- PISANELLO, Antonio
(probably 1395—1455/6)
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Painter
- Antonio Pisanello was the major Italian exponent
of Intenational Gothic in succession to Gentile da Fabriano, who was
very probably his master. He was trained in Verona, probably under Stefano da
Verona, and then went to Venice where he seems to have succeeded Gentile
in painting a series of frescoes in the Doge's Palace (1415/22: all burnt); he also
succeeded Gentile in Rome, at the Lateran Basilica (1431/2: also destroyed).
These were probably works in the International style, and the fact that he
succeeded Gentile makes it seem likely that he was regarded as his heir. The
earliest extant major work by Pisanello is the Annunciation (1423/4: Verona, S.
Fenno) and in it, as in the later St George and the Princess (1437/8: Verona, S.
Anastasia), his courtly interests and narrative gifts are clearly shown. In 1438
he made his first datable portrait medal, and it is as a medallist and draughtsman
that he is best known. In 1448/9 he made a set of medals of Alfonso of
Aragon,
King of Naples, and he is known to have been there. The Vallardi Codex
(Paris, Louvre) is one of the most important surviving collections of 15th-century
drawings, and contains not only Pisanello's own drawings - studies of animals,
costume, antiques, sketches for pictures and copies of other drawings — but also
what seem to be drawings by pupils and by other artists kept in case they came
in handy one day. His wonderful studies of animals reveal how sharp his
observation was in this typical International Gothic interest, and his portraits
confirm this (Bergamo and Paris). The closeness of his ties with Burgundy is
demonstrated by the Profile of a Girl (Washington, NG) which is still undetermined
between him and the Franco-Flemish School c.1420. The only other
paintings by him are in London (NG) and some fragments of frescoes and
sinopie rediscovered in Mantua in 1968: good sets of his superb medals are in
London (V&A) and Washington (NG).
- Source: The Penguin Dictionary of Art and Artists (Penguin Reference Books)
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