerland, and became known as the Council of Ferrara after its transfer to Ferrara was decreed by Pope Eugene IV, to convene in 1438...
negotiated with the Byzantine Emperor John VIII Palaiologos
John VIII Palaiologos
John VIII Palaiologos or Palaeologus , was the penultimate reigning Byzantine Emperor, ruling from 1425 to 1448.-Life:John VIII Palaiologos was the eldest son of Manuel II Palaiologos and Helena Dragaš, the daughter of the Serbian prince Constantine Dragaš...
. On this occasion Pisanello struck a commemorative medal of the emperor. He also made some drawings with portraits of the emperor and his retinue (on display at the Louvre, Paris), suggesting he had a commission for a painting or fresco for the Este residence.
Pisanello thus became the inventor of the fields of portrait medals and related medallic art. During his lifetime Pisanello was best known for his medals. He has been copied many times in later generations. The medalist art declined when it deviated from the art of Pisanello. Before him, medals were struck like minted coins. Pisanello, on the other hand, melted his medals the same as a bronze low-relief, clearly showing the work of a painter and a modeler. He even signed his medals with Opus Pisani pictoris (made by the painter Pisano). In his view the portraits in his medals equal the portraits in his paintings. He even adds allegories at the reverse of his medals, such as the unicorn in the Cecilia Gonzaga medal, underlying the noble character of the princess.
Political unrest
In 1438, a war broke out between the ruler of Milan Filippo Maria ViscontiFilippo Maria Visconti
Filippo Maria Visconti was ruler of Milan from 1412 to 1447.-Biography:Filippo Maria Visconti, who had become nominal ruler of Pavia in 1402, succeeded his assassinated brother Gian Maria Visconti as Duke of Milan in 1412. They were the sons of Gian Galeazzo Visconti, Gian Maria's predecessor, by...
and the republic of Venice. Pisanello was in Mantua with Gianfancresco Gonzaga. They decided to play a part in the capture of Verona. Consequently the Venetian government called him a rebel and threatened him with a stiff sentence. Only an intercession by a powerful friend could preserve him.
After a stay in Milan between 1440 and 1441, Pisanello went back to Ferrara in 1441. There he painted his acclaimed portrait of Lionello d'Este, now on display at the Accademia Carrara
Accademia Carrara
The Accademia Carrara is an art gallery and an academy of fine arts in Bergamo, Italy.-History:The origins of the art gallery lie with the Count Giacomo Carrara, a wealthy collector and patron of the arts, who left a generous legacy to the city of Bergamo at the end of the 18th century.After the...
, Bergamo. His Virgin and the saints Anthony the Abbot and George (National Gallery, London) probably dated from the same period. The impressive fresco cycle Scenes of War and Chivalry in the Palazzo Ducale di Mantova
Palazzo Ducale di Mantova
The Palazzo Ducale di Mantova is a group of buildings in Mantua, Lombardy, northern Italy, built between the 14th and the 17th century mainly by the noble family of Gonzaga as their royal residence in the capital of their Duchy. The buildings are connected by corridors and galleries and are...
, Mantua probably dates from 1447.
Later life
From December 1448, to the end of his life he lived in NaplesNaples
Naples is a city in Southern Italy, situated on the country's west coast by the Gulf of Naples. Lying between two notable volcanic regions, Mount Vesuvius and the Phlegraean Fields, it is the capital of the region of Campania and of the province of Naples...
, where he enjoyed great repute at the Aragon court. The poet Porcellio
Porcellio
Porcellio is a genus of woodlice in the family Porcellionidae. These crustaceans are found essentially world-wide. A well-known species is the common rough woodlouse, Porcellio scaber....
even wrote an ode in his honor. He may have lived five or six years longer, but there is no more mention of him in the records.
Legacy
Specimens of Pisanello's work as a painter still exist in RomeRome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
, Venice
Venice
Venice is a city in northern Italy which is renowned for the beauty of its setting, its architecture and its artworks. It is the capital of the Veneto region...
, Verona
Verona
Verona ; German Bern, Dietrichsbern or Welschbern) is a city in the Veneto, northern Italy, with approx. 265,000 inhabitants and one of the seven chef-lieus of the region. It is the second largest city municipality in the region and the third of North-Eastern Italy. The metropolitan area of Verona...
, Pistoia
Pistoia
Pistoia is a city and comune in the Tuscany region of Italy, the capital of a province of the same name, located about 30 km west and north of Florence and is crossed by the Ombrone Pistoiese, a tributary of the River Arno.-History:...
and two in the National Gallery, London
National Gallery, London
The National Gallery is an art museum on Trafalgar Square, London, United Kingdom. Founded in 1824, it houses a collection of over 2,300 paintings dating from the mid-13th century to 1900. The gallery is an exempt charity, and a non-departmental public body of the Department for Culture, Media...
(Vision of Saint Eustace and The Virgin and Child with Saint George and Saint Anthony Abbot). Many of his drawings can now be found at the Biblioteca Ambrosiana
Biblioteca Ambrosiana
The Biblioteca Ambrosiana is a historic library in Milan, Italy, also housing the Pinacoteca Ambrosiana, the Ambrosian art gallery. Named after Ambrose, the patron saint of Milan, it was founded by Cardinal Federico Borromeo , whose agents scoured Western Europe and even Greece and Syria for books...
in Milan, Italy and the Louvre
Louvre
The Musée du Louvre – in English, the Louvre Museum or simply the Louvre – is one of the world's largest museums, the most visited art museum in the world and a historic monument. A central landmark of Paris, it is located on the Right Bank of the Seine in the 1st arrondissement...
, Paris.
Pisanello influenced many of his contemporaries, but he did not create his own school. His genius shone briefly and after his death he was quickly forgotten in the rise of the humanistic and classical culture of the Renaissance. He is now considered the last and most magnificent artist of the courtly style of the Gothic art in the 15th century, called the International Gothic
International Gothic
International Gothic is a phase of Gothic art which developed in Burgundy, Bohemia, France and northern Italy in the late 14th century and early 15th century...
style. On the other hand, he may also be considered as one of the first leaders of the Renaissance movement.