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STUDY FOR MEDAL OF ALFONSO OF NAPLES
Ga.i. (I. Beaii.r .{rfs Jiec. VaJ/'inli

PISANELLO

G. F. HILL, M.A.

OF THE DEPARTMENT OF COINS, BRITISH MUSEUM

LONDON: DUCKWORTH AND CO.
NEW YORK: CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS

1905

^^/-^^ P~,

Printed by Ballantyne, Hanson 6^ Co,
At the Ballantyne Press

PREFACE

Ed or di quali scole
Verra '1 maestro, che descriva appieno
Quel, ch' i' vo' dir in semplici parole ?

Petrarch, Triumph of Fame.

The genesis of a particular volume in a series of Lives of
artists is not likely to be of interest to any one but its
author. But I may be forgiven for saying something in
palliation of the deficiencies of which I am only too
sensible. It was originally intended that this volume
should give an account of the early Italian medallists,
with Pisanello, of course, as the central figure. But it
was abundantly clear from the outset that Pisanello the
medallist is inseparable from Pisanello the painter. An
excursion outside the bounds of the author's ordinary
province thus became inevitable ; and the other medallists
have been relegated to the limbo of a final, and very
sketchy, chapter, in order to allow of a fuller treatment of
the founder of their art in his aspect of painter. Some
day, perhaps, the ideal book on this master will be written
by a critic possessing an equal knowledge of Italian paint-

vi PREFACE

ing and Italian medals ; up to the present many good
critics have written on his work, but always with a some-
what divided attention. It would perhaps have been
Aviser not to expose myself to the charge of amateurishness
by attempting to deal with his paintings ; wiser still not
to write the book at all without being able to command
more opportunities for research than are available in the
intervals of official occupation. Bat the volume claims to
be little more than a fairly full summary of recent research
for English readers. I have not ventured on any con-
structive theory without a careful examination of originals,
although I must plead guilty to the crime of having, in
one or two cases, expressed doubts as to certain received
theories on the evidence of photographs merely.

Were I to name all those who have borne uncom-
plainingly with my inquiries for information, the cynic
would be astonished at their number. I must confine
myself to mentioning a few, whom to omit would be
criminal ingratitude. To i\Ir. E. A. C. McCurdy I am in
the deepest debt for his conscientious and always helpful
criticism of the proof-sheets. I have received the most
ungrudging assistance from the staff of various public
collections, such as the Coin Cabinets in the Bibliotheque
Nationale and at Berlin, and above all from M. GuifFrey,
whose courtesy greatly facilitated the examination of the
rich collection of drawings concerning my subject in the

PREFACE vii

Louvre. Of owners of private collections, I am under
many obligations to Messrs. Bonnat, Dreyfus, Rosenheim,
Salting and Valton. Finally, the footnotes give some,
though not an adequate, indication of my indebtedness
to that indefatigable collector of material for the history
of art, Signor Adolfo Venturi, in whose edition of Vasari's
Gentile da Fabriano and Pisanello is laid the foundation
of all study of these artists for many a year to come.

As regards the illustrations of the medals, the majority
(i.e., all of those by Pisanello and Pasti) have been made
of the actual size of the original and, according to the
practice which experience shows to give the best result,
from plaster casts. Several of these have been kindly
supplied by M. Valton, from his collection of casts, and in
some of these cases it is difficult to trace the present owner
of the original. Otherwise the collection to which the
actual specimen illustrated belongs has as a rule been
stated.

The portrait in the Louvre (PI. 14) and M. Dreyfus'
plaque of Alberti (PI. 58) have been reproduced by kind
permission from the Revue ArxMologique and Heiss,
Les Medailleurs de la Renaissance, respectively.

G. F. HILL.

British Museum,

April 1905

CONTENTS

Preface .
List of Plates

CHAP.

I. Introductory .
II. Venice

III. The " Annunciation

IV. Rome
V. The First Ferrares

VI. The Fresco in Sant
VII. The First Medal
VIII. GuARiNo's Poem

IX. Mantua and Milan, 1489-14-43
X. Ferrara, 1441-1448
XI. The Malatesta, Gonzaga, and
1445-1448 .
XII. Doubtful and Lost Portraits

XIII. Pisanello at Naples. His Death

XIV. Conclusion ....

' IN San Fermo

E Period
Anastasi

other Medals,

PAGE
V

27
40
48
56

9^
113

119
139

162

181
194
215

APPENDIX

I. Chronological Summary .
II. The British Museum Drawings
III. Bibliography ....
Index .....

235
238
242
251

LIST OF PLATES

Study for Medal of Alfonso of Naples. JRec
Vallardi, 2307

1. Madonna and St. Catherine in a Garden

Veronese School. Verona Gallery .

2. Presentation of the Cavalli Knights. Alti-

chiero. S. Ana stasia, Verona .

3. Crucifixion. Early Veronese School. S

Fermo, Verona .....

4. Studies of Heads. Rec. Vallardi, 2392

5. Studies of Audience Scene and Dogs. Rec

Vallardi, 2432

6. Adoration of the Magi. Ant. Vivarini

Berlin Gallo-y . . * . .

7. Fresco of the Annunciation. General

Outline. S. Fermo, Verona

8. Fresco of the Annunciation. Angel Gabriel

S. Fermo, Verona ....

9. Fresco of the Annunciation. The Virgin

S. Fermo, Verona ....

Frontispiece

Face page 6

,3 11

33 17

Follow page 42

Face plate 8

xii LIST OF PLATES

10. Fresco of the Annunciation. Head of St.

Michael. S. Fermo, Verona , . . Face page 45

1 1 . The Vision of St. Eustace. National Gallery „ 64

12. Study of St. John in the Wilderness. Bee.

Vallardi, 2594. ,,68

13. Study of Stag. Bee. Vallardi, 2492 . . ,,69

14. Portrait of Ginevra d' Este. Louvre . . „ 71

15. Fresco of St. George and the Princess. S.

Anastasia, Verona « . . . • >, ' '

16. Fresco of St. George and the Princess.

Heads. S. Anastasia, Verona . . . Follow page 84

17. Fresco of St. George and the Princess.

Group of Horsemen. S. Anastasia, Verona Face page 86

18. Fresco of St. George and the Princess.

Pilgrim. S. Anastasia, Verona . .Folloiopage 90

19. St. Jerome. Bono da Ferrara. National

Galleiy ....... Faceplate 18

20. Study of Kalmuck. Bee. Vallardi, 2325 . Facepage 92

21. Study of Oriental. (Head.) Bee. Vallardi,

2315 , Folloic plate 20

22. Study of Frincess. (Head.) Bee. Vallardi, 234<3 „ 21

23. Studies of Costume. MnseeConde,Chantilly. Facepage 93

24. Study of Horse. Bee. Vallardi, 2444 . . „ 94

25. Study of Dog. Bee. Vallardi, 2434 . . a 95

LIST OF PLATES xiii

26. Medals of Constaiitine (obv.) and Heracliiis

(rev.) [Von Schlosser, die alt. Med.] and the

Carrai'a, Medals [Berli/i]. . . .Follow page 98

27. Medals of Niccolo III. d' Este. British

Museum ....... Face page 104*

28. Sketch of Niccolo d' Este. Rec. Vallardi,

2276 „ 106

29. Medal of John Palaeologus. British

Museum ...... Follow page 108

30. Medal of Filippo Maria Visconti. Mr. Max

Bosenheim ..... ,,124

31. Sketch of Filippo Maria Visconti (copy).

Rec. Vallardi, 2484 .... Folloio plate SO

32. Medal of Francesco Sforza. Berlin . Follow page 126
SS. Me Jal of Niccolo Piccinino. British Museum „ 128

34. Sketch of Niccolo Piccinino. Rec. Vallardi,

2482 Folloio plate 33

35. Medal of Leonello d' Este .... Face page 144

36. Medal of Leonello d' Este. British Museum ,, 1 45

37. Medals of Leonello d' Este. Bibliotheque

Nationale and (?) . . . . » „ 146

38. Medals of Leonello d' Este. British Museum „ 147

39. Marriage Medal of Leonello d' Este, 1444.

Berlin Follow page 148

xiv LIST OF PLATES

40. Panel Portrait of Leonello d' Este. Morelli

Collection, Bergamo . . . . . Facejyor/e 151

41. Panel Portrait of Leonello d' Este. Oriolo.

National Gallenj . . . . . „ 152

42. St. Anthony, St. George and Madonna.

National Gallery . . . . . „ 154

43. Studies for St. Anthony and St. George

(copy). Rec. Vallardi, 2633 . . . „ 156

44. Study of Madonna and Child (copy). Bee.

Vallardi, 2623 „ 157

45. Studies of Costume, &c. Amhrosiana, Milan „ 158

46. Medal of Sigismondo Malatesta. Bntish

Museum ...... Folloio page l62

47. Medal of Siffismondo 'Malatesta, 1445.

Berlin . . . . . . . ,, l64

48. Medal of Malatesta Novello. Victona and

Albert Museum . . . . . ,, l66

49. Medal of Gianfrancesco Gonzaga. British

Museum . . . . . • . ,, l68

50. Study of Gianfranc. Gonzaga and Suite.

Rec. Vallardi, 2595 ..... Face page 170

51. Medal of Ludovico Gonzaga. British

Museum ...... FoUoivplate 50

52. Medal of Cecilia Gonzaga British

Museum ..... Folloio page 172

LIST OF PLATES xv

53. Study of a Goat. Duke of Devonshire, Chats-

ivorth ....... FactiKKje 174

54. Medal of Vittorino da Feltre. Berlin. . „ 176

55. Medal of Belloto Ciimano. Berlin . . „ 177
5Q. Medal of Pier Candido Decembrio. Berlin. „ 179

57. Medals of Pisanello. British Musemn and

M. Valton „ 183

58. Plaque of L. B. Alberti. M. Dreijfus . . „ 192

59. Medal of Alfonso of Aragon (Liberalitas).

Bntish Museum . * . . Follow page I96

60. Medal of Alfonso of Aragon (Venator Intre-

pidus). British Museujn . . , . „ 200

61. Medals of Alfonso of Aragon (Triumph).

British Museum mid {?). . . . . „ 202

62. Study for Medal of Alfonso of Aragon. Rec.

Vallai'di, 24<S6 . ..... Face jw^re 204

63. Medal of Don Inigo d' Avalos. Berlin . „ 208

64. Study of Landscape. Rec. Vallardi, 2280 . Face page 209
Q5. Adoration of the Magi. Berlin Gallery . Facei)age2iQ
6Q. Medal of Sigismondo Malatesta. Matteo de'

Pasti. British Museum . . . Folloio page 226

67. Medal of Isotta Atti. Matteo de' Pasti.

Bntish Museum . . . . . _,^ 228

68. Medal of Guarino. Matteo de' Pasti. British

Museum Face imge 230

xvi LIST OF PLATES

69. Mtdals of S. Bernardino by Marescotti and

Federigol. Gonzaga by Talpa. (Fabriczy,

Hal. Medals.) Berim v . . . Face page 231

70. Medal of Ludovico Gonzaga. By Pietro

da Fano. (Fabriczy, op. cit.) . . . „ 232

71. Medal of Bartolomeo Colleoni. By Guidi-

zani. (Fabriczy, op. cit.). Berlin . Follow plate 70

72. Medal of Mahomet II. By Constantius.

(Fabriczy, op. cit.) Berlin . . • ,) 71

73. Medals of Federigo of Urbino and Francesco

Sforza. By Sperandio. (Fabriczy, 0/;. a^.) i^flcei^ofire 233

74. Medals of Carlo Grati and Giov. Benti-

voglio II. By Sperandio. (Fabriczy,

op. cit.) . . » . . . „ 234

CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTORY

The materials available for the biography of Pisanello
are as full as can be expected in the case of a non-Tuscan
artist of his time. External evidence is practically non-
existent for the events of the first thirty or forty years of
his life ; and even after that period the dates of the produc-
tion of his works must, except in the case of his dated medals,
be conjectured from their style and from what we know of
his movements. Apart from his medals and drawings, his
extant works can almost be numbered on the fingers of
one hand : the frescoes of the Ajinunc'iation in San Fermo
and of aS*^. George in Sant"* Anastasia in Verona, the St.
Eustace^ and the St. Anthony and St. George with the
Virgin of the National Gallery, the portrait of an Este
Princess in the Louvre, and that of Leonello cCEste in the
Morelli Collection at Bergamo, are all the paintings which
can with certainty be assigned to him. We are fortunate
in possessing, in the " Recueil Vallardi "'* in the Louvre, a

* Vallardi acquired the " Recueil " from " a noble family living far
from Milan on the Via Emilia" in 1829; but they themselves had
obtained it from another family. He published a catalogue {Disegni
di Leonardo da Vinci posseduti da G. V., Milan, 1855) ; the drawings -were

2 PISANELLO

very large series of drawings which, though they do not
often enable us to construct the external details of his
biography, are invaluable as an index to his methods of
work, and as a key to the attribution of other drawings.*
Our chief literary source for his biography is, of course,
Vasari. Unfortunately, the fact that Pisanello was not
a Florentine made it difficult for his biographer to realise
his importance in the history of Italian art. Certain dis-
tortions in the Life are undoubtedly due to the desire to
reconcile what was known or vaguely felt as to his real
position in the development of painting with the idea of
Florentine supremacy. The protests of MaflPei and Ber-
nasconi were of little effisct, and only in our own day has
the master's true position been rightly appreciated. Even
were none of his paintings extant, his medals, and the
chorus of praise which a small crowd of the literary men
of his time sang to him, would suffice to show that he was

acquired by the Louvre in 1856. Reiset {Gaz. d. Beaux Arts, 1877, *• I5»
p. 119) and B. de Tauzia {Notice . . . His de la Salle, p. 60) seem inde-
pendently to have discovered that most of the drawings are by Pisanello.
* For a nearly complete list of the drawings in the " Recueil Vallardi"
and elsewhere, see Venturi, pp. 88 ff. Questions of attribution will, if
necessary, be discussed wherever occasion arises to mention a drawing.
Here it will be sufficient to say that among the drawings assigned to
Pisanello in the " Recueil" are a large number which cannot be directly
from his hand, This is especially true of the series of large studies of
heads and horses, which, although they can in some cases be proved to
have a connexion with his extant paintings, are so coarse and heavy
in style and so lacking in the sureness and distinction of his authentic
drawings, that we must assume them to be school copies. In some
cases they may be actual chalk drawings of the master, which have
been inked over because they had a tendency to fade. We are, however,
as a rule justified in regarding them as indirect evidence of the master's
designs for his paintings or medals ; for in no case do they show any
sign of being merely copied from any completed work of his.

INTRODUCTORY 3

a master to be reckoned with. The scientific study of
medals is of quite recent growth. Their artistic value, it
is true, was appreciated by students as far back as the time
of Goethe, but the quality of the criticism of those days
may be gauged by the fact that Sperandio was preferred
to Pisanello. The work of Armand, Friedlander and
Heiss has made a juster estimate possible ; and with the
growing facilities for the study of his medals, by means of
photographs and casts, has increased the desire to know
something of his other work. We still, however, think of
him especially as a medallist, although in signing his
medals he is careful to emphasise the fact that he was a
painter. The history of art is full of such ironies ; how
difficult it is, for instance, to think of the greatest Greek
sculptors as chiefly workers in gold and ivory, or in bronze,
when all that remains to us of their creations is in
marble !

Fate, however, has in the case of Pisanello not been
entirely unjust ; for we are able to judge that his achieve-
ment as a medallist is supreme, whereas in painting, great
as his work was, others of his time equalled or surpassed
him in their own way.

Vittore Pisano, called Pisanello — the diminutive is con-
venient,* in order to avoid confusion with the artists of
the school of Niccolo Pisano — was born some time in the
last third of the fourteenth century, probably not much
earlier than 1390, in Verona, or in Veronese territory. As
he died not later than 1455 his career coincides almost

* Bernasconi {SUidj, p. 60) objects to the form, as being found on
none of his works. But it was used in his Ufetime, in the accounts of
the payments for his work in St. John Lateran, in the passport issu e
by Eugenius IV., and elsewhere. Cp. Spaventi, p. 20.

4 PISANELLO

exactly in date with those of Brunelleschi, Ghiberti,
Donatello and Fra Angelico. The date of his birth is
inferred merely from Vasari's statement, that he died assai
hen vecchio, coupled with the fact that when first heard of —
in 1409 according to the earhest, in 1422 according to the
latest estimate — he was already sufficiently famous to be
summoned to Venice to decorate the Ducal Palace. True,
Vasari's phrase is excessively vague, and fame was rapidly
acquired in those days. But the earliest extant work of
Pisanello, the fresco in San Fermo, which may be dated
between 1424 and 1428, is not that of a quite young man.
We may therefore safely conclude that he was born
between 1380 and 1390, and, if anything, nearer to the
latter than to the earlier date.*

A still persistent error assigns to him as birthplace
either San Vito or San Vigilio. It is based on a picture
with a worthless signature and a curious history. f The

* The evidence of the portrait-medals of Pisanello is too vague and
uncertain to be taken into account here.

t It represents the half- figures of Madonna (holding the Child),
St. Catherine of Alexandria, St. John Baptist, and St. Clara of
Assisi ; on a label is the inscription

OPERA D. VETORE. PISANE
LO DE SAN VI VERONE
MCCCCXI (?)

Once in the collection of Count Bartolomeo dal Pozzo (see his Vite de'
Pittori, &c., Verona, 171 8, p. 305) it passed eventually to the Berlin
Gallery, where its identity was discovered by von Tschudi (Berlin Jahrh.
vi., 1885, pp. 18 ff., with illustration). Von Tschudi speaks with some
hesitation as to the inscription : it has some strange features, but its
unusual character and its circumstantiality are in favour of its being in
part genuine, since a forger would, perhaps, have taken an easier way.
At the same time, the ways of forgers are unaccountable ; and if the
large label already existed — as in Pisanello's St. Eustace — it was

INTRODUCTORY 5

name of the artist may go back to Pisa,* but it would be
rash to do more than assume that his family may originally
have come thence. It is tempting to connect him with the
important Venetian family of the Pisani, members of which
held positions of dignity in Verona in the first half of the
fifteenth century. (Bertuccio Pisani was podesta in 141 6,
Francesco Pisani in 1422.) The attempt to derive one
of the drawings assigned to him from a sarcophagus in the
Campo Santo at Pisa is, as we shall see, unsuccessful ;
Vasari omits in his second edition the statement, made in
his first, that the artist died at Pisa ; and the description
Pisanellus de Pisis which we shall meet with in a document
has every appearance of being a mere blunder. Not to
mention the definite statement of Guarino of Verona
that Pisanello was his compatriot, he is, with the exception
just noted, invariably described as of Verona, and we may

necessary to invent a long inscription. As certain of the letters are
said to be in a somewhat different hand from the rest, the question
arises whether these letters — e.g., the four crucial letters pisa — are a
mere restoration or an alteration of what originally stood there. If the
former alternative is accepted, then — since the picture cannot be by
Pisanello— the whole inscription must be rejected. To judge by its
style, the picture is the work of an artist influenced by Squarcione's
teaching, and can hardly be much earlier than the middle of the
century {cp. Kristeller, Mantcgna, p. 55, note 2, "it comes very close
to Schiavone "). The date, which dal Pozzo read mccccvj, may
possibly once have been mccccxlix. In any case the Pisanello whom
we know cannot possibly have painted such a picture. On the basis of
this inscription dal Pozzo suggested that the artist was born at San
Vito in the Gardesana, while Maffei [Verona Illustrata, pt. iii., p. 154,
Verona, 1732, fol.) preferred San Vigilio on Lago di Garda. The
utmost that can be said is that there may have been some sort of
tradition that Pisanello was born at San Vi . . . ; but even this is not
justified if the letters pisa were not in the original inscription.
* See P. Schubring, Altichmo, p. 136.

6 PISANELLO

rest assured that if he had had any immediate connexion
with Pisa, the historians who have glorified Tuscan art to
the disadvantage of other schools would not have missed
the point.

Of his early life we know absolutely no details. Por we
must dismiss from our minds all credence in Vasari's state-
ment that he owed his advancement to having worked
with Andrea del Castagno, and finished some of this
master's work after his death.* Certain characteristics of
Pisanello's technique favour the suggestion that he had a
training as an illuminator.^ It is true that this view has
usually been inspired by such a picture as the Madonna
and St. Catherine in a Garden (Verona Gallery), which
few critics would now consent to attribute even to the
early days of the master. t (Plate I.) But even in his

* See Vasari, ed. Milanesi, iii., p. i. Andrea was a young man when
Pisanello was about fifty, and died in 1457, that is, at least by two, and
perhaps by five or six years the later of the two.

f Crowe and Cavalcaselle, North Italy, i., p. 452. "That Pisano had
just issued from a school of illuminators, like Lorenzo Monaco or Pietro
of Montepulciano, we might readily believe." This casual suggestion
has been widely repeated, in the sense that one of these two may have
been Pisanello's master. I am not sure that it was intended to be
taken quite so definitely,

X No. 52 of the Catalogue of 1865; formerly in the Convent of
S. Domenico. 1.30 x0.98m. Courajod sees in it the influence of the
Flemish and Cologne schools [cp. von Schlosser, Vienna y«Ar6. xvii.,
p. 204) ; Morelli ascribes it to Stefano da Zevio. The whole effect,
with its spotty background, lack of composition, and timidity of execu-
tion, is that of a miniature of the middle of the fifteenth century.
Note, for instance, its resemblance in feeling to the page from a
Franciscan Breviary at Bologna (Univ. Library, cod. 337) of 1446
{Atlante Pakografico Artistico.pl. Ixvi). The Madonna type is, however,
clearly influenced by Pisanello, as is shown by a comparison with the
Madonna of S. Fermo (cp. Biermann, Verona, p. loi).

PLATE 1

MADONNA AND ST. CATHERINE (VERONESE SCHOOL)

AliiKiri

Verona Gallery
Face p. 6

INTRODUCTORY 7

authentic works one is impressed by the minute treatment
of details, and also in some cases — notably the St. Eustace —
by the tendency to sacrifice the general composition to the
elaboration of particular figures. These features seem to
indicate that the artist had been trained to work on a
small scale. Such faults are magnificently conquered in
the medals, which represent his ripest achievement, and
which will bear any degree of enlargement without betray-
ing smallness of style. But it is in his drawings, notably
in his watercolours on vellum, that his relation to the
illuminators most clearly emerges ; as indeed his drawings
reveal many other elements, essential or unessential, which
are covered over in his finished work. In them we can
admire, without any attendant dissatisfaction, that minute
and loving, yet perfectly sure draughtsmanship, the value of
which, in the panels, is somewhat lowered by the defective
composition which it encourages.* But we cannot with any

* The Anonimo Morelliano (ed. Frizzoni, p. 74) says that in the house
of a cloth-merchant in Padua there was a sheet of parchment with
many animals in colours, "de mano del Pisano," This was doubtless
merely a sheet of drawings, like those in the " Recueil Vallardi," and not
an illumination proper. The same is probably true o the picUirae m
memhyanuJis, mentioned by Facio {De Viris Illustr., Flor., 1745, p. 47).
Ephrussi {Gaz. d. Beaux Arts, 1881, t. 24, p. 172) has attributed to
Pisanello a so-called miniature in the Louvre (No. 635). It re-
presents a young woman seated, caressing a spaniel with her right
hand. He compares it with a drawing in the Albertina (Wickhoff,
Vienna Jahrh. xiii., p. clxxxii., S. R. 20, and PI. III. ; Gaz. d. Beaux
Arts, loc. cit. p. 177, and 1894, t. 11, p. 209). This sheet contains,
among other things, two studies of richly dressed young women seated
to front, holding falcons; one, who has a headdress something like that
of the Princess of S. Anastasia, also caresses a greyhound ; the other
holds in her right hand the leg of a large bird. The Louvre Catalogue
classes the ' ' miniature" as Flemish ; and Wickhoff, not without reason,
assigns the Albertina drawing to a pupil of Pisanello, rather than to

8 PISANELLO

certainty identify the particular school of illuminators who
had most influence on the young artist. The Veronese
school was of no importance before his time ; not until
about the middle of the fifteenth century did it begin,
with Matteo de' Pasti, to attain a position of some con-
sideration.* But it existed, and it is therefore not impos-
sible that the young Pisanello exercised in his native city
the art which has left traces in his maturer work.

Undoubtedly the most powerful factor in the making of
him is to be sought in Verona. The two great masters,
Altichiero da Zevio and Avanzo, began in the latter half
of the trecento to produce in Verona and in Padua a series

the master himself. In the work in the Louvre the animals are
undoubtedly very good, but the figure weak, and not at all in the style
of Pisanello ; in any case, as it is not a miniature properly speaking,
but an ordinary water-colour drawing, the argument drawn therefrom
as to Pisanello's being an illuminator is ineffectual.

* H.J. Hermann (Vienna, J ahrb. xxi., p. 123) points outthe rarity of MSS.
betraying the influence of Altichiero — as MSS. illuminated in Verona
towards the end of the trecento probably would betray it. He instances
cod. 6 in the Bibl. dell' Accad. dei Concordi (Silvestri) at Rovigo, which
contains numerous Genesis pictures showing Veronese influence. This
is the MS. which P. Schubring {Altichiero, pp. 94 f.) had a few years

arlier described as a specimen of Paduan miniature-painting of the
middle of the trecento, or a little later, arguing that it was to the
influence of this school that Avanzo to some degree owed his style.
Thus we see not only that such MSS. are rare, but that, until more of
them are known and dated, it is as well not to base historical deductions
on them. Schubring (p. 126) mentions two other illuminations which,
made probably at the end of the trecento, show the influence of the
Veronese school. The Cerruti book, published in great detail by von
Schlosser {Vienna. J ahrb. xvi.), is dated by him to the time of the last
Scaligers, and accordingly regarded as a witness to the condition of
Veronese art shortly before the rise of Pisanello (p. 210). But between
such work and the art of fresco-painting at the time the connexion
seems to me to be slight.

INTRODUCTORY 9

of paintings of great brilliancy and originality.* Only in
Padua does much remain of their work ; but in Verona
many a fresco from the hand of one or the other was once
to be seen in church and palace. The two worked together
on the frescoes in the great hall of the palace built by
Cansignorio in 1364. Altichiero represented the siege of
Jerusalem as described by Josephus, and his frescoes were
bordered by a row of medallions, portraits of distinguished
men of the time. Avanzo painted two trionfi, which
excited the admiration of Mantegna. The w^ork of the
two masters, especially that of Altichiero, long remained
the most famous sight in Verona. The only two painters
mentioned by Marin Sanuto in his account of these parts,
where he travelled in 1483, are Altichiero and Pisanello.
And a doggerel description of Verona f sings thus of Alti-
chiero'*s fresco :

Tra gli altre ve una sala percertano
Tutta dipinta di magne figure
A I'istorie di Tito e VesjDasiano,
Et e si rica d'oro e de penture

* On the work of these artists see the already cited monograph by
P. Schubring (Altichiero und seine Schiile, Leipzig, i8g8). For our pur-
poses it is hardly necessary to distinguish between the work of the
two ; both represent the same tendencies, which culminated in Pisanello.
Nor are we concerned with the question (p. 90 ff.) whether they owed
much to the influence of Guariento and the miniature-painting of
Padua, or to Tommaso of Modena. It is worth noting, however, that
they must have already formed a style or styles of their own and
obtained a considerable reputation before they were called to Padua.
Biermann's recently published Verona contains a useful account of the
remains of the early Veronese school in that city.

t Chronicle of Francesco Corna da Soncino, Brit. Mus. MS. 14,097, f. 33.
Dated 1477.

lo PISANELLO

E le figure son si natural e,

Che in tuta Italia non e altro tale.

These paintings have vanished ; so too have those in the
Palace of the Counts Sereghi, which the two artists executed
together after their return to Verona — paintings contain-
ing numerous contemporary portraits. But among the
remains of the work of the school in Verona there are
especially two frescoes which help to indicate the kind of
atmosphere which the young Pisanello must have breathed.
Oddly enough they are both close to the two remaining
frescoes from his own hand. In S. Anastasia, in the
Cavalli Chapel, is preserved the noble presentation of the
knights of the Cavalli family to the Virgin by their patron
saints, St. George, St. Martin, and St. James. (Plate 2.) *
It is probably from the hand of Altichiero himself, and one
of his latest works, for it must have been painted after
1390. The colourinfij is warm, the composition very
simple but effective The groups, each consisting of a
kneeling figure and a sahit standing beside him, are extra-
ordinarily dignified. The faces of the saints and of the
Virgin are of great beauty. The repetition of exactly the
same motif in the three groups is avoided by making St.
George, who presents the first knight, turn back towards
the second ; thus, by an artifice comparable to the caesura
in a verse, the artist at once breaks and harmonises the
rhythm of the whole. The architecture of the chapel in
which the scene is set binds together the two parts of the
picture : on the one hand, the Virgin with her attendant
angels grouped around her, showing a pleasing curiosity in

* Cp. Schubring, Plate 9, pp. 87 f; Biermann, Verona, p. 83 ; P. Mol-
menti, La PUtura Veneziatia (1903), p. 9.

PLATE 2

H
O

h- 1

H
<!
H

PLATE 3

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I— I
l-H

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O
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INTRODUCTORY 1 1

what is going on ; on the other, the approaching knights
and their patrons. In largeness of style and dignified
serenity of conception V^erona contains no painting which
can surpass this.

In S. Fermo Maggiore, over the west entrance, is a
Crucifid'ion of quite respectable merit, which undoubtedly
should be connected with the school with which we are
dealing. (Plate 3.)* Inferior as it is to the fresco of
S. Anastasia, it illustrates features which the latter does
not, features which were destined to survive in the later
school of Verona. Here are animated groups of onlookers,
each face instinct with individuality, each figure pictu-
resque in costume or pose. The grouping is, it is true,
thoroughly schematic ; the whole composition is divided
vertically into two parts by the Crucifix, and horizontally
into three parts. The lowest contains the standing figures,
the middle the persons on horseback, the uppermost the
angels. Horizontal lines could be drawn across the picture
touching the heads of nearly all the human figures. Such
a fault of composition is avoided in the greater works at
Padua ; but here, as there, the treatment of the individuals
forming the crowd shows a surprising amount of spirit.
The horses, too, are painted with expression, and with some
attempt at anatomical truth. Here then we have the
promise of some of the most essential elements of Pisanello's
style ; the groups of horsemen are, as it were, the fore-
runners of the famous group of the St. George fresco ; and
the young man with three plumes in his helmet, set firmly

* It is connected with Altichiero by Schubring, p. 8g, note. Cp.
Biermann, Vero7ia, p. 85. Crowe and Cavalcaselle {North Italy, i. ,
p. 449) had assigned it to Turone.

12 PISANELLO

in his saddle, and looking straight out of the picture, was
destined to become St. George's squire.

We must pass over the works of minor painters, such as
Pietro Paolo de' Cappelli and Martini, who worked in
Verona in the last years of the trecento. It is to the works
of Altichiero and Avanzo in Padua that we must go for the
clearest intimations of the art which was to arise in Verona
in the early quattrocento. The Crucifixion in S. Giorgio *
is interesting in many ways, but not least as containing the
only instance of antique influence in the extant works of
the two Veronese artists. The figure on the right, looking
up at the crucified Christ, and seen nearly from behind, is
very probably inspired by the statue of some Roman wear-
ing the toga. Here again we find emphasis laid on the
individual members of the crowd ; here, too, are the horse
foreshortened from behind, and the horse's head looking
out of the picture, which are to figure so largely in
Pisanello's work. Similarly effective groups of individuals
occur in other of the frescoes in S. Giorgio, and in the
S. Felice Chapel. Architecture in most of them plays an
important part, framing in the groups, and filling the
greater portion of the picture, the figures being relatively
small ; or else it rises up in the background amid a rocky
landscape. In the latter case we have an anticipation of
the St. George fresco in S. Anastasia ; in the former, of the
Annunciation in S. Fermo. The architecture is a free
adaptation of the debased Gothic of the time ; but the
painters imagination does not run riot, and the con-
struction is seldom or never wholly fantastic. As regards

* P. Molmenti, La Pittiira Veneziana, p, ii. For the toga-figure, see
von Schlosser, Yienmxjahrb. xvi., pp. 209, 214.

INTRODUCTORY 13

the groups of human figures, perhaps the most striking of
all are to be found in the S. Felice Crucifixion ,-* and here
again the horsemen appearing out of the hollow lane
behind the rocky foreground, with the castle towering up
behind them, suggest the horsemen of Pisanello's St.
George fresco.

It would be easy to enumerate other instances from these
Paduan frescoes of the anticipation of features character-
istic of the later artist: his curious liking for unexpected
attitudes, his recognition of the possibiHty of expressing
character in a back view of a figure, his audacity in
foreshortening, his passion for bizarre costume, his fond-
ness of animals and of genre motifs ; finally, that reckless
use of a contemporary setting for scenes of sacred history
which is common to him with other artists of the quattro-
cento.

In the problems of linear perspective the early Veronese
school had made considerable progress ; indeed it cannot
be said that Pisanello himself added much to what they
had accomplished. The Veronese proceeded by entirely
empirical methods, and no further real advance was
possible until the theoretical studies of the Florentines
paved the way. The services of the Veronese school to
the progress of art were not concerned with the theoretical
side. They lay rather in the close observation and faithful
reproduction of all that is picturesque and attractively
characteristic in the individual human being or natural
object — a^^/T/c^ii^^Zi/ characteristic, for they did not descend
to a brutal realism. Subjects of sacred history they
treated with reverence and genuine religious feeling, but

* Schubring, Plates 3 and 4, pp. 32 f.

14 PISANELLO

they placed them in a vividly contemporaneous setting.
The hieratic scheme was broken down here some decades
earlier than in Tuscany, where the first great artists of the
Renaissance themselves established a numbing tradition.
In fact the seeds which were sown by Giotto in Padua
germinated there and were propagated in Verona, in the
vigorous northern soil, whereas the fields of Tuscany lay
sterile for the better part of a century. It has even been
suggested — with how^ much probability this is not the
place to decide — that the reawakening of Tuscan art at
the end of the trecento w^as partly due to the influence of
the Veronese school on Antonio Veneziano.*

However this may be, the peculiar character of the
Veronese painting of the trecento owed much to the
political atmosphere of a town like Verona, swayed by a
despot, not by a church or by a bourgeoisie to whom
uniformity was the chief of political or social virtues.
Thus in Verona, as in other of the north Italian towns,
the individual was of supreme importance, whether the
ruler or the distinguished member of his court. The art
which flourished in these centres was a court art, not
primarily addressing itself to the feelings of the ordinary
person, whether religious or layman, but glorifying the
individual ruler or courtier or distinguished citizen. The
portraits which decorated the halls of Cansignorio or the
Counts Sereghi were the artistic prototype of the medals of
Pisanello. The extant paintings of the early Veronese
school make it quite clear that the transition to the new
order, with its insistence on the all-importance of indivi-
dual character, was being effected harmoniously and with

* Schubring, pp. 129 f.

INTRODUCTORY 15

ease. In addition to the political conditions which, as we
have seen, n)ade this possible, it must not be forgotten
that the traditions of learning had, if anywhere, been pre-
served at Padua ; nor can the nearness of the invigorating
influence of the races north of the Alps have been without
effect.

The Cavalli chapel fresco, as we have seen, was painted
after 1390, and the lost paintings in the hall of the
Sereghi dated from after the Paduan period, and belonged
to about 1384 at the earliest. Altichiero and Avanzo were
therefore probably alive and at work when Pisanello was a
boy. Given such masters, given also the talents of keen
observation and tireless application, and a passionate love of
animals and the woodland aspects of nature, the young
artist could not but make great strides in the movement
which was revolutionising art at the turn of the century.
We have no need to go so far afield as the Campo Santo at
Pisa for the link that connects him with his predecessors.*

But another possible source of influence has to be taken
into account. In the fourteenth century French, Flemish
and German artists first began to cross the Alps in some
numbers, although the influx did not acquire very great
proportions until after 1400.! French or Flemish influence

* Schubring, p. 137, remarks that Pisanello 's fresco in S. Anastasia
is dependent on Antonio Veneziano's first fresco in the S. Raineri
series at Pisa, with which city the name Pisano connects him. It is
surely more simple to assume that Antonio Veneziano and Pisanello
drew from a common source. Or, if it is necessary to make Antonio
a link in the chain, did he not decorate at Venice the walls of the
Ducal Palace where Pisanello was afterwards to work ? The question
of Pisanello 's connexion with Pisa is dealt with elsewhere.

t Cp. E. MiJntz, Hist, de I'Art, i. p. 634. In L'Ami des Monuments,
ii. (1888), pp. 247 f., he gives a list of French artists in Italy in the

1 6 PISANELLO

was most likely to affect the western part of North Italy,

German the eastern. Non-Italian writers on Pisanello

have taken pains to insist on the importance of northern

influence in the formation of his style ; Italians, as a rule,

prefer to deny it outright. Those of the former class

who have not confined themselves to generalities have in

some cases based their conclusions on quite false premisses.

Thus the unfortunate Madonna and St. Catherine of the

Verona Gallery has played some part in the argument.

Again, because in his frescoes in the Ducal Palace

Pisanello represented a number of German types, is it

reasonable to suppose that he must have acquired some of

his peculiarities of costume and setting from the Germans

or Flemings so numerous at Verona or Padua ? It would

be idle to deny that he was influenced, in a general way,

as much as any other north Italian artist of his time, by

the northern incursion. He may well have seen foreign

tapestries in which the naturalistic treatment of natural

objects was beginning to oust the conventional ; or he

may have seen illuminations such as those which came

from the hands of Pol de Limbourg and his associates,

who worked for the Due de Berry,* or — to mention an artist

fourteenth century. For more general statements, cp. J. von Schlosser,
Die dltesten Medaillen, pp. 23 f, and in the Vienna Jahrb. xx., p. 280 ;
Courajod, in Gaz. d. Beaux Arts, i8go, t. 3, pp. 75 f. ; Gruyer, ibid.,
1894, t. 12, p. 487. Most of the foreigners mentioned by Miintz are
found at Milan. He mentions none at Verona, but such there must
have been. Federico Tedesco was painting at Padua in 1375.

* The earlier pictures in the Tres Riches Heures of the Due de Berry,
which must date before 1416, show that miniature art in the North of
France was in some respects surprisingly in advance of painting in
Italy at that time. See P. Durrieu, Les Ties Riches Heiircs de Jean Due
de Berry, 1904. No other contemporary illuminations, however, stand
on so high a level as those in this remarkable book.

PLATF 4

i2r

■^^.

-^i

Sail ri nmi'l
Face j). 1 7

STUDIES OF HEADS

Hcc. ]'(tii<ii'<ii

INTRODUCTORY 17

of a very different kind — of the '' Monk of Hyeres," who
produced such marvellously faithful renderings of objects
of natural history.* And in the drawings of an artist of
so singularly receptive a nature it would be strange if we
did not see some occasional traces of northern influence.
It would, however, be an exaggeration to say that this
influence went farther than suggestion, that it directly
contributed any characteristic to his style, so far as
Pisanello the painter is concerned. It must be remembered
that the various " Gothic " architectural motifs which we
find in his frescoes are merely renderings and elaborations
of motifs which, whatever their origin, were ah'ead}^ natural-
ised in Italy. They do not seem to be directly inspired by
any northern form of art ; they are rather the inevitable de-
velopment of those used by the earlier Veronese painters,
with selections and variations in more modern style.

Amongst the large number of drawings which have
come down to us, some eight or nine have been described
as betraying northern influence. Amongst these is the
study of the heads of a woman, a girl, and four babies,
one of the most exquisite sheets in the " Recueil Vallardi."
(Plate 4.)t But the profile head is as Italian as that of
the Princess in S. Anastasia, nor is there anything pecu-
liarly Flemish in the girPs head. Another alleged instance
is the sketch of the Virgin and Child for the National
Gallery picture. (Plate 44. )t Now here the handling of the

* A MS. by this artist is exhibited in the British Museum (Add.
MS. 28, 841 ; Grenville Library, Case 4, No. 43) and reproduced by the
Palaeographical Society (149, 150). Von Schlosser's doubt as to
whether the borders are as early as the rest of the MS. seems
to be unnecessary.

t Fol. 190, No. 2392. X Vallardi, fol. 130, No. 2623 vo.

1 8 PISANELLO

subject is somewhat harsh and even clumsy, and by no means
characteristic of Pisanello^s finely finished or even sketchy
work ; and indeed we have in it just one of those
drawings which seem to be merely school copies, in many
cases by German hands, of the original fine chalk or
pen drawings of the master. In other words, the northern
element in this drawing is superinduced by the pupil
on his master"*s original. The same is true of some of
the other pieces which are adduced in evidence for this
theory.* The most that can be allowed is that the artist,
if he saw an interesting type, of whatever nationality,
noted it for future reference ; that he was influenced by
French, Flemish or Rhenish art in the sense in which he
was influenced, let us say, by his Veronese predecessors, or
by Gentile da Fabriano, it would be a gross exaggeration
to maintain. In general, such resemblances to northern
work as are noticeable — for the actual borrowing of
motifs has not, I believe, been proved f — are due to the fact

* Gruyer, Gaz. d. Beaux Arts, 1894, t. 12, pp. 486 f., enumerates
the two drawings already mentioned, and the folio wirg, also in the
" Recueil Vallardi " : (i) Fol. 175, No. 2541 vo : Annunciation. This is
an unfortunate choice, since the drawing of the hands, the lines of
the drapery, the fat-faced child-angel, clearly indicate the style of
Stefano da Zevio (cp. his signed picture in the Brera). (2) Fol. 176,
No.. 2542 : Virgin seated on the ground with the Child on her knees.
Probably not by Pisanello. (3) Fol, 177, No. 2634: Virgin and Child
with adoring angel. (4) Fol. 177, No. 2634 ^o : Virgin dancing the
Child on her knees. The coiffure of the Virgin is no more Flemish
than that of the ladies in the frescoes by Michelino da Besozzo in the
Casa Borromeo. (5) Fol. 6g, No. 2326 (B. de Tauzia, Dcssins, 1888,
No. 1994) : seated woman holding swaddled child. (6) Fol. 195, No. 2398
(^Gaz. d. Beaux Arts, loc. cit. p. 493) : two Virgins with books, seated.

t One might instance, as a parallel to Pisanello's use of architecture
in the S. Anastasia fresco, the way in which the upper parts of the

INTRODUCTORY 19

that both schools were at the same time independently
reaUsing and working out the same problems. Of course,
those externals of life, which happened to be the same in
Italy and in France, would be equally reflected in both
arts. Thus we may be struck with the resemblance to
Pisanello's manner in a miniature of the Tres Riches Heures
of the Due de Berry, where we have a lady in profile, with
long sweeping robe.* Or the splendid group of animals in
the " Hallali du Sanglier '** of the same bookf may remind
us of the St. Eustace. But, after all, it was the fashion of
the time that both artists represented, and Pisanello's dogs
are not copied from Pol de Limbourg's, or any other
artist's, but from nature. And, as we have seen, the
Veronese school of the fourteenth century had already
inculcated the practice of observation of individual
human beings and animals.J

When we come to deal with Pisanello the medallist, we
shall meet wdth the fact that a powerful impulse was given
to him by works which some authorities have assigned to a
Flemish or North French origin. We shall, however, find that
the northern origin of the pieces which may be supposed
to have influenced Pisanello is not definitely established.
But even if we accept it, it is important to recognise
that these works influenced him purely in the externalities

buildings are seen over rising ground in the Journey of the Magi in the
Tres Riches Heures (Durrieu, op. cit. PI. xxxvii). It is, however, hardly
more than a parallel.

* Gaz. d. Beaux Arts, 1904, t. 31, p. 51. Durrieu, op. cit. PI, iv.

t Gaz. d. Beaux Arts, 1S84, t. 29, Plate facing p. 290. Durrieu, op.
cit. Frontispiece.

ij: It is interesting to note that one of the Due de Berry's artists vi^as
a Veronese by origin : Pierre de Verone.

20 PISANELLO

of his art ; there is not the slightest trace, in Pisanello's
medal of John Palaeologus, of any of the inner stylistic
qualities of those medals of Constantine and Heraclius
which are associated with the collections of Jean, Due de
Berry.

We have not, however, yet dealt with all the possible
influences which surrounded Pisanello. What of the
antique, which so mightily affected other great artists of
the quattrocento ? Did he feel its attraction also ? So
far as his youth is concerned, there is no trace of such a
fact. But when we come to his Roman period, there is
more definite evidence. We can point to drawings, some
certainly from his hand, others at any rate of his school,
which are made from the antique, and we can in some
cases identify the originals.* Peculiarly interesting is a
sheet containing three figures, which at first sight look as
if they were meant to form a single composition.^ One is
a figure of Hercules. The original, however, was an
Orestes from one of the various sarcophagi, in which the
hero is represented with a sword in his right hand, which
is drawn across his body so as to deliver a back-handed
cut. But, in more than one extant example, the arm is
broken off, and Pisanello has restored it as holding, not a
sword, but a club — as, be it said, no Hercules would have
held it. The second figure is a Venus, taken from a quite
different sarcophagus, representing the goddess hastening
to Adonis. The third figure is also probably from a sarco-
phagus, but has yet to be identified. It cannot be said

* For a more detailed discussion of some of these drawings I may
refer to a forthcoming article in the Papers of the British School at Rome.

t Vallardi, fol. 194, No. 2397 v", reproduced in UArt, viii. (i), 1882,
p. 227; E Muntz, Ren. a I'Epoque de Charles VIII., p. 286.

INTRODUCTORY 2 [

that Pisanello has in any great degree caught the spirit of
the originals ; true, it is something that this drawing has
always been recognised as from the antique, although the
figures have remained unidentified. But his treatment of
the nude is stiiF and angular ; the anatomy is insufficiently
understood — as is especially plain in the upper part of the
" Hercules.'' Again, the head of the same figure does not
in the least resemble any Roman head. It has the same
haggard, anxious expression as the St. George in one of the
sketches (Plate 43) associated with the National Gallery
picture.*

Still more divergence from the spirit of the antique do
we find in another drawing, which is probably taken from
the same sarcophagus as the Venus already mentioned. It
represents a boar-hunt, f The painfully anxious attitudes
and expressions of the two somewhat clumsy nude figures
are in quaint contrast with the vigorously depicted boar
and hounds.

A rather better piece of work is the copy of the Tiber
statue now on the Piazza of the Capitol, and formerly on
the Monte Cavallo.:j: Here the torso is much more
vigorously handled, but there is the same freedom in the
treatment of the head. When the drawing was made,
the statue represented not the Tiber, but the Tigris.

* Vallardi, fol. 173, No. 2633. This is, perhaps, only one of the
school copies of the kind already mentioned ; nevertheless, it doubtless
reproduces a type of face used by the master.

t Berlin, 1358 (Berlin Jahrh., ii. p. xxxxiv). It has been supposed
that this was copied from another sarcophagus, in the Campo Santo at
Pisa (Lasinio, PI. 109). I am not absolutely sure that this drawing
and that next to be mentioned are from Pisanello's own hand ; but
they most closely resemble his work.

X Berlin, 1359, v^. {Jahrh., ii. p. xxxxv.)

22 PISANELLO

Unfortunately for its archaeological value — it must be
remembered that these are among the earliest known
Renaissance drawings from the antique — the tiger under
the river-god's right elbow, where now are the wolf and
twins, is omitted. In its place we have a separate
sketch of a small boy, possibly inspired by an Eros
torturing a butterfly. On the same sheet is a figure of a
putto leaning on a knotted staff, very probably taken
from an Eros or Hypnos with inverted torch.

Other sketches from the antique attributed to our
artist are the copy of one of the Dioscuri of the Quirinal,
and the two " garland-holders '' from some sarcophagus,*
A small sheet of vellum at Oxford t contains tw^o pen and
ink studies of Bacchanals playing tympana, probably also
from a sarcophagus. These are in some ways the best
of Pisanello's drawings from the antique, and possibly
date from a later period than the others, in fact to the
end ather than to the beginning of the thirties.

It would be interesting could w^e find among the draw-
ings any trace of inspiration by ancient coins. In the
collections at Venice, Ferrara, and Naples we might well

* The former is at Milan (Venturi, p. 123), the latter at Berlin
1359 ro, Jahrh., ii, p. xxxxv). M. Leon Bonnat's sheet of studies
inspired by the porphyry " sarcophagus of S. Costanza," now in the
Vatican, is described by Venturi as nearer to Jacopo Bellini's style
than to Pisanello's. Nevertheless, the copy on that sheet of a muti-
lated statue (armless and legless figure, sitting with head thrown back'
much in the attitude of the Towneley Silenus in the British Museum)
is quite Pisanellesque.

t University Galleries. From the Lagoy collection. On the r",
besides the studies mentioned below in connexion with the Princess of
S. Anastasia, is a beautiful study of a courtier, bareheaded, standing 1. ;
embroidered on his cloak are a flax-hackle and a climbing tree with
grafting-slips.

INTRODUCTORY 23

suppose that he found suggestions which bore fruit in
his medals. Unfortunately, not one of the drawings in
the " Recueil Vallardi "" which are inspired by or directly
copied from Greek or Roman coins can be regarded as
from his hand.* It is most significant that the only
drawing of the kind which has a claim to authenticity,
the head of Faustina the Elder under a Gothic arch,t is not
treated in a medallic way. In other words, the drawings
do not bear out the theory which finds the inspiration of
the antique in Fisanello's medals.

What influence, then, can the study of ancient models be
supposed to have exerted on his ittyle ? So far as actual
reminiscences or reproductions of motifs are concerned, his
completed works yield no trace of the antique. Yet is it
not possible that from the study of the coins in such
a cabinet as belonged to the Este family at Ferrara he
might have learned some of that extraordinary concise-
ness and concentration, combined with monumental large-
ness of style, which is characteristic of his medals ? These
qualities are all the more surprising because in more than
one of his extant paintings he shows a tendency towards

* Such are the enlarged heads of Hadrian (fol. 99, No. 2593, coarsely
reproduced in Courajod, L'Imitatlon et Contrefacon, p. 37), which is at
best only of his school ; of Aurelian (fol. 98, No. 2592 ; Courajod, p. 33),
and of Severina (fol. 97, No. 2591 ; Courajod, p. 32). The last is in-
scribed SEVERiNAE AVGVSTA [sic) in good Pisanellesquc letters; but
both it and the Aurelian (from the same hand) are miserable drawings.
Further, we have more direct copies of coins on fol. 12, No. 2266, fol. 64,
No. 2315 (Courajod, p. 26 f), the style of which is utterly unworthy of
the master.

f Louvre, Coll. His de la Salle (B. de Tauzia, Notice . . . His de la
Salle, p. 58, No. 81 vo). Inscribed diva favstina, and signed pisanvs.

HOC OPVS.

24 PTSANELLO

difFuseness and lack of balance. The two portraits, at Ber-
gamo and at Paris, approaching most nearly as they do to
his medallic work, sin least in this lack of reserve ; we may
say nearly as much of the St. Anthony and St. George of the
National Gallery. But, as the evidence of the drawings is
negative, we must attribute not to the study of the antique,
but to his native sense of what was fitting to the material
in which he worked, the origin and growth of the quahties
which distinguish his medallic work above that of all
other artists.

Among the drawings at Milan attributed to Pisanello
there is one which reproduces the Navicella of Giotto in
St. Peter's.* The drawing, like much else of Pisanello's,
was formerly given to Leonardo da Vinci. Assuming
that in its present state the mosaic represents the main
outlines of the original composition, we see that the copy
is exceedingly free. The arrangement is much modified,
especially on the right hand, where the draughtsman seems
to have run short of room, so that he has brought Christ
and St. Peter down below the level of the ship. As in the
drawings from the antique, the character of the faces has
been entirely altered.

If we could be sure that another drawing t in the Am-
brosiana were from Pisanello's hand, we should see him in
the convent of S. Marco at Florence copying figures from

* Ro of the sheet with the Dioscurus (Venturi, p. 123) ; reproduced
by H. Stevenson, Topogr. e Momim. di Roma nelle pitt. a fresco di Sisto V.
delta Bibl. Vat., PI. V., No. 4. Cp. Melanges de VEcole fran<^aise, 1888,
p. 460.

t B. de Tauzia, Notice . . . His de la Salle, p. 70, and L'Art, 1882
(viii. 1), p. 232; followed by Stevenson {loc. cit.). The recto has been
photographed by Fumagalli.

INTRODUCTORY 25

the great Criicifixion by Fra Angelico. The figures in
question are those of the good thief and St. Francis of
Assisi. There are some points in favour of the attri-
bution : the modification of St. Francis"* head and neck, so
as to give him a more haggard and ascetic expression,
the careful work in the httle bunch of flowers, and the
subject on the verso (monkeys and cocks) remind us of
Pisanello. On the other hand, there is a lack of decision
and of firmness, especially in the drawing of the extremi-
ties, which points to the work of a pupil rather than the
master. Further, between the probable dates of the
painting of the Crucifijcion (1442-3)* and of Pisanello's
death, it is difficult to see when he can have spent any
time in Florence.

On the verso of the Berlin drawing which reproduces a
scene from an Adonis sarcophagus already discussed,! is
the figure of a putto from Donatello"'s pulpit at Prato. It
is the solitary instance, and that not entirely authenticated,
of a connexion between these two artists. The two moved
on parallel lines, each contributing something as a pioneer
in the realism of the quattrocento. If Donatello was the
greater artist of the two, as it would be absurd to dispute,
he might yet have learned something from the devotion
with which Pisanello addressed himself to the task of
reconciling truth to nature with not merely picturesque-
ness but beauty — an aim which the Florentine, in his
uncompromising cult of realism, too often neglected.

Of all Pisanello'*s earlier contemporaries, however, the
one with whom he came most closely in contact, and with

* Langton Douglas, Fra Angelico (1902), p. 87 f.
t See above, p. 21.

2 6 PISANELLO

whom he shows a most decided affinity, is Gentile da
Fabriano. How the two men were first brought together
we do not know, nor is it quite easy to discern which owes
the greater debt to the other. But any discussion of their
relationship is necessarily bound up with the history of
the paintings in the Ducal Palace at Venice ; and we are
thus brought to the point at which Pisanello first appears
in the historical records.

CHAPTEH II

VENICE

The question of the proper preservation of the frescoes in
the Hall of the Greater Council in the Ducal Palace*
agitated the authorities from the year 1382 onwards. The
paintings of Guarientof and Antonio Veneziano had
evidently fallen into bad condition by 1409 ; for in that
year and in 141 1 we have records of money being voted
for the necessary repairs. In 141 5 it is recorded that the
decorations of the hall attracted the attention of sight-
seers, and an additional grant was made to provide for
better access. The new hall, therefore, was presumably
completed by this time. In 1422 the sum of 100 ducats a

* For Pisanello's paintings in the Ducal Palace, see especiall
F. Wickhoff, Repert. fiir Kunstwissenschaft, vi. (1883), pp. 20-24, ^^^ Ven-
turi, pp. 5, 29. The records of payments, &c., at various periods are
given by G. Lorenzi, Moji. per sew. alia storia del Pal. due. di Ven.,
Part i. (Venice, 1868) ; p. 40 (June 10, 1382) ; p. 52, No. 137 (May 25,
1409); p. 53, No. 140 (April 19, 1411); p. 56, No. 145 (Sept. 21, 1415) ;
p. 57, No. 148 (July 9, 1422). On pp. 61 f. he gives a copy, made in
1425, of the verba descripta in capitellis picturarum historic depicte in
Sala Magna Maioris Consilii, indicating the subjects of the pictures and
their disposition on the three walls.

t His " Paradiso " has recently been uncovered. See R. Schmidt in
Kunstkvonik, N.F. xiv., pp. 462 f; VArte, 1904, p. 395.

2 8 PISANELLO

year was voted to the Procurators of St. Mark's, in order
that they might cause the paintings in the hall to be
repaired in case of damage, and keep them in good and
due order ; and they were to find and retain a fit and
sufficient master painter to do the work on the paintings.

As we know that Gentile da Fabriano and Pisanello
helped to decorate the hall with paintings, it has generally
been supposed that Gentile was appointed in accordance
with the decree of 1422. But recent criticism has shown
that it is difficult to reconcile this date with Gentile's
movements as otherwise recorded, and that, as the hall
seems to have been fit for use and famous for its decora-
tions in 1 41 5, Gentile's work was probably done between
1409 and 1414. In the latter year he went to Brescia.*

It is further usually assumed — without, it would seem,
any direct evidence — that Pisanello worked at Venice in
conjunction with Gentile. The strong affinity between
the two artists is undeniable. It would, it is true, be
sufficiently accounted for if we supposed that the Veronese
painter went to work at Venice soon after his predecessor
had left for Brescia, while the new paintings of the sea-
fight, etc., were still attracting every one's attention. We

* For the authorities see Venturi, pp. 8f. Gentile appears at
Florence in the roll of the Confraternity of St. Luke in 1421, and in the
registers of the doctors and druggists on Nov. 21, 1422. He must have
qualified by residence, so that he can hardly have undertaken an
important work at Venice in the latter half of this year. For some
years following he was busy in Florence and other places in Tuscany.
Thus we cannot accept Wickhoff's contention {op. cit. p. 20) that, with
a large staff under him, he could have finished the work in a year ; for
there is not a year to spare. As Venturi points out (p. 6), the decree
of 1422 provides for the keeping of the pictures, and repairing occasional
damage, rather than for newly decorating the hall.

VENICE 29

must remember, too, that some years later Pisanello was
called to Rome to finish pictures begun by Gentile. Ever
since the story of the competition for the Wounded
Amazon there has always been a tendency in historians of
art to make great artists work in conjunction or rivalry.
We have no right therefore to assume as certain that
Pisanello was at Venice actually at the same time as
Gentile. Nevertheless, if the hall was practically com-
pleted by 14 1 5, there is no ground for doubting that the
sojourns of the two artists may have overlapped. Pisanello
is no more likely to have been the master painter men-
tioned in the decree of 1422 than Gentile, for the reason
already adduced.

Guariento's Paradiso occupied one of the smaller walls
of the hall (at the eastern end). The cycle of the frescoes
relating the story of Frederick Barbarossa and Pope
Alexander III. began on the right-hand (southern) long
wall, next to the Paradiso. On this wall were seven
pictures. On the short western wall opposite the Paradiso
were two ; and on the remaining long wall, which in that
time had no window opening on to the court, were
thirteen.

Of the 22 pictures, that representing the naval battle, in
which the Venetians captured the Emperor's son Otto, was
painted by Gentile. That in which Otto, set free by the
Republic to go as ambassador and plead its cause with the
Emperor, appeared before his father, was the work of
Pisanello.* The painting was on the side towards the

* Bart. Facio [deviris illustr., Flor., 1745, p. 47), writing in 1455-56,
says that Pisanello painted at Venice in the Palace Frederick Barbarossa
and his suppliant son, &c. Sansovino {Venetia, ed. Martinioni, 1663,

30 PISANELLO

court, and bore an inscription to the effect that the
Emperor receives his son with much joy, but utterly
refuses to make peace, until at last, after a long dispute,
he is persuaded, and gives Otto power to treat for peace.
The Emperor was represented with his son suppliant
before him, and surrounded by a great company of nobles,
whose Teutonic characteristics of body and features were
indicated by the artist. A motif in the picture, which
was evidently popular, was the representation of a priest
making a grimace at some boys, and provoking them to
laughter so pleasantly as to excite hilarity in all observers.
This is probably the only instance of humour recorded in
the works of Pisanello ; yet it need not surprise us, for
there are tendencies in this direction observable in the
work of his predecessors,* and he has a distinct feeling
for any quaintness of attitude and expression observable in
the animal world. f

Besides persons of Teutonic countenance, the picture
also contained portraits of others. Among these we are
able to name Andrea Vendramin, who, says Sansovino,
essendo giovane^fu il piu bello, e il piii gratioso gentUhuomo

PP- 325. 332) says that in 1479 the same picture was partly repainted
by Luigi Vivarini, and finished after his death by Gian Bellini. Facio
mentions the German types and the sacerdotem digitis os distorquentem.
Sansovino mentions Vendramin. Selvatico {Star. Estetico-critica dclle Arte
del Disegno, ii. p. 466 ; cp. Lorenzi, p. 102) shows that in 1488 the
Council accepted Vivarini's offer to paint a picture in the Hall for out-
of-pocket expenses, and the provisors were ordered to let him have a
tdarium in loco tibi extat pictura Pisani.

* A cheerful piece of genre is the servant coming up from the cellar
in the S. Giorgio fresco, where St. George is drinking the poison
(Schubring, Altichiero, Plate 5, pp. 53 and 115).

t Cp. the delightful studies of dogs, Vallardi, fol. 243, No. 2498.

PLATE 5

'l./>r^J^^^

S 2

VENICE 31

della citta. The future Doge (1476-77) was then pro-
bably still in his teens.*

The frescoes of Gentile and Pisanello are no more ; even
in the fifteenth century that of Pisanello was repainted by
Luigi Vivarini and Gian Bellini. But is there, among
Pisanello"'s drawings, anything which can serve to recall
the nature of his work ? We must confine ourselves to
the scene described above, although doubtless Pisanello
painted other pictures in the same hall. In the first place
a sheet in the " Recueil Vallardi "f contains a rapid sketch
— a mere note — of a scene which has been identified with
Otto's audience with his father. (Plate 5.) We have a
hall with arched windows ; in the upper part is a repre-
sentation of the outer wall with pointed battlements and
coats of arms ; below, by a convention usual in the trecento
and also later, the side wall is imagined away, so that we
may see what goes on within. A person is seated on a
throne, on a dais ; beside him is a dignitary of some kind ;
before him kneels a third person. The seated figure raises

* Marin Sanuto, Vite de' Diichi (Muratori, xxii. 1204), says that he
was 76 when elected Doge on March 5, 1476. Sansovino {Venetia,
ed. Martinioni, 1663, p, 583) gives his age as 84, On the other hand,
Venturi (p. 30) dates his birth in 1395. If one of these earlier dates be
right, it is an additional reason for placing Pisanello's Venetian period
earlier than 1422.

f Fol. 219, No. 2432. The sheet was first used for some fine studies
of dogs. The note with which we are dealing was a subsequent
addition, as its borders are interrupted by the figures of two of the
dogs. The theory that this sketch is connected with the Venetian
fresco is propounded by Wickhoff {Repert. /. Ktmstwiss., vi., 1883,
pp. 20 f.). Guiffrey (Venturi, p. iii) describes the scene as a
coronation. Miintz {Rev. deVArt Anc. et Mod., i., 1897, p. 68) accepts
Wickhoff s identification ; but he also accepts the British Museum
drawing, to be discussed later.

32 PISANELLO

his right hand. In four rows ranged along the room, at

right angles to the dais, sit a number of people. Wick-

hoff identifies the room as the Hall of the Great Council

itself, the throned and kneeling figures as the Emperor and

his son. The audience sit, as was the custom in the Hall

of the Great Council, in rows not facing, but at right

angles to, the dais. If the identification is con-ect, Pisa-

nello has — very naturally — taken the hall which he was

decorating as his setting for the scene which, according to

the legend, took place in Apulia. The theory that the

sketch represents a coronation taking place before a castle

will not bear examination ; for the action is clearly meant

to be going on within the building ; and a coronation

would doubtless take place in a church, which the

building certainly is not. As, however, the sketch is

so slight, it seems rash to base any theory upon it. And

our doubts as to its connexion with the Venetian period

are strengthened when we realise that it must be later

than the drawings of dogs on the same sheet. Now the

dogs are in Pisanello's ripest manner ; nothing could be

more admirable than the two spaniels and the large dog

fore-shortened from behind. If they belong to his Venetian

period, or to an earlier time, Pisanello must even then

have been a consummate delineator of animals, and it

cannot be said that his later work shows any progress in

this respect.

But there is another sheet, in the British Museum,*

* Sloane, 5226-57. Pen and bistre on paper prepared with a red
ground. For the attribution see S, Colvin, Academy, xxvi. (1884),
pp. 338 f. (summarised in Gaz. d. Beaux Arts, 1884, t. 30, p. 282), and
Brit. Mus. Gicide to Exhibition of 1891, p. 7. The audience scene is
reproduced by Muntz, R&vu& de I' Art, i., 1897, p. 70.

VENICE 23

which demands careful consideration. The two subjects
on the sheet are described as the attack made by the
Romans on Barbarossa and his knights outside the Porta
S. Angelo,* and Otto's reception by the Emperor. In
the latter we have a Gothic colonnaded hall, showing con-
siderable resemblance to the architecture of the Ducal
Palace. At the top of the central arch is a shield bearing
the imperial eagle. Below, a monarch, enthroned, receives
a young man who kneels to clasp his hand. Another
figure kneels lower down ; yet another stands in an attitude
of respect ; among the columns is a crowd of courtiers,
including a man holding a hawk ; and three dogs play in
the foreground. The monarch, the man kneeling before
him, and his companions, are bearded, contrary to the
Italian fashion of the early cinquecento. On the verso
are some extremely free and bold drawings of scenes from
a battle, and the representation of the horses, particularly
in one group where we have one horse seen from behind
and another from the front, is nearly as spirited as any-
thing that remains of Pisanello''s.

It is at least a strange coincidence that the two sides of
this sheet represent scenes which — apart from the question
of authorship — may well belong to subjects painted in the
Ducal Palace. We know little of the artists w^ho deco-
rated the hall in the trecento, but the drawings seem to be
too far advanced to be attributed to them. On the other
hand, they have clearly nothing to do with Luigi Vivarini
or Gian Bellini, who repainted the frescoes. There is,

* One of the frescoes in the hall represented the attack on Barba-
rossa's people ad molem Adriani: see Lorenzi, loc. cit. We do not know
whether this was by Pisanello.

34 PISANELLO

therefore, on external grounds, a fairly strong presump-
tion in favour of the attribution to Pisanello. Unfortu-
nately, however, when we come to the question of style,
the case is altered. Fine as they are, these drawings seem
by no means at home among the many other sketches from
his hand. True, most of the latter are of later date ; but
there seems to be no point of contact between the two.
In the British Museum drawing the architecture, although
probably not exactly copied from any one building, is
drawn with some practical knowledge of the art, and is
not by any means of the imaginative kind associated with
Pisanello, and, to a less degree, with the earlier Veronese
painters. The figures in the battle-scene are, as we have
said, bold and spirited, and they are seized in striking
attitudes ; but, nevertheless, they do not show that com-
bination of fine minute drawing with sureness of line
which is characteristic of our artist. The effect is obtained
by other means. Finally, as a small point, it is worthy of
notice that the watermark (a pair of pincers with recurved
handles) does not apparently occur on any other paper
used by Pisanello.

If it were possible to accept without reserve the identi-
fication * of certain of the portrait-sketches in the " Recueil

* Miintz {loc. cit.) enumerates, among others, the following Vallardi
sketches as probably connected with the Ducal Palace. Fol. 72,
No. 2329 : tonsured head of monk. Fol. 86, No. 2339 : profile of bearded
man ; across his breast a cord fastened by a ring surmounted by a
cross. Against the beard is written in two different hands canuta and
piu chanuta - ev\deni\y directions for colouring. (The ring and cross
are also used as a brand on a horse on fol. 171, No. 2378.) This profile
Miintz compares with the second kneeling figure in the Brit. Mus.
drawing. In style it should be compared with fol. 77-79 (2334-2336),
which, Dr. Richter suggests to me, are probably early drawings.

VENICE 35

Vallardi '' with persons represented in the British Museum
drawing, we should, of course, be more inclined to accept
the attribution of the latter to Pisanello. But the resem-
blances are too slight and vague to warrant any such
identification. Nor is it more than a conjecture that the
seated monk, the youth holding a falcon, and the standing
figure wearing a spiked helmet, which occur on a sheet at
Chantilly,* are studies for the fresco.

In the Museo Correr is preserved an illuminated manu-
script of the " Historia di Alessandro III." f Even if
later in date than the frescoes in which we are interested
— a matter which is doubtful — it does not concern us ; for,
little as we know of the actual frescoes, it is sufficiently
clear that the miniatures in this manuscript cannot be
meant to reproduce fresco compositions of the early quat-
trocento.

We must, therefore, be content to say that, so far as our
present information enables us to judge, there is nothing
remaining among Pisanello's drawings which can definitely
be associated with his fresco in the Ducal Palace. Nor is
there much to be said for the attribution to him and to

Fol. 115, No. 2608 : profile of a man wearing cap with drapery hanging
from it ; compared with the person on the extreme left. Fol. 127,
No. 2620 : strange-looking man with curly beard and snub nose,
wearing high cap.

* Venturi, p. 127.

t A. b. 28; Lorenzi, op. cit., PI. I. ff., reproduces in outline eleven
miniatures, supposing them to be copies of the frescoes ; Wickhoff
(p. 23), rightly rejecting this idea, sees traces of the influence of
Pisanello, as, e.g., in the drapery of St. Mark in the initial J (Lorenzi,
PI. I.). It is obviously impossible to draw sound conclusions from
Lorenzi's reproductions ; but so far as they go I fail to trace the
influence of Pisanello, or to see any sign of a later date than the
fourteenth century.

36 PISANELLO

his Venetian period of certain drawings at Berlin.* In
these the drawing of the purely decorative designs is hard
and constrained. The best work is seen in the naturalistic
representations of a rose-branch, a peacock's feather, and
the like. Yet even here we have a conventional butterfly,
of which it is difficult to believe Pisanello capable. Again,
the fancifulness of other details — such as the piece of
wall-decoration, and the St. Michael on a column — verges
on the grotesque. In fact the resemblance to Pisanello's
work is purely superficial. In the corner of one of the
sheets is an attempt to represent the discovery of the
Corinthian capital by Callimachus. The tale of this dis-
covery is preserved by Vitruvius, who, though not absolutely
unknown in the Middle Ages, was probably not redis-
covered by Poggio at St. Gall until, at the earliest, 1416.
Thus this sketch, and the other drawings which are in
exactly the same style, are doubtless later than 141 6. By
that time, as we have seen, the paintings in the Great
Hall were probably finished, and Pisanello had left
Venice.f

The results of the preceding analysis are entirely nega-

* Nos. 485 (Lippmann, Zeichmmgcn alter Meister, Nos. 155 and 195)
and 486 {ibid. No. 154), Wickhoff {op. cit.) accepts No. 485 as by
Pisanello; C. Loeser {Rep. f. Kunstwiss., xxv. p. 348) has recently
pointed out that they are not his, but the work of some Venetian with
a style nearly resembling that of Jacobello del Fiore.

t Dr. J. E. Sandys, to whom I owe the information as to the date of
Poggio's discovery, points out that a correspondent of Poggio was the
collector of MSS., Francesco Barbaro, who became a Senator of Venice
in 1419 (for the correspondence see Classical Rev., xiii. p. 125). Thus,
had we been able to accept the drawing as Pisanello's, it might have
been inspired by Barbaro, whom the artist would have learned to know
at Venice,

VENICE 37

tive. It is different when we come to the effect of
Pisanello's visit to Venice on the development of his own
art, and on that of the Venetians. For here — perhaps for
the first time — he was brought into contact, direct or
indirect, with Gentile da Fabriano. The general resem-
blance between the two masters is obvious, especially if
we compare Gentile's Adoration of the Magi^ which was
finished in May 1423.* In this picture, in the quiet group
of the Holy Family on the one hand, and in the gay
pageant of the kings and their suite on the other, we find
contrasted the two elements which were struggling with
each other in Pisanello, until in the maturity of his powers
the secular side obtained precedence. Gentile's rendering
of the sacred group is one of the most attractive in exist-
ence, and exerted a strong influence on later artists ;'|* and
his Madonna type is closely approached, not only in naive
charm, but also in its general conception, by Pisanello's
Annunziata in S. Fermo. Still, in subjects of this kind
there was less room for originality, and it is more important
to notice the close resemblance between the two artists on
the secular side. The deliijht in the beasts and flowers of
the field, in gaily apparelled, animated groups, in dogs and
horses, is common to both. In the delineation of natural
objects Pisanello no doubt was, or became, easily the
superior of Gentile. The latter artist's foreshortening of
his horses is quite ordinary, and the hound couched at the

* Venturi, pp. g and 22.

t Cp. Stefano da Zevio's Adoration in the Brera; the illuminated
MS. Brit. Mus. Add. 35,254 E ; and, more curious still, Hans Pley-
denwurfFs painting in the Lorenzkirche at Nuremberg (H. Kehrer,
Die Heilige)i Drei KoJiige in " Studien z. deutschen Kunstgesch.," 53,
1904. PI. X.).

38 PISANELLO

right hand is also commonplace ; the group of two monkeys
and the leopard's head are clever, but even they do not
show an observation so keen as that of the Veronese. Still
the same spirit animates the two men. In his other extant
pictures Gentile shows somewhat less of this vivacity and
energy, so that the Adoration^ although his masterpiece, is
not really characteristic. Yet it is important as indicating
the sympathy which must have been possible between the
artists. It is not probable that Gentile first roused in
Pisanello the latent passion for natural forms ; for the
work of Altichiero and Avanzo had most effectively pre-
pared the way in this direction. Indeed, it may be that
Gentile learned as much as he taught ; in cases of contact
between two genial painters the debt rarely remains alto-
gether on one side.

However this may be, a striking proof of the effect of the
sojourn of these two painters at Venice is to be found in
a picture representing the Adoi'cition of the Magi now at
Berlin (Plate 6),* but formerly at Venice. By more than
one person it has been attributed to Gentile himself — an
opinion in which few would now concur. On the other
hand, the attribution to Antonio Vivarini, now very gener-
ally accepted, has been disputed because the picture shows
a certain resemblance to Gentile's Adoi-ation ! In the cen-
tral group, with the eldest king kissing the Child's toe, we
trace the influence of Gentile. But the attendant figures,
the horses, some of them excellently foreshortened from
behind, the architecture of the background, are eloquent of

* Venturi, p. 26, No. 24. On the influence of Gentile and Pisanello
on Venetian art, cp. Morelli, Gal. zu Munchen u. Dresden (1891), p. 10;
Bode, Gaz. d. Beaux Arts, 1889, t. i., p. 489; Weizsiicker, Berlin y«/[y6.,
vii. p. 55.

PLATE 6

CO
CO

I— I

H
O

O
Q

VENICE 39

the fact that the painter knew the work of Pisanello, and
knew it well. The beautiful cavalier who stands behind
the youngest king holding a flag is brother to the
St. Eustace of the National Gallery, or, for that matter,
to Don liiigo d'Avalos as we see him on Pisanello's medal.
(Plate 63.)

Of course we must not suppose that works like this of
Antonio Vivarini's were directly inspired by the frescoes in
the Ducal Palace; after all, there were other paintings
enough by Pisanello within easy reach of Venice. But the
frescoes undoubtedly attracted considerable attention ; and
this explains the fact that we can trace in one and the
same picture the influence of the two artists in combina-
tion.* This influence, it must be noted, did not last long ;
but, what was better than creating a school, the stimulus
of the two masters awakened Venetian art, and enabled
its exponents to receive other influences, and finally to
create a school of their own. We shall see subsequently
how Pisanello further acted on the development of Vene-
tian art through the medium of Jacopo Bellini. But
workshop-pieces, like Antonio Vivarini's Adoration^ are
especially valuable to the historian because they show the
scaffolding by means of which an independent art is
established.

* The beautiful picture in the Louvre, now attributed by Corrado
Ricci to Jacopo Bellini, might seem to come under the same category ;
but Pisanello's influence on the painter of this picture far outweighs
Gentile's. We shall therefore deal with it later.

CHAPTER III

THE "ANNUNCIATION" IN SAN FERMO

We have no information as to Pisanello's movements
between the time of the completion of his work at Venice
and his visit to Rome. But there is one work in Verona
which certainly belongs to this period : the Annunciation
in San Fermo. Here we have, for the first time, a tangible
monument of Pisanello's art. It is painted on the north
wall of the church, immediately on the left as one enters
by the west door, and is merely a subsidiary decoration of
the Brenzoni monument carved and signed by Giovanni
di Bartolo (il Rosso).* The monument, which represents
the Resurrection, is ugly, and the attitudes strained ; it
has been remarked that there is little to suggest that the
sculptor was a pupil of Donatello, except perhaps the
fio^ure which crowns the whole monument. Since il Rosso
was at Florence until 1424, the monument must be later

* The monument is figured in P. Schubring, Das ital. Grabmal der
Friihrenaissance (1904), p. 26, Fig. 37. Cp. A. G. Meyer in Berlin Jahrb.,
X. p. 92; P. Toesca in L'Arte, vi. (1903), p. 229 f. The whole fresco
is rudely reproduced by P. Nanin, Disegni di vavie Dipintiire a fresco che
sono in Verona (Verona, 1864), PI. 4, from which our PI. 7 is repro-
duced ; the two halves of the Annunciation in Venturi's Vasari and in
his La Madonna, pp. 166, 167. For the signature, see Venturi, p. xix.

PLATE 7

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THE BRENZONI ANNUNCIATION

&^ !

Xdiiin
,Fuce p. 41

.S'. Fcrmo, Verona

"ANNUNCIATION" IN SAN FERMO 41

than this year. As we shall see, Pisanello probably went to
Rome in or soon after 1428 ; so that the execution of the
monument, and of the fresco which forms the background
to it, may be dated to the second half of the twenties.

The whole of the monument, with the exception of the
crowning statue which surmounts the baldacchino, is
framed in a rectangular moulding. The triangular spaces
between this moulding and the baldacchino are occupied
by the fresco of the Annunciation, Painted on the wall
above the moulding rises a wonderful complex of fancifid
architecture, of debased Gothic style. Under the lateral
pinnacles of this building stand, on a level with the sculp-
tured prophet in the centre, figures of St. George on the
left and St. Michael on the right. The signature of the

PTS A^VS

artist „,-4tt ^"^ placed on a sham stone slab, low down on

the right-hand side, below the Virgin.

The fresco is in a most deplorable condition of decay
and dirt, and not rendered easier to examine by the monu-
ment to which it is subordinated. It was described, on the
authority of Fra Marco Medici, by Vasari, who has been
followed by most later writers without much attempt to
add to his description, possibly for the reason just indi-
cated. He praises for their beauty the two figures of the
Virgin and Gabriel, which are touched with gold, after the
manner of the time, as well as the drawing of the architec-
ture and of some small animals and birds scattered through
the picture.

To make a good composition of the subject, given the
two triangular spaces separated by the baldacchino, was a
task which would have puzzled a painter more skilful at

42 PISANELLO

surmounting such difficulties than Pisanello. Pie has done
his best, but the scene must be regarded as consisting of
two ahnost independent parts. On the left kneels the
angel (Plate 8). In the foreground, which is rich with
flowers, are a couple of pigeons. They are admirably
drawn, and it is not the artist's fault that several writers,
one following the other, have described them as par-
tridges ! Behind the figure of Gabriel the landscape
rises rapidly ; a few trees, showing conical masses of thick
foliage, are in the middle distance ; while farther back,
where the ground almost reaches the top of the picture,
are groups of pencil-like spires dotted about the hills. All
the details of this landscape can, at the present time, only
be made out with the greatest difficulty. The angel,
regarded as a single figure, is without doubt one of the
noblest of Pisanello's creations ; no other artist, dealing
with the same subject, has surpassed the magnificent
sweeping lines of his wings, or better expressed the
energy of suddenly arrested motion. Gabriel has just
alighted in a kneeling posture before the house of Mary ;
his fair hair still flies in the breeze, his wings are but
partly folded. In his hand he holds a flowering lily. Of
the house on this side only the arched doorway is repre-
sented. In the corner, above a group of trees, we see the
half-figure of God the Father, leaning to the right from
among the clouds. This figure forms the link with the
right half of the fresco (Plate 9), in the corner of which we
see the infant Jesus, in a rosy, golden glory, descending
from God the Father on a ray, which bears the dove and
passes through a circular traceried window to Mary''s bosom.*
* The dove, not visible now, is given in Nanin's reproduction.

PLATE 8

ANGEL OF THE ANNUNCIATION

AliiKiri
FoUoicp.42

S. Fcrmo, Verona

PLATE 9

AJinari

VIRGIN OF THE ANNUNCIATION

.S'. Fenno, Verotia
Face pi. 8

^'ANNUNCIATION" IN SAN FERMO 43

She is seated in her bedroom on a settle ; in the background
is the bed, on a dais approached by carpeted steps.* Behind
the bed, at its head, appears to be a small organ. Before
the dais is a round hassock. The perspective of the
building, which recalls Venetian Gothic, is creditably
managed. The Virgin, whose head is veiled in her mantle
and surrounded by a glory of rays, has laid aside the book
that she was reading, and folds her hands in prayer. In
the foreground is a small dog wearing a collar : the least
successful detail in the work, if it is fair to judge of it in
its present state. Farther down, beside the folds of the
baldacchino, come other details, apparently three birds,
and then the signature.

St. George, who stands on the left above the moulding,
appears to have a youthful, almost girlish face. He has
flowing fair hair, and wears silver armour and a jerkin.
He stands looking to the right, resting the weight of
his body on the left leg, and leaning with his right hand
on the dagger which he wears on his right side, in the
attitude which is familiar to every student of Pisanello.
His left hand appears to rest on a stick. The monster at
his feet is hardly to be made out, and the same is true of
the dragon of St. Michael on the right. Here, however, we
are fortunate in that the face (Plate 10) and figure have
suffered less and have been photographed. The archangel,
clad like St. George, stands to the front, his head, with its
long waving hair, slightly inclined to the left. His attitude

* The coverlet bears an inscription of which only a few letters
remain, perhaps representing [Magnificat anhn]a mea D«[/«]. The
uppermost step of the dais is decorated with two figures (a woman on
the left, a man on the right) with a tree between them..

44 PISANELLO

is unusual, his arms being folded across his breast.* He
wears a dagger at his right side ; at his left hip we see the
hilt of his sword.

The architectural construction, before the wings of
which these two figures stand, falls into three parts. In
the middle, enclosing the sculptured prophet, is a niche
surmounted by a tall erection (hexagonal in plan), ter-
minating in a cupola : it is flanked by two spires, of which
the bases are square in plan. To right and left of this cen-
tral portion stretches a trellis fence, curving slightly so as
to present its concave side to the spectator, and overgrown
with roses. At the sides are the niches, in which stand
St. George and St. Michael, and above which rise spires
(square in plan). The trellis pattern of the fence also
extends downwards in a border just outside the moulding
which encloses the main picture. The background is seme
with suns, and this decoration is also represented by Nanin
as forming a lateral border to the whole painting. Of
this outer border there is now no trace.

The fresco is evidently a work of the artist's immaturity.
Compared with the S. An astasia fresco, its figures lack
virility and strength. Yet in the angel Gabriel we admire
that verve and success in capturing a momentary attitude
which are characteristic of Pisanello at his best. The
Madonna has a sweetness which even Gentile da Fabriano
could not surpass, and the whole scene is infused with a
genuine religious feeling such as the artist — spoiled,
perhaps, by the atmosphere of princely courts — hardly dis-
plays in any of his later works that survive. The Virgin's

* Nanin represents him with his spear upright, transfixing the
dragon's head ; of all this there is no trace.

PLATE 10

HEAD OF ST. MICHAEL

A 11(1 er KOI I
Face J). 45

S. Ft'niio. J'croiia

*' ANNUNCIATION " IN SAN FERMO 45

hands are fine, although some difficulty seems to have been
experienced with the wrists. Indeed, if in the face we see
the original from which the painter of the Madonna and St.
Catherine in the Verona Gallery (Plate i) derived his type,
it is in the hands that the difference between the two painters
comes out most markedly. In the treatment of the Virgin's
drapery, as in her face, there is a strong trace of the
influence of — perhaps we should say, a strong affinity with
— Gentile. So much is clear from a comparison with,
for instance, the Coronation of the Virgin in the Brera, or
the Berlin Madonna zo'ith Tivo Saints and an Adorant*
The ftices of the archangels Gabriel and Michael and of
St. George are not, as we have seen, virile ; notably in the
St. Michael the soft oval contour, small mouth, weak nose,
and full but not muscular neck, offer a singular but
instructive contrast to the forceful development of the
same type as we see it in the St. George of S. Anastasia
(Plate 16). There — although the drawing is not yet per-
fect— the modelling of the face and neck shows muscle ; the
mouth is larger and has more character ; the nose is stronger
and more solid, the interval between the eyes, although
still very wide, being filled by a well-defined bridge between
the sockets, and the nostrils and tip vigorously modelled ;
finally, the hair leaves the forehead freer and broader,
instead of reducing it to a pretty triangle.

In the Brenzoni fresco Pisanello seems to have adhered
more or less to the colour-schemes in use in the earlier
frescoes adorning S. Fermo. The general effect must have
been quiet, although redeemed from sombreness by the silver
armour, the glories, and the gold used for certain details

* Venturi, Nos. i and 8.

46 PISANELLO

Now that these bright adjuncts have wholly or in part
disappeared, the general tone is very sober. We find no
great spaces covered with bright colour, no strong con-
trasts. His method in fresco, as in panels, is rather to pro-
duce a mellow harmony of low tones, and by means of
bright details here and there to heighten the effect of the
whole.

In the mass of architecture which rises above the main
picture we see a relic of the earlier Veronese school. In
Altichiero and Avanzo, however, architecture was, as a
rule, used so that it did not seem to be a superfluous
adjunct. Here it seems to bear no relation to the main
subject. Perhaps it is more just to say that the Avhole of
the fresco above the moulding should be regarded as quite
distinct from the Annunciation below it. Pisanello was
ordered to decorate the wall-surface behind the statue
which crowns the monument, as well as the backg^round

' c5

of the monument proper, and the two tasks involved quite
different methods of treatment.

In the present condition of the fresco it would be futile
to discuss how far in his handling of the landscape the
artist can be said to have advanced beyond his pi'edecessors.
It is obvious, however, that with the naturalistic treatment
of the birds we obtain a glimpse into a new world of art.

There are very few drawings which can be connected
with this fresco. Some of the numerous young courtiers
whom Pisanello was so fond of sketching may have served
for the St. George. A sketch of Gabriel, in an attitude
more usual than the one adopted in the fresco, with head
erect, not bent in salutation, is to be found on a sheet in
the Recueil Vallardi. But neither this nor any of the

*^ ANNUNCIATION " IN SAN FERMO 47

other drawings supposed to be connected with the fresco
can with certainty be regarded as definite studies for it.

* For the angel, see Vallardi, fol. 157, No. 2631 ; on the same sheet
is a sketch of a figure seated with a book, and an animal below —
possibly, therefore, the Virgin. Fol. 175, No. 2541 (Virgin seated on
the ground, with an angel above her) and fol. 195, No. 2398 (two
Virgins), have been discussed above (p. 18, note *). A study of archi-
tecture at Milan is mentioned in Venturi (p. 123) as " recalling the
architecture of the background of this fresco and that in S. Anastasia."

CHAPTER IV

, ROME

The evidence for Pisanello's work at Rome, supplied by

Vasari and other writers, is fortunately supplemented by

contemporary documents. Before, however, we come to

these, it is necessary to consider another hypothesis which

has been suggested * to account for Vasari's statement that

Pope Martin V., when he came to Florence, found Pisanello

there and took him to Rome, where the painter executed

certain frescoes in St. John Lateran. Now we know that,

in September 1419, Gentile da Fabriano was about to

leave Brescia for Rome on the invitation of the Pope.

Martin, having been elected by the Council of Constance,

stayed in Florence until September 9 of the next year,

when he left for Rome. It has been suggested that either

Vasari confused Gentile and Pisanello, in regard to this

invitation, or the Pope invited them both. Of the two

alternatives, the former seems the more probable. There

is no other evidence extant to the effect that Pisanello

went to Rome at so early a date. As the mention of the

fresco in St. John Lateran shows, Vasari is certainly thinking

* Venturi, p. 7. For the evidence as to Gentile's work in the Lateran,
see Venturi, pp. 18, ig.

ROME 49

of the sojourn which the artist actually made in Rome in
the years 1431-1432, and perhaps a little earlier.

Gentile, if he got any nearer to Rome than Florence
immediately after he left Brescia, cannot have spent much
time in the service of the Pope ; for we have documents
proving that he was fully occupied in Tuscany, more
especially in Florence, from 142 1 to 1426. But from
September 17, 1426, to August i, 1427, he is proved, by
payments, to have been engaged in the Lateran on work
which was cut short by his death in 1428.

The subject of Gentile's chief work in this church was
the history of St, John ; in addition, he represented five
prophets in chiaroscuro, between the windows. He also
painted portraits of the Pope and ten cardinals, whom
Facio says he represented to the life. The history of
St. John was the painting which he left to be finished by
Pisanello.

Of Pisanello's own work in the Lateran, Vasari tells us
that it was distinguished by the abundant use of a sort of
ultramarine given him by the Pope, and so beautiful and
brilliant that it has never been equalled. These paintings
were independent of Gentile's — Vasari, it need hardly be
said, speaks of a coiicoiTenza between the two artists —
and appear to have been higher on the walls. In addition,
perhaps before he began this independent work, Pisanello
completed Gentile's history of St. John.* Vasari speaks

* Bart. Facio, d& viris illiistr. (Flor. 1745), p. 47, writing in 1455-56
supplements Vasari. Three payments to Pisanello for work in the
Lateran are given by E. Muntz, Les Arts ct la Cotir des Papes, i. p, 47,
and Venturi, p. 33. They are: 40 gold florins on 18 Apr. 1431 ; 50
on 27 Nov. 1431 ; 75 on ult. Febr. 1432. The artist is called magister
Pisanellus (or Pisanus) picior. M. Lauer will, I hope, shortly publish

50 PISANELLO

as if he were able to appreciate the great beauty of
Pisanello's painting. The more trustworthy Facio, w^riting
on the authority of Pisanelio himself, says that the history
of St. John had already almost disappeared owing to the
dampness of the wall. Possibly the paintings on the
hicrher level did not suffer so much.*

The published documents relating to the work in the
Lateran show that he was engaged there at least as late as
the end of February 1432. On July 26 of that year he
received a passport to leave Rome, his work being pre-
sumably finished.

The statement, which is to be found in the first edition
of Vasari, that Pisanelio also painted in other places in
Pome, has disappeared in the second edition. This is not
a sufficient reason to suspect its truth, which is otherwise
probable. Nevertheless it must be remembered that
as Gentile, when he died in 1428, left a great task

documents from the Lateran archives bearing on the same subject,
which will define our knowledge of the chronology of this period more
accurately.

* In the His de la Salle Collection is a sketch by Pisanelio for a
Baptism (B. de Tauzia, Notice . . . His de la Salle, p 57, No. 80) con-
taining a figure stripping his vest over his head {Gaz. d. Beaux Arts,
1882, t. 25, p. 229). This figure is closely copied on fol. 20 vo of the
"Taccuino di Baldassare Peruzzi " in the Bibl. Comun. at Siena.
The sketches in this book seem to have been made in Rome in the
eighties of the sixteenth century, in the opinion of H. Egger, who
accordingly suggests (Vienna jfaJirb., xxiii. pp. 26 f.) that the artist of
the notebook may have copied the figure from Pisanello's fresco in the
Lateran. If so, the outlines at least of the figures in this fresco must
have been visible after Vasari's time. But the sketch in the notebook
may have been made from one of Pisanello's drawings, or a copy.
Another sketch in the His de la Salle Collection (B. de Tauzia, p. 59,
No. 82 vo) is a study for the decollation of John the Baptist [Gaz. d.
Beaux Arts, 1882, t. 25, p. 227).

ROME 51

unfinished, the Pope would probably set Pisanello to work
on this fresco as soon as he arrived. Of course he may have
subsequently found time for other commissions ; and it is
probable that the copies of Roman antiques and of Giotto's
mosaic in St. Peter's, still preserved among his drawings,
were made during this period. What is more, it appears,
as we shall see, that he paid a hurried visit to Verona in

1431-

The evidence for this journey is to be found in a letter *

written by Leonello d'Este in Ferrara to his brother
Meliaduse in Rome on January 20 of a year which has to
be inferred. The letter, which shows traces of the influ-
ence of Guarino, and is therefore later than 1430, recom-
mends Giovanni Aurispa warmly to his old pupil
Meliaduse. Now we know from a letter written by
Aurispa to Bartolomeo Guasco that Aurispa and
Meliaduse were thinking of going to Rome together if
the civil war which was raging in the city permitted ;
and this reference to the revolt of the Colonna against the
Pope permits us to date the letter to Guasco in the second
half of 1431. Peace was signed on September 22, 1431,
after which we may presume that Meliaduse and his old
tutor went south. As Aurispa was back in Ferrara about
the middle of 1432, after which he went to Basel, the year
of Leonello's letter to Meliaduse is fixed as 1432.

In this letter Leonello, after dealing with another
matter, continues :

" Pisano, distinguished among all painters of this age,

* Ferrarie xiii. Kal""^ Fehruarias. See R. Sabbadini, Biogr. document,
di Giov. Aurispa, 1891, pp. 58 ff. ; Venturi, p. 37, and in Arch. Stor. dell'
Arte, 1888, p. 425. The letter to Cxuasco is given by Sabbadini, p. 57.

52 PISANELLO

when he came to Ferrara from Rome, promised to me a
certain picture painted by his hand, in which was the image
of the Blessed Virgin. And since the picture was at Rome
in the hands of a certain friend of his, he offered, as soon as
he should have come to Verona, to write to him, in order
that he might entrust it to you, to the end that you might
send it to me instantly ; and at your going hence I for some
reason forgot to tell you, as I wished. Wherefore if, as I
suppose, it has been given into your hands, I pray you to
send it to me safely. For I am wonderfully desirous to see
it, as much because of the excellent cunning of the painter as
out of especial devotion to the Virgin."

The date of the letter being January 20, 1432, we
cannot avoid the conclusion that some time between
April 18, 143 1 * (when Pisanello received a payment for
work in St. John Lateran) and September 22, 143 1 (after
which date Meliaduse seems to have left for Rome),
Pisanello made a visit to Verona, passing hurriedly through
Ferrara. He was doubtless pressed for time, owing to
his engagement in Rome — whither he returned before
November 27 — and so hard pressed that he could not even
wait to despatch a messenger from Ferrara. Leonello, too,
was so eager to have his picture that he could not wait
until the artist himself should return to Rome, but made
him promise to expedite matters by writing in advance
from Verona.

Such seem to be the only possible inferences to be
drawn from the letter. At first sight it seems more
natural to suppose that the dating is faulty, and that

* The Fillon letter to be discussed below may, if genuine, belong to
1432, not 1431.

ROME 53

Pisanello, when he called at Ferrara, had finished his work
for the Pope. But — apart from the fact that we cannot
fit any other date into what we know of Aurispa's move-
ments— why then should Pisanello have left the picture in
Rome, unless he meant to return thither ?

The description of the picture as containing the image
of the Virgin has suggested that in the National Gallery
panel, which represents St. Anthony and St. George with
the Virgin and Child above them, we may possess the very
work in question. But this, in view of the apparently late
style of the painting, is a most hazardous conjecture ; and
we shall defer the consideration of the panel until we come
to deal with Pisanello's work at Ferrara in the forties.

That the painter was much in request has already
become evident. None the less is it impossible not to
regret the disappearance of a document purporting to be
an autograph letter to Filippo Maria Visconti.* Writing
from Rome on June 28 (year uncertain), Pisanello prays
his patron to be so good as to wait until next October,
when he hopes to send the work which, as Signor Ambrogio
will have testified, he had undertaken to execute in bronze ;

* See Miintz, Les Arts a la Cony des Papes, i. p. 47 ; Charavay,
Inventaire des autographes . . . coniposant la coll. de M. B. Fillon, 1879,
ix. sen, p. 121 ; also Gaz. d. Beaux Arts, 1879, t. i. p. 377. The
facsimile of the signature is also reproduced by Venturi, p. xix. The
document was not sold with the rest of the Fillon collection. Mon-
taiglon, who communicated it to Miintz, did not suspect it ; Miintz
himself afterwards {Hist, de I'Arf, i. p. 634 note) began to suspect
a mystification, because no one, since Montaiglon quoted the details,
has ever been able to see the letter. De Tauzia's doubts as to the real
reference of the letter {L'Art, 1882, i. p. 226) have been met by
Stevenson {MS. d'Archeol., 1888, p. 458), and are entirely removed
by our knowledge of the true date of Gentile's death {1428).

54 PISANELLO

he is unable at present on any account to leave the paintings
on which he is engaged in a church, and that work will not
be completed until the end of the summer. Nevertheless,
he will do his best, as by gratitude bound, to satisfy the
Duke. As we have seen, Pisanello's work in St. John
Lateran occupied him until the summer of 1432. The
letter may therefore have been written in that year rather
than in 1431, as has been supposed. Signor Ambrogio, as
Mlintz has suggested, may have been the distinguished
scholar Ambrogio Traversari, who was in Rome in 143 1.

The letter having disappeared, it is exceedingly difficult
to decide whether it ought to have the benefit of the doubt
or to be put out of court. If genuine, and if of 143 1 or
1432 — a condition by no means certain — it would be
especially important as showing that, at least six years
before he produced the first medal which can with cer-
tainty be assigned to him, the artist was accepting com-
missions to work in bronze. Further, we find him in close
relations with Filippo Maria Visconti, and expressing
gratitude for past favours ; some ten years must elapse
before we are able to point to him in similar relations
with the Duke. Were there no mystery about the dis-
appearance of the letter, these considerations would have
no weight ; as matters stand, they make us hesitate to
accept the document as genuine. It should be observed
that the writing of the signature (of which alone we are
able to judge, since the facsimile of it has been published)
is unlike any writing to be found in the Recueil Vallardi.

Whether or no Pisanello painted in Rome elsewhere
than in St. John Lateran, it would have been surprising
had he exercised no influence on other artists who worked

ROME 55

in the city. Such influence is traceable — although it would
be wrong to exaggerate its deflniteness — in Masolino''s
frescoes in the Chapel of St. Catherine in S. Clemente,
painted apparently about 1446- 1450.* In the scene
where St. Catherine mocks the idol, one of the youths who
looks on wears a rich cloak such as was dear to Pisanello's
heart ; but the artist has failed to give to the figure, in
spite of his dress, the courtly distinction of Pisanello's
gentlemen and pages. The splendid Crucifixion also owes
something to Pisanello — witness the bold foreshortening of
the horses. The same feature is reproduced in the miracle
of St. Ambrose, where we have a group of horsemen hurry-
ing away from the house on which is descending the
destruction called down by the wickedness of its inhabi-
tants. Again, Wickhoff compares the treatment of the
bedroom of the dying saint with interiors such as are
depicted in the early Veronese frescoes in the S. Felice
Chapel at Padua, or in the Pisanellesque decoration of
the bell-chamber of S. Maria della Scala at Verona. It
is, however, necessary to insist that none of the resemblances
which have been pointed out are more than superficial; in
no sense can Pisanello be said to have affected the style of
Masolino, although he may have supplied an occasional
motif. In the plastic rendering of the human figure, in
the treatment of space and landscape in the Cynicifixion^
Masolino is very far ahead of anything that can with cer-
tainty be assigned to Pisanello.

See F. Wickhoff, Zeitschr. f. bild. Kwtst, xxiv. (i88g) pp. 301 f.
Spaventi {Vittor Pisano, p. 26) suggests that they may be from
Pisanello's own hand !

CHAPTER V

THE FIRST FERRARESE PERIOD

Ox July 26, 1432, Pisanello received a passport* from
Eugenius IV. (who had succeeded Martin V. in March
143 1 ). The artist, at present dwelling in Rome, and having
need to visit various parts of Italy for divers matters of
business, receives a passport for himself, companions and
household, to the number of six, mounted or on foot,
and all his goods.

From the date of this document until the beginning of
1435 we have no information about Pisanello's activity,
and it is idle to speculate as to what were the divers cities
in Italy which he visited. This is, however, as suitable a
place as any in which to deal with the frescoes which he is
said to have executed at Florence. It has, indeed, been
suggested that Pisanello followed fairly soon in the steps
of Gentile da Fabriano, transferring himself to Florence

* Text of the littera passus pro Pisanello pictore in Venturi, p. 36
(earlier publications : E. v. Ottenthal, in Mitth. des Inst. f. Oesterr.
Gcschichts/orscJnmg, Innsbruck, v. 1884, p. 443 ; Gnoli, Arch. stor.
delV Arte, iii. 1890, p. 25). The artist is called dilectns filius Pisanellns
pictor famiUaris noster. Dat. Rome apud Sanctum petrum. Anno Incarna-
cionis dominice M'^CCCC^"" {vaicait) vii. halcndas Augusti, Pontif. jwstriAnno
secundo. The second date fixes the year as 1432.

THE FIRST FERRARESE PERIOD 57

towards the end of the twenties. I have ah-eady men-
tioned a drawing preserved at BerHn* and representing an
angel from Donatello^s pulpit at Prato, which was erected
in 1428. The drawing may, however, have been made at
any time after 1428 ; and, in any case, its connexion with
Pisanello is not absolutely certain.

Vasari tells us that, according to some persons, when
Pisanello was in Florence as a young man, learning his art,
he painted in the old church of the Temple, which stood
where now stands the old citadel, the legend of the Pilgrim
Avho, when on his way to the shrine of St. James, was
punished for a robber, but was succoured by St. James and
brought back safely to his home.

The Compagnia di S. Maria della Croce al Tempio had
for its object the service and consolation of persons con-
demned to death. In 1428 it received a legacy for the
purpose of building a hospital, t and it has been suggested
that here, in an eminently suitable place, as being designed
for the reception of pilgrims among others, Pisanello
depicted the legend of the Pilgrim. The story may be
read in the Golden Legend; in an amplified version it is
found as a miracle-play. A father, mother and son, on

* No. 1358 yo. Berlin Jahrb. ii. p. 26. Venturi, p. 122, No. 4
(where a doubt is expressed as to the authenticity of the drawing on
this side of the sheet).

t G. Richa, Chiese fiorentine, torn, ii, pp. 125 f. , 131 f., cited by
Venturi, p. 30, who suggests that the paintings were in the hospital,
and gives a summary of the plot of the miracle-play after Aless.
d'Ancona, Sacre rappresentazioni, iii. p. 465 f. The father and
mother approaching the gallows, on which hangs their son, comforted
by St. James, are depicted in the woodcut illustrating the Florentine
miracle-play : cp. Rappres. dwio Miracolo di tve Peregrini, &c. , Flor.
1519. Venturi suggests the date 1428-30 for the fresco.

58 PISANELLO

their way to the shrine of St. James of Compostella, put
up at an inn. The daughter of the host tries in vain to
seduce the young man, and in revenge puts a silver cup
into his wallet. After the departure of the pilgrims, the
cup is missed, they are pursued, the cup is found in the
young man"'s wallet, he is taken before the podesta and
hanged. The father and mother proceed on their pil-
grimage ; on their return, passing by the gallows, they
are greeted by their son, whose life has been preserved by
the saint. They hasten to the podesta, who says he
believes their story as much as he believes that the roast
fowl on the table before him will revive. This miracle
immediately takes place, and the podesta, convinced, has
the young man cut down. On his evidence, the host and
hostess are hanged and the wicked girl burned alive.

Now it is obvious that the representation of such a
legend was peculiarly appropriate to a chapel belonging
to a society with the objects of the Compagnia del Tempio.
It may, therefore, well have been painted not in the
hospital, but in the chapel which was founded in 1361
near to the city wall outside the gate of St. Francis,
and which seems to have been rased in the siege of

1530-*

Vasari's statement is vague, and based entirely on hear-
say. We are not, therefore, bound to believe that the
frescoes were done by Pisanello during the time when,
according to his biographer, he was learning to paint at
Florence. It is not, of course, impossible that a fresco, or

* Richa, ii. p. 127. In the late fifteenth-century view of Florence,
published by Lippmann, The Art of Wood-Engraving in Italy, facing
p. 32, the Tempio is seen outside the gate, and near it the gallows.

THE FIRST FERRARESE PERIOD 59

series of frescoes, of some importance should be entrusted
to this young foreigner. But the passage in Vasari is
evidently of a piece with his statement about the relations
between Pisanello and del Castagno : both tending to
glorify Florence as the metropolis of art. No one has yet
succeeded in proving any trace of Florentine influence on
the art of PisanelJo. If he knew Andrea, and collaborated
with him, or finished some work that he had left incom-
plete,* that would be quite sufficient to originate the story
as we find it in Vasari. And this may have happened in
the period 1428-30, if we accept the very doubtful
suggestion of a visit to Florence in those years ; or,
more probably, at some time between 1432 and 1438, a
period in which we know very little of the artist"'s move-
ments. Giovio — a thoroughly bad authority — gives us to
understand that Pisanello was in Florence in 1439, making
a medal of Palseologus. By that time, however, he was
working hard for the Ferrarese Court, and it is unlikely
that he would have escaped thence to Florence.

We have already seen Pisanello in intimate relation
with Leonello d'Este. In January 1435 he sent a presentf

* So Venturi, p. 31.

t Mandate of Leonello, dated Feb. i, 1435, to pay the servant
Pisani pictoris Vevonensis clarissimi 2 ducats of gold, since the said
servant has brought and presented to Leonello in the name of Pisano
Divi lulii Caesaris effigum. Venturi, p. 38, suggests that the object was a
wedding-present like Guarino's book. For the cap$a quadra in forma di
libro, dov' e Jtilio Cesare in uno quadretto di legno cum le cornice derate,
see Campori, Raccolta di catal. ed invent, ined., Modena, 1870, p. 30.
Venturi refers to Reg. Camerali of 1441, C (Modena, Arch, di Stato)
for the " Julius Cassar Room." Thode [Ztschr. /. hild. Kunst, xix. p. 103
suggests that the picture of Csesar was meant to adorn the cabinet
of gems and coins. The document has been misunderstood by Crowe

6o PISANELLO

to the young marquis, who was to be married to Margherita
Gonzaga in the next month. The object is described as
a portrait of Juhus Caesar, and Leonello rewarded the
servant who brought it — for Pisanello was not at Ferrara
— with two gold ducats. The gratuity cannot, of course,
be supposed in any way to indicate the value of the object.
A very plausible conjecture connects this portrait with a
panel which is mentioned in the inventory of the Este
wardrobe of 1494. In the chapter relating to " medals
and intaglios and portraits from the life '' mention is made
of a square casket in the shape of a book, where is Julius
Caesar in a wooden panel with the frame gilt. Julius
Caesar was Leonello's favourite hero and writer of anti-
quity, and the palace at Ferrara contained a room known
as the " Room of Caesar," the decoration of which presum-
ably j ustified its title. It is probably more than a coinci-
dence that, as Venturi has noted, in this very year 1435
Pisanello's fellow citizen, Guarino (the editor of Caesar'*s
Commentaries), dedicated to his pupil Leonello a tract
maintaining against Poggio that Caesar, and not Scipio,
was the greatest captain of antiquity.

It is not quite clear from the inventory whether this
portrait of Caesar was contained in the book-shaped box
or decorated its outside. One naturally thinks of a case
made to contain a miniature and open like a book. On
the whole this seems to be more probable than the idea
that the picture was the outer adornment of a gem and
medal cabinet.

Whether this identification be correct or not, the loss of

and Cavalcaselle [North Italy, i. p. 455) to relate to a portrait of
Niccolo III.

THE FIRST FERRARESE PERIOD 6i

Pisauello's Julius Caesar is the more to be regretted
because we have no other finished study after the antique
from his hand.

Again for three years there is a blank in the chronology
of Pisanello"s life. We next hear of him in connexion
with the plague which fell upon Verona in 1438, and with
the war between the Duke of Milan and the Venetian
Republic* Early in July Gianfrancesco Gonzaga, Mar-
quis of Mantua, declared himself on the side of the Duke
of Milan. Mantua and its territory at the time seem to
have been crowded with Veronese citizens, who had fled
from Verona to escape the plague which had broken out in
the city. The Marquis forced such as were able-bodied
to take service under him, and forbade the rest to leave
his territory without permission. Then followed the siege
of Verona, its capture by the army of the Marquis on the
night of November 16, 1439, and its recovery by Sforza
a few days later. Even during the siege, it would appear,
the Veronese orators had pleaded before the Republic the
cause of the fuorusciti, who in September 1439 were
pardoned, on the understanding that they should not
return to Verona for the present, but remain a Padua citra.
On August 9, 1441, a time-limit was imposed within which
they should establish their innocence, and again on
February 7, 1441 (1442 n.s.), the council published a

* For the war and the capture of Verona, see Daru, Hist, de la Rep.
de Venise, lib. xx. 12 ; S. Romanin, Storia document, di Ven., iv. p. igi ff. ;
for the other authorities and full discussion, Venturi, pp. 42 ff. The
source of the statement that the exiles should remain a Padua citra is
the Privilegium of Franc. Foscari of 30 Sept. 1439 (Statutes of Verona,
1475, fol. 1. (3) verso) : ita tamen quod veniant et stent pro presenti a padua
citra et gaudeatit bonis stns, et quanto citius venient tanto gratius nobis erit.

62 PISANELLO

final list of persons who had not yet presented themselves,
and who were to be allowed until the end of the next
March to clear themselves. The second name in this list
is Pisaims pkto7\

From this document we gather, therefore, that Pisanello
was absent from Verona from at least the middle of
1438 until February 1442. We are by no means justified
in taking it for granted that he failed to obtain pardon.
But, as a matter of fact, there is no record of his presence
at Verona at a later date ; and, as records of his move-
ments now become frequent, and we find him full of com-
missions at Ferrara, Mantua and Naples down to within a
short time of his death, it seems certain that he did not
return to Verona for any long period. From this a con-
clusion of some importance follows : the great fresco of
S. Anastasia must be not later than the first half of 1438 ;
and the St. Eustace of the National Gallery, being obviously
a less mature work, must be earlier still. The conjecture
that the SS. Anthony and George is the picture mentioned
by Leonello d'Este in 143 1 rests, as we have seen, on an
insufficient basis ; the qualities and defects of the panel
point to a comparatively late date, so that it will best be
described in connexion with the artist's work at Ferrara
in the next decade. But no occasion seems so suitable as
the present to deal with two other panels : the St. Eustace
of the National Gallery and the portrait of an Este Prin-
cess in the Louvre. The fresco of S. Anastasia demands
a chapter to itself.

The St. Eustace (Plate 11)* in the National Gallery,

* Berlin JaJirb. vi. (1885), pp. 16, 17 (Bode). Photogravure in
Venturi (no. 6). Cp. also Vienna Jahih. xvi. p. 209 (von Schlosser) ;

THE FIRST FERRARESE PERIOD 62

whither it passed from the Ashburnham collection, was
formerly attributed to Albert Diirer or even Jean Fouquet,
until its true authorship was recognised by Dr. Bode.
It is painted in tempera on poplar wood.

St. Eustace (or Placidus, as he was called before his
conversion), riding to the chase, found a herd of deer,
and among them a stag which was finer than the rest.
It left its fellows and plunged into the depths of the
forest, pursued by Placidus with all his might. It
mounted a high rock, and Placidus approaching con-
sidered how he might capture it. And as he diligently
observed it he saw between its horns the form of the
sacred cross outshining the sun in brightness, and the
image of Jesus Christ.

This is the moment represented in the picture. The
saint, who raises his right hand in wonder^ appears as a
magnificently-dressed young cavalier. On his head is a
sumptuous headdress such as the courtiers of the time
affected and the artist loved to draw : a blue scarf w rapped
round his hat like a turban and falling behind to his waist.
Over a brown furred coat he wears a loose gold-coloured
tunic girt at the waist. At his side hangs his gold-
mounted horn, in a baldric decorated with gold quatre-
foils. The metal of these decorations, of the studs, etc.,
on the trappings and bridle of his horse, and of his spurs,
is represented by gilt embossed work. The animal is of
the heavily-built breed almost exclusively represented in
Pisanello's art, and contrasts curiously with the slight

Gaz. d. Beatix Arts, 1894, t. 12, p. 291 (Gruyer) ; Berlin Jahrb. vii. p. 50
(Weizsacker). It was exhibited at the New Gallery in 1894, Size
65 X 53 cm.

64 PISANELLO

figure of its rider. It is reining back, having, like
St. Eustace himself, just caught sight of the portent. Some
of the hounds also seem to be aware of the miracle ; one
looks up and shows its teeth ; of the two greyhounds, one
looks back towards its master, but the other is intent on
coursing a hare. The sacred stag, a superb beast, has
mounted super quandam rupis aUHudinem in the middle
distance, and stands calmly facing the hunter. The
wooden crucifix between his antlers bears the letters
ixm on a gilt label. The figure of Christ is of an archaic
realism.

The landscape has almost the effect of a bird"'s-eye view.
The artistes idea was evidently to represent as much of the
varied scenery of the silva vastio?^, the forest wilds, as he
could in the space, and he has entirely dispensed with the
sky. Thus, in the absence of a horizon, it is difficult for
us to realise what exactly was his notion of the perspective
of the scene. We have before us a broken and somewhat
confused piece of country, falling more or less into three
parts. There is a lake in the background, whence — or
into which — flows a river, which also appears in front of a
grove of trees in the middle of the picture. Then there
is the forest with its patches of wood interspersed with open
spaces, edged by abrupt declivities. Finally, we have the
comparatively flat foreground, with a flowery turf, on which
stands the group of St. Eustace and his hounds, and a
wood on the right, peopled by various gay little birds.
In the forest we notice two more stags — one of them
standino- in a thicket of reeds and drinkinc; from the lake
— and two hinds or fawns ; on the extreme right is a
bear. The lake and its borders are enlivened by a

PLATE 11

i "N

C
>

THE FIRST FERRARESE PERIOD 65

number of aquatic birds — swans, pelicans, an egret, herons,
geese.

The first criticism which occurs to one in connexion
with this picture is that it is entirely lacking in unity. In
spite of the importance which the artist has sought to
give to the mounted figure and the sacred stag, neither
succeeds in holding the attention, which wanders now to
the greyhound coursing the hare, now to the aquatic birds
in the lake, now to the pair of spaniels in the foreground,
now to the little birds in the wood, and too often to the
hideous scroll, the presence of which is not even atoned
for by an inscription.* The naturalist has overweighted
the artist, and in his laudable desire to provide us with a
complete compendium of forest-life, Pisanello has almost
forgotten the real subject of his picture. As a composition
it is much improved by concealing the top at the level of
the Crucifix ; there is then less to distract the attention
from the main subject, and the eye is not led upwards by
the lake in the vain hope of finding a horizon. A more
drastic method was adopted by an artist of the six-
teenth century, who made a copy of the picture, now in
a private collection at Marseilles. f He has boldly removed
the lake with its birds to the foreground, thus giving the
two spaniels, as it were, something to drink from. In the
original they are, of course, snuffing about the ground.
Feeling the lack of sky, he has replaced the lake by a
distant prospect of hills and buildings. The shape of the
picture is thus altered to an upright oblong.

* One may be permitted to doubt whether it formed part of the
original picture.

t I have to thank M. J. Guiffrey for communicating a photograph
of this interesting work.

66 PISANELLO

It is easy to criticise the shortcomings of this, the first
whole-hearted attempt in modern art to realise the fact that
there was a Hfe worth painting in

ftporuji' fpTjfxiais
(TKiapoKofiov T ii' epvcaiv vKas.

But, with all its faults, it would not be easy to find another
picture which fulfils that purpose so well ; and, considered
in relation to its time, it is nothing less than the revelation
of a new world. That being the case, we may safely ignore
the fact that as a representation of the St. Eustace legend
it is inadequate. It is sufficiently creditable to the artist
that he has here painted animals in a way that was not
surpassed for centuries. There is most fault to be found
with the horse — doubtless because Pisanello himself, and
other artists after him, have taught us better. He has had
considerable difficulty with the anatomy of the joints; the
neck is somewhat wooden ; and the attitude has not been
successfully caught, for, while the motion of the loose
straps of the harness indicates that the animal is moving
forward, the attitude of the forelegs seems to be meant to
represent it as reining back. That the hoofs do not sink
into the turf, but are visible in full outline, is of course
only to be expected at this stage in the history of art.
Apart from this, Pisanello has bestowed the most loving
care on his horse : notice, for instance, the treatment of
the skin on the near hind leg. The dogs, too, have received
the same attention ; and here he has been successful
in seizing characteristic attitudes, as in the two spaniels in
the foreground, the two hounds behind the horse's fore-
legs, or the growling hound behind them. In the hind-

THE FIRST FERRARESE PERIOD 67

quarters of the greyhound that is looking back, however,
there is some awkwardness, if indeed they are not out of
drawing ; and this is certainly the case with the hind-
quarters of the sacred stag, which could not be so seen with
the rest of the body in profile. It is as though the artist's
delight in back views had contaminated his treatment of
profile. The stag and hind foreshortened from the back
are typical of Pisanello. The forms of the water-birds and
the clumsy shambling bear are treated with equal care and
success. In nearly all cases the work is extraordinarily
minute, every hair of the animals' coats being drawn. No
wonder then that, working like a miniaturist on details,
he lost all sense of the composition as a whole. There is
nevertheless some slight idea of linear perspective ; at least
the stag and hind in the background are reduced in size.
But the relative proportions of the animals and the natural
features are misrepresented in the usual primitive way.

The greens which once lightened the background have
become brownish with age, with the result that the whole
background seems in most lights to be almost sombre.
Yet, even when it had more varied tints, the general effect
must have been very much what it is now, the figures of
the gaily-clad cavalier on his Isabella-coloured steed, of hi^
various dogs, and of the beautiful brown deer, detaching
themselves from the screen of subdued woodland colours.
The surface of the picture is, on the whole, even now in
brilliant condition, to which the repainted picture beside
it acts as an effective foil.

The saint is, as I have said, a typical, almost too refined
cavaUer of the quattrocento. It would be absurd to seek
to identify him with any of Pisanello's patrons ; there is

68 PISANELLO

even less to be said for any such identification than in the
case of the St. George in the neighbouring picture.* It is
one of Pisanello's ideal faces ; the profile is almost exactly
the same as that of the St. George, but it also reminds us —
by a mere accident — of Don Inigo d'Avalos.

To attach a document to a work of art is the natural
desire of every critic ; it is not, tlierefore, surprising to
find that this picture has been provided with a sponsor
in Bartolomeo Facio. That writer mentions among
Pisanello's paintings "Jerome adoring a crucifix . . .
and also a AVilderness, in which are many animals of
divers kinds, which you would take to be alive." For
some obscure reason it has been suggested that Facio has
confused St. Jerome with St. Eustace in his memory, or that
the St. Eustace is a pendant to a lost St. Jerome.f There
is surely no justification for the former conclusion in the
passage, which distinctly describes two pictures and not
one only. Further, we know from Guarino's poems
that Pisanello painted a St. Jerome for his friend. On
the other hand, by the Eremus it is possible that Facio
refers to a picture of St. John the Baptist ; for among
the Vallardi drawings is a rapid sketch of the saint
standing in a mountainous landscape, with many animal;^.
(Plate I2.)t

Among the many animal dra\\'ings by Pisanello there

are naturally some which represent motifs recurring in

this picture. More than twenty sketches have been

connected with it, of which all but two are in the Recueil

* See below, p. 155.

t Facio, De viris illuitr. loc. cit. (Venturi, p. 65). The suggestion is
Bode's. Cp. Gruyer, Gaz, d. Beaux Arts, 1894, t. 12, p. 291.
X Recueil Vallardi, fol. 100, no. 2594 v<^.

PLATE 12

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cx'^?' '•''*" V '-v •-'^.r _i(?* *•*><

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PLATE 13

^B^

^HH^?

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X''

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t-. ■

THE FIRST FERRARESE PERIOD 69

Vallardi. * One cannot, however, be too cautious of the
conclusion that such and such a drawing is a study actually
made with the picture in view. Like every observant
artist, Pisanello kept voluminous note-books, and for the
details of his pictures ihere was little need that he should
make special studies. Even with the scanty materials at
our command we can see that some of his animal motifs
were used more than once. Thus the attitude of the
small dooj in the foreo-round of the S. Anastasia fresco
repeats that of the spaniel in the St. Eustace ; the two
horses' heads in the St. Anthony and St. George are also
seen in S. Anastasia ; between the recumbent ram of that
fresco and the goat-unicorn of the medal of Cecilia

* The others are : (i) sketch of a stapf, in the Nat. Mus. at
Stockholm (O. Sirdn, Dessins et tableaux de la Renaiss. ital. dans les
coll. de Suede, 1902, plate facing p. 34). Pen-drawing, bistre, on
yellowish paper, with a rather coarse pen. Although it closely
resembles the stag on the left of the picture, with its neck stretched
out, it has not — if the reproduction is faithful — the touch of Pisanello's
own hand ; nor have the other details on the same sheet. (2) Sketch of
a bear at Cologne (Muntz, Rev. del' Art anc. et mod. v. i88g, p. 75). The
Vallardi drawings connected with the picture by Guiffrey in his list con-
tributed to Venturi's work (sometimes, of course, with a "perhaps ") are
as follow. For the horse : f. 145, 2356 ; f. 161, 2366 ; f. 163, 2368 (sum-
mary sketch of a horseman, perhaps the first idea of the picture).
For the dogs : f. 220 v°, 2429 (greyhound in front of the horse) ; f. 228,
2547 (the resemblance to one of the two spaniels is slight). For
the deer : f. 236, 2492, here PI. 13 (study for the sacred deer, only
the head finished, but that exquisitely); f. 237, 2494 (may or may
not have been for the picture); f. 241,2549 (stag foreshortened from
behind, in attitude of the hind in the background). For the bear
f. 207, 2414. For the herons, &c. : f. 280, 2471; f. 281, 2472 {Gaz.
d. Beaux Arts, 1894, *. 12, p. 297). These may be supplemented by
the list given by Gruyer, Gaz. d. Beaux Arts, 1894, t. 12, pp. 292 f.
The studies of a crucifix and of hands fastened to a cross (f. 163,
no. 2368) are also for this picture.

70 PISANELLO

Gonzaga (Plates 52, 53) there is a family likeness. And the
rider on a horse foreshortened from behind is so distinctly
one of his cliches that it has almost become, for some critics,
in itself a sufficient proof of his influence on others.*

There is, I have said, another extant panel which may,
with probability, be referred to about the same period as
the St. Eustace. This is the portrait of a young lady in
the Louvre (Plate i4).t As it and the Leonello d'Este
of the Bergamo Gallery (Plate 40) are the only two
painted portraits by Pisanello still extant, they are
naturally associated with each other in most minds. But
their sizes are different, and they cannot be companion
pictures. What is more, the Louvre portrait is in many
respects a less mature work than that at Bergamo ; antl
if, as seems all but certain, the latter belongs to the early
forties, we may reasonably date this portrait in the period
following Pisanello's work at Rome.

The portrait, which passed from the Felix Bamberg
collection to the Louvre, used at one time to be attributed
to Piero dei Franceschi ; its identification as a work of
Pisanello, first published by Venturi, is not disputed. It

* Cp. Venturi's remark (p. xiv. f.) on the mounted figure in Ercole
de' Roberti's Procession to Calvary at Dresden.

t Tempera, 41 x 29 cm. Venturi (No. 5) and in Arch. Stor. delV Arte, ii.
p. 165 (illustr. p. 166); Gruyer, Gaz. d. Beaux Arts, 1893, t. 10, p. 366
(coloured plate); Rev. ArcMol., 1893, t. 22, PI. xiv., where Ravaisson
identifies the subject with Cecilia Gonzaga. Gruyer (0/. cit. pp. 214 f.)
suggests Margherita. Cp. J. von Schlosser (Vienna Jahrh., xvi. p. 204) ;
E. Jacobsen {Repert. /. Kunstwiss., xxv. p. 272) and my note in
Burlington Mag., July 1904, p. 408. Study possibly for this picture:
Rec. Vallardi, f. 298, 2504 : flowers and leaves of columbines. The
profile of a lady, f. 99, 2593 v^, can hardly have anything to do with
this picture.

PLATE U

GINEVRA D'ESTE

J'\ice p. 7 1

l.niirre

THE FIRST FERRARESE PERIOD 71

shows some traces of repainting, especially in the piece of
sky at the top. The half-figure in left profile is detached
on a background of pinks and columbines rendered with
great truth to nature. Among the flowers flit four
butterflies (on the left two " red admirals,'^ and on the
right a "clouded yellow"' and a "scarce swallow-tair** ).
The background opens at the top and at two places lower
down, showing the blue sky. The dress, in the fashion of
the time, is very short-waisted ; the white bodice is
gathered into long folds at the waist in front by a violet
girdle, and falls loosely over the shoulder in scarf fashion
at the back ; the sleeves are red and arranged in long stiff
folds, and a thick twisted cord of brown, red and white is
placed round the top of the sleeves and round the neck.
A sprig of juniper with dark purple berries is stuck into
the dress just in front of the left shoulder. The scarf-like
piece is embroidered with an impi^esa, which occurs also on
more than one of Leonello's medals (Plates 37, 38) : a two-
handled crystal vase containing branches of a shrub, leaf-
less but with buds, and with roots which are extended
through apertures in the bottom. To the handles of the
vase are attached chains, which doubtless support anchors
as on the medal, although the folding of the drapery con-
ceals them. Rows of pearls adorn the neck and belly of
the vase, and a large pearl hangs on its shoulder.

The head has great charm, in spite of what we regard
as the ugly way in which the hair is dressed. As was the
fashion, the forehead is rendered high and round by pluck-
ing out the front hair. What little of the fair hair is seen
is on the forehead, temple and nape of neck, and where a
wisp escapes from the reddish-yellow coif, which is confined

72 PISANELLO

by a white ribbon. One sees from Syracusan coins how
beautiful this kind of headdress could be made by a Greek
woman ; here the court hair-dresser has drawn the hair up
so as to continue the line of the nape of the neck in an
ugly curve, and entirely disturb the balance of the head.
The dress, too, leaves the top of the back exposed, and
accentuates the length of the neck. It is in the freshness
and innocence of the face, with its firm, clean, yet delicate
contours, and its modelling — nearly as subtle as in the
later Leonello portrait — that the charm of the picture
lies. The silhouette, however, in this picture is much
sharper than in the other, the complexion of the face
being paler, the dress brighter, and the whole bust con-
trasting more decisively with the background.

Attempts have been made to identify this girl with
Cecilia and also with Margherita Gonzaga. AVhat Cecilia
was like we shall see from her medal ; the resemblance
between the two is merely that which one finds between
most women of the same epoch. Further, if the identifi-
cation with Cecilia be accepted, the connexion with the
Este proved by the impi'esa can then only be explained
by a hypothesis for which there is no foundation. Of
her sister, Margherita, the wife of Leonello, we have no
medal. She died in 1439. As the impresa of the " vase
with branches, roots and anchors " was being embroidered
on a cloak for Leonello in September 1441,* Venturi
argues that the identification is impossible. But the fact
which he adduces is no proof that the hnpresa had not been
used before 1441. At the same time any hesitation that

* Account-book C of the Este Archives, Modena, quoted by Venturi,
p. 69.

THE FIRST FERRARESE PERIOD 73

we may feel in accepting the identification with Margherita
Gonzaga is increased by a comparison with the portrait of
Leonello. The two faces have ahnost exactly the same
mouth and chin. There is a difference in the noses ; but
there is no feature which, in members of the same family,
may vary more strikingly than the nose. So far as the
dressing of the hair permits us to j udge, the girPs cranium
had the same shape as is represented in one of the medals
of Niccolo III. — a shape which Leonello inherited. Ven-
turi's suggestion, therefore, that this girl is one of the many
daughters of Niccolo III. has a very high degree of proba-
bility.

Which of t?ie daughters it is he does not attempt to
decide.* But the sprig of juniper which she wears makes
it, to my mind, almost certain that she is the unhappy
Ginevra. Born on March 22, 141 9, she was affianced on
March 15, 1433, to Sigismondo Malatesta. She went to
Rimini in February 1434, and bore to Sigismondo in
1437 ^ son, who died before the year was out. On Septem-
ber 8, 1440, she herself died, poisoned, it was thought, by
her husband.

The picture certainly seems to represent a girl still in
her teens, as Ginevra was in the thirties. We may reason-
ably suppose that it was painted two or three years after
her marriage, possibly when she was on a visit to Ferrara,
or even at Rimini itself. We know so little of Pisanello's
movements at this time that we are free to choose between
the two places. The supposition that the portrait was
painted for the Este picture-gallery will suffice to meet the

* E. G. Gardner, Dnhes and Poets in Ferrara^ p. 55 note, prefers either
Isotta or Beatrice.

74 PISANELLO

possible objection that the wife of Sigismondo Malatesta
would wear not the hnpresa which we know to have been
used by her brother, but more probably some device of
her husband's.*

In any case, there can be little doubt that this portrait is
earlier than the Bergamo portrait of Leonello. As a com-
position it has certain weaknesses. The dressing of the
hair is not, of course, entirely the artist's fault ; the awk-
wardness of the hang of the arm would appear also not to
be due entirely to bad drawing, but to the pose fashionable
at the time. We have already noticed that the effect of the
painting is partly achieved by the elementary device of a
strong contrast with the background. The result is a
certain restlessness. In the portrait of Leonello we shall
see that the artist obtains his clearness of profile without
exaggerating the definition between background and
subject. In the interval between the two pictures he has
learned the art of producing a good profile effect without
primitive contrast of colouring ; and he has learned it
by becoming a medallist.

* The only other portrait of Ginevra known to me is in a MS. of
»Roddi's Annali delta sua pairia (Harl. 3310, f. 104; 17th cent.). It
does not resemble the picture, but it is quite clear that the vast
majority of the portraits in this MS. are entirely imaginary.

CHAPTER VI

THE FRESCO IN SANT' ANASTASIA

The date of the great fresco of the Pellegrini chapel in
S. Anastasia at Verona is, unfortunately, no less a matter
of conjecture than that of the St. Eustace. A considerable
amount of architectural work * seems to have been done on
the church from 142 1 onwards. In 1428 the facade was
begun. Bartolommeo Pellegrini was one of the first
" fabricatores " of the church elected in this year. In 1437
the walls were all completed, and in the following years
there were further improvements. From 1440 onwards
the church, we are told, was beautified with paintings and
other interior decorations. Giacomo Pellegrini, who made
his will in 1450, left money for the painting of a figure of
S. Dionysius. It was probably either this member of the
family, or else Bartolommeo, who at an earlier date com-
missioned Pisanello to decorate the family chapel.

Of course, the fact that the church was being decorated
from 1440 onwards does not necessarily date Pisanello*'s
frescoes after that year. We have seen that there are
chronological considerations in favour of the fresco

* G. B. Biancolini, Not. stor. delle Chiese di Verona, ii. (1749), p. 560;
C. Cipolla, Ruerche stor. int. alia Chiesa di S. Anastasia, in Archiv.
Venet. xyiii. (1879), pp. 274 f. and xix. (1880), pp. 231 f.

76 PISANELLO

being earlier than the middle of 1438. Much older it
can hardly be, if we may judge from the comparative
maturity of style which it displays. An attempt has
indeed been made to place it after 1438 ; for where, it is
asked,* could the artist have found the material for the
wonderful group of Oriental types which he represents,
except in the suite of the Emperor of Byzantium at the
Council of Ferrara in 1438 ? As a matter of fact there
are at the most only two distinctly Oriental faces in the
group of riders. In any case, in Venice at least such types
must have been no rare sight at all times. Finally, there
is some evidence, if required, for the Emperor's having passed
through Verona at an earlier date.f This consideration
therefore cannot be allowed to outweigh the chronological

* Gruyer, Gaz. d. Beaux Arts, 1894, t. 11, p. 427.

f P. Zagata, Cronica della Cittd di Verona, (1747) ii. p. 56: L'anno
1424 adi 21 de Februar vene lo Imperador de Constantinopoli a
Verona cum molti Signori circa 80 cavali, dapoi ando a Milano. This
date is rejected by Aless. Carli, Istoria di Verona, (1796) vi. p. 267, in
favour of 1438 ; in both years the same man, Vettor Bragadino, was
podestd, which Carli thinks might account for the wrong date. But I
can find no evidence that the Emperor passed through Verona in 1438 ;
he went straight from Venice to Ferrara, and thence eventually to
Florence. On the other hand we know (Magenta, / Visconii egli Sforza
nel Castello di Pavia, ii, p. 127), that on May 2, 1424, the Duke of Milan
ordered an apartment to be made ready at Pavia to receive John
Palaeologus, who was expected the next day, for one night. The Verona
chronicler's date is thus confirmed. Further, Mr. Edwin Pears points
out to me that John was absent from Constantinople from November 15,
1423, to the end of October 1424. According to Phrantzes (i. 40) he
went to and returned from Hungary; but Marin Sanuto {Vite de' Diichi,
in Muratori, xxii. p. 971 C) shows that on December 15, 1423, he came
to Venice. Thence he must have gone on to Verona and Pavia. If,
then, it is desired to find an occasion when Pisanello may have seen
Orientals in Verona, it may have been this.

PLATE 15

O
pi
O

THE FRESCO IN SANT ANASTASIA 77

difficulties which beset any attempt to date the fresco
later than 1442, by which year Pisanello certainly had not
returned to Verona.

Fra Marco Medici, to whom Vasari owed the supple-
mentary matter which he inserted in the life of Pisanello
in his second edition, sent the biographer a detailed account
of the decoration of the Pellegrini chapel. It has come
down to us in the following form (be it noted that even at
this time the frescoes were partly decayed) :

"And because he took particular delight in doing animals,
he painted in the Church of S. Anastasia at Verona, in the
chapel of the family of the Pellegrini, a St. Eustace caressing
a spotted tan and white dog ; the dog, with his feet raised
and resting against the leg of the Saint, turns his head back,
as though he had heard a noise : and this he does in so life-
like a manner, as nature herself could not surpass. Beneath
which figure is to be seen painted the name of Pisano (who
used to call himself now Pisano, and now Pisanello,* as one
may see both in the pictures and in the medals from his
hand). After the said figure of St. Eustace (which is one of
the best which this artist wrought, and in truth most
beautiful) he painted all the outer face of the said chapel ; on
the other side a St. George armed in white armour, made of
silver, as in that age the Saint was customarily represented
not only by him but by all the other painters. Here
St. George, having killed the dragon, and being about to
sheathe his sword, raises his right hand, which holds the
sword, the point being already in the scabbard, and lowers
his left hand, in order that the greater distance may make it

* As the form Pisanello is found in no genuine extant work, it may
be that the dal Pozzo picture (p. 4 note*) was already known to Vasari's
informant.

78 PISANELLO

easier for him to sheathe the blade, which is a long one : this
he does with such grace, and in so fine a manner, as cannot
be bettered. And Michele san Michele of Verona, the
architect to the most illustrious Signoria of Venice, a person of
great understanding in these fine arts, was many times during
his life seen to contemplate these works of Vittore with
admiration, and then heard to say that he knew few things
which surpassed the St. Eustace, the dog and the St. George
aforesaid. Then above the arch of the said chapel is
depicted how St. George, having slain the dragon, sets free
the king's daughter, who is to be seen near the Saint, in a
long dress, after the fashion of those times. In this part of
the picture again admirable is the figure of St. George who,
armed as before, is on the point of remounting his horse, and
stands with his person and face turned towards the people,
and, one foot being in the stirrup, and his left hand on the
saddle, appears in the very motion of springing on to his
horse ; the horse has his crupper turned towards the people,
and is all visible, being foreshortened and gotten into a small
space most excellently. And, in a word, it is impossible
without infinite admiration, nay astonishment, to contemplate
this work, for the draughtsmanshij^, the grace, and the extra-
ordinary judgment therein to be perceived."

The account of Fra Marco, or rather Vasari's redaction
thereof, presents a certain obscurity. It is, of course, clear
that the St. Eustace was inside the chapel. Then, it would
seem, we have two frescoes, one in which St. George is
sheathing his sword, having slain the dragon ; the other
in which he is mounting his horse, with the Princess beside
him. The latter scene is rightly described as being above
the arch. In his confused way Vasari, after saying that
the outside of the chapel was painted, but before describing

THE FRESCO IN SANT^ ANASTASIA 79

what we know to have been painted there, interpolates a
description of a fresco which he describes as being '* on the
other side.'" As there is no place where this can have
stood on the outside,* we are obliged to conclude that it
was on the inside of the chapel.

Of Pisanello's masterpiece — even in Vasari''s time the
prominence given to these frescoes by PVa Marco seems to
show that their claim to this title was not disputed — prac-
tically nothing remains save the right-hand portion of the
external fresco over the arch. The left-hand portion is in
a deplorable state, so that it is with difficulty that one
discerns the outlines of some of the details.f

Nevertheless, ruined as it is by the penetration of water
from the roof, by the falling of the plaster and scaling of the

* Had it stood higher up on the wall, above the extant fresco,
Vasari's informant would hardly have used " dall' altra parte" and
" sopra I'arco " as they are used here ; but we do not know what con-
fusion Vasari may have introduced. Dal Pozzo {Vite, p. 8) says that
the St. George sheathing his sword was on the ceiling of the chapel ;
this seems to be an addition on his own authority to Vasari's account
but probably right. In Maffei's time {Verona illustr., ed. Milan, 1826,
t. iv. p. 233) even the St. George and Princess were apparently invisible.

t Lotze has photographed the whole. In Bernasconi, II Pisano. is a
photograph after a reproduction by Nanin, 1858, theaccuracy of which
is somewhat doubtful : the dragon is wingless, and what, in the
present state of the fresco, seem to be the dragon's young he makes
into a continuation of its tail ; the bones and skulls are not shown nor
is the beast of prey. See also a general sketch in Gaz. d. Beaux Arts^
1894, t. II, p. 423. The right-hand portion is reproduced by the
Arundel Society, in Venture's Vasari, and in P. Molmenti's La Pittuva
Vencziana (1903), p. 19. The group of riders ; Gaz, d. Beaux Arts, loc.
cii. p. 422. The fresco was treated by Ant. Bertolli in 1890 to preserve
it from further decay : see Arch. Sioy. delV Arte, 1890, p. 412, where the
state of the fresco at the time is described : little was to be seen of the
mountain and the lion's den ; below, the dragon and the bones were
visible.

8o PISANELLO

colour and of the silver — damage which has been aided by
the conscientious application of ladders for the purpose of
church decoration — the fresco remains the most striking
thing in the church of S. Anastasia, with the possible
exception of Altichiero's fresco in the Cavalli Chapel.

Let us deal first with what remains of the left-hand
portion. The main object apparent in the landscape —
which probably receded to the top of the fresco, without
horizon — is the dragon, crouching toward the right, with
wings closed and tongue flickering out from between its
open jaws. Below it are apparently two of its brood,
wingless ; and, clearly, two human skulls and some bones.
Above, one faintly discerns the outlines of animals : the
hind-quarters of a lion or other large beast of prey, crouch-
ing to right (either tearing its victim, or about to make a
spring) ; below it, a deer lying dead on its back ; further
to the right, and on a level with the dead deer, we see the
hind-quarters of another animal which is fleeing to the
right.*

There is not, and never can have been, room for a figure
of St. George on this side of the fresco ; moreover, the
dragon is not dead, but alive. It follows that, if we regard
this side of the fresco as part of one and the same picture
with the better preserved portion, we are bound to reject
the interpretation recorded by Vasari. St. George is not
liberating the Princess after his victory, but is setting
forth from the city to slay the dragon. f There were

* Both de Tauzia {Notice . . . His de la Salle, p. 6i) speaks of the rest
of this portion as representing little episodes in the life of the saint.

t The mistake was recognised by Crowe and Cavalcaselle, and is
tacitly corrected by several later writers.

THE FRESCO IN SANT' AN ASTASIA 8i

various versions of the legend, and Pisanello — if he did
not take his own way — may have followed one in which
St. George was not said to rescue the Princess from the
very clutches of the monster.

We assume, therefore, that this fresco represents St.
George about to depart on his adventure, the dragon wait-
ing for him in its den. A lost fresco represented him
sheathing his sword after the victory ; possibly yet another
once existed, in which the actual struggle was depicted.

The space available on the right-hand side of the arch
(Plate 15) was nearly half as broad again as that on the
left hand ; and the artist has made use of every inch.
The two portions are divided by an arm of the sea, which
appears to reach back to a low horizon. Above, we see a
blue sky, the upper portion of which seems, in its present
state, to be obscured by a straight band of dark cloud.
From the sea a stork* flies landwards, and a barge with
inflated sail lies close under the edge of the land. The
land itself falls sheer to the sea, and a mass of it extends
backwards, almost to the top of the fresco. To the right
of this the blue sky appears, giving the mass of land the
semblance of a steep mountain, whereas it is really meant
for a gently rising background.

In the main scene the attention is arrested by the
splendid group formed by St. George, his horse, the Prin-
cess, and a mounted squire. The saint, who is bareheaded,
has golden reddish waving hair ; the silver that was
originally used for his armour has for the most part
come away. His attitude has already been admirably

* Represented in the Arundel reproduction, but now quite in-
visible.

82 PISANELLO

described by Vasari.* The Princess stands in left profile, in
a magnificent robe trimmed with feathers, wearing her hair
dressed over an enormous pad, and confined with an elabo-
rate arrangement of braid.f The third figure is that of the
squire, whose horse, boldly foreshortened, looks straight
out of the picture ; he carries St. George's lance, which
his fingers can barely grasp ; his head is thrown slightly
backward, and his helmet, which has cheekpieces and a
huge spherical crest, allows only his nose and eyes to be
seen. The picturesque effect of a small squire on a huge
war-horse appealed forcibly to Pisanello and his imitators.
To the right of this group, emerging from the edge of the
picture, are the heads and forelegs of two bridled horses ;
in the foreground, below them, is a recumbent ram. The
ram is balanced on the other side by two dogs, the one
a fine prick-eared greyhound, wearing muzzle and collar,
the other a kind of spaniel. The figures of the main
group stand out against a background of carefully painted
foliage, with the same effect as in Pisanello's portrait busts.
Behind is a piece of rolling ground, with trees filling some
of its hollows ; and beyond this rise the buildings of the
city. To the left, in the middle distance, and half hidden
by a rise in the ground, is a strange group of seven
mounted men. Behind these, and before the gate of the
city, two corpses swing on a gallows. In the background

* As Benozzo Gozzoli, in his fresco of the Magi in the Riccardi
Palace, shows some signs of borrowing ideas from Pisanello, it may be
that the man holding a hunting-leopard on a cord, and standing with
his left foot in the stirrup, about to mount, also owes something to
Pisanello' s St. George.

t Gruyer says that her hair is only visible at the temples, the rest
being a headdress ; but the treatment of the two portions is identical,
both here and in more than one drawing.

THE FRESCO IN SANT AN AST ASIA 83

on the left, which, as I have said, seems to rise steeply
to the top of the picture, in the manner with which we
are already familiar, we see ploughed fields, divided by
leafy hedgerows ; among them, a road winds up to a
church, with sharply pointed steeple and red roof. Behind
this church is a hill ^\hich shows orange-red in the sun-
light, and other hills of the same tint are visible beyond
the buildings of the city.

The prevailing tints in the fresco are sober grays, greens,
and browns ; but these are or were heightened by the use
of pink in the clothes of the two corpses — one has a pink
shirt, the other pink trousers — and in the hat of one of
the seven horsemen ; by the red roofs of the houses and
the lighting of the hills ; and above all by the plentiful
use of gold, and of silver in the armour of St. George.

The fresco marks a considerable progress beyond the
stage to which the St. Eustace belongs. There is, for
instance, a real, effective sky. It does not however follow
that the two works must be separated by any considerable
length of time ; the artist had doubtless much more to
guide him, his progress was doubtless more rapid, in monu-
mental fresco-compositions than in the painting of small
panels. It may be said that it is not quite fair to judge
the fresco from the point of view of composition, seeing
that only one half of it is preserved; but, on the
other hand, the whole was marked off into two nearly
independent halves by the interruption of the arch, so
that it is no grave injustice to judge the painter on what
remains. As a composition it has real merit ; the interest
is seized and retained by the noble group which represents
the chief actors in the drama. It is perhaps owing to the

84 PISANELLO

scaling of the silver from St. George's armour that the gray
and white horses stand out more prominently than the
saint and the Princess ; but even so, time has only exag-
gerated what was characteristic. To more than one artist
of the time, when he had to deal with horse and man
together, the horse was the more important of the two.
In the subordination of the secondary to the primary
elements in the composition Pisanello has also taken a
great step forward. Thus into the painting of the group
of mounted men he has thrown his whole heart, but not so
as to disturb the balance of the composition. These faces
and costumes are descended, as I have remarked, from
the groups of onlookers which are treated with so much
individuality and sympathy in the earlier Veronese
frescoes ; but, striking as they are, they do not draw our
attention away from the chief persons. Again, the archi-
tectural background, in regard to the space occupied, plays
a more legitimate part than in the early school ; we have
no longer a " small-figure " art, in which the architecture
overshadows all the rest. And the landscape, primitive
though it may seem in the light of what Florence was to
produce in a decade or so, is at least original. It will be
noticed also that there is some attempt at aerial perspec-
tive ; the most distant buildings are treated in a lower
tone than those nearer to us. So far as we can judge,
the paling of the sky towards the horizon is also indicated.
The study of the fresco in detail reveals to us almost
all the qualities of Pisanello's art. The head of St. George,
(Plate 1 6), as we have already seen, shows a considerable
advance on that of St. Michael in the S. Fermo fresco
(Plate lo). Although there is still considerable weakness in

AliiKiri

HEAD OF ST. GEORGE

^'. Aiiastasia, I'eromi

PLATE 16

Alinari

HEAD OF THE PRINCESS

S. Atiasff/sia. Verona
Follow p. 84

THE FRESCO IN SANT' ANASTASIA 85

the drawing of mouth and chin, the face expresses, as well
as any painter has expressed it, the frank, manly character
of the young hero. The pose is audacious, and com-
pletely successful. In deUberate contrast to the energy
of St. George is the stately grace of the Princess (Plate 16).
Her serene profile, standing out against the background of
foliage, the magnificent fall of the richly ornamented robe,
the fine hand, hanging unconstrainedly at her side, make up
as dignified a figure as the quattrocento ever produced.

The boldly foreshortened horses have at all times ex-
cited attention and admiration. We have found instances
of this treatment of the animal in the earlier Veronese
school ; and the same arrangement of two horses side by
side, one seen from behind, the other facing, may be
observed, for instance, in the frontispiece of a foui-
teenth-century manuscript of Petrarch's Epitome Virorum
Illustrhim.'^ Again, we find this foreshortening in Gen-
tile da Fabriano's Adoration ; among Pisanello's later
contemporaries it becomes a commonplace, t He did
but give effect and permanent value to a motif which his
predecessors had invented. The two horses of this fresco
have singular energy ; their powerful build impresses
them on the memory in a way that it would be difficult
to parallel. Technically also they are superior to the

* In the Bihliotheque Nationalc. Muntz, Hist, i., p. 229,
t A good instance of an unsuccessful adaptation of the scheme by a
mediocre artist is to be seen in the interesting relief from Rimini in the
Castello at Milan, attributed to Agostino di Duccio (Yriarte, Rimini,
p. 222). The relief distinctly shows the influence of Pisanello, although
the artist's weakness in modelling makes his attempt at foreshortening
(as in the horse on the right, and the cow in the middle distance on the
left) look somewhat foolish.

86 PISANELLO

horse of St. Eustace. It has been noted that, while the
legs of the squire's horse are, perhaps, too long, the general
anatomical knowledge shown in it is good, the treatment
sure, and only equalled, not surpassed, by the work of
Donatello, Verrocchio, and Leonardo. An excellent
instance of Pisanello's faculty for seizing slight nuances
in the pose of an animal, thus giving a naturalness to
the representation, is seen in the way in which St. George's
horse stands a little obliquely, setting his feet so as to
meet the weight of the rider in the moment of springing
to the saddle.*

The two heads of horses which appear on the right
margin are exceedingly careful studies, especially as regards
mouth and teeth — so careful that they smell of the lamp.
The same idea is repeated, as we shall see, in the St. Anthony
and St. George, but with a difference : the motif is there
better harmonised with the rest of the picture, and the
painter's knowledge of the inside of a horse's mouth is
less ostentatiously displayed. The study, in other words,
is not transferred to the picture direct, but only after
receiving the requisite modifications. This is the ex-
planation of the feeling, to which more critics than one
have given expression, that Pisanello's studies of animals
are better than the animals as they appear in his pictures.
In his less mature work he has not yet grasped the idea
that the study must be suitably modified in transference
to panel or wall.

The group of seven riders (Plate 17) is a collection of
vividly realistic studies. The horses and mule are painted

* These observations are due to Weizsacker (Berlin Jahrh., vii.
pp. 50. 50-

PLATE 17

i CO
:; 00

O
O

THE FRESCO IN SANT' ANASTASIA 87

u'ith extraordinary spirit — each one, we may be sure, from
a particular model. The comparatively " kind "" expression
of the mule is in striking contrast with the vicious look of
the horse on his right, and the fiery profile on his left.
Of their riders, the most startling is without doubt the
gaunt Kalmuck on the left. The hideous symmetry of
his face, with the almost incredible lines of his jaw and
curves of eyebrows and moustache, which suggest a piece
of savage ornament and yet are so full of life ; the great
masses of dark hair which frame in the sides of the face ;
the fantastic headgear ; the rich dress — there is nothing
to be found more weirdly fascinating than this figure,
unless perhaps it be the study for it, which is fortunately
preserved. The others are less remarkable in its pre-
sence, although they would have sufficed to make
the reputation of most other painters of the time.
Only one of them has anything definitely Oriental
about him — the man next to the Kalmuck — and I doubt
whether the models for the rest were other than Italians
in dresses partly suggested by actual stuffs, partly
invented by the artist's fancy. The man just mentioned
wears a kind of turban, and sits with head thrown back
and lips apart — a most unpleasant study. Next to him
is a sad-looking man, his cheeks and the lower part of his
face swathed in a cloth, his hat pushed down on his eye-
brows. The central figiu^e is a good-looking " Italian
model." On his left are two figures, one (the King ?)
in an ermine headdress and cape, the other in a broad-
brimmed fur hat and fur-trimmed cloak, both with long
curling hair. On the extreme right is the only pleasing
head of the seven — a boy's, in a fur skull-cap. Every face

88 PISANELLO

is rendered with an intensity that is ahnost painful, re-
minding us in some ways of the brutality of Andrea del
Castagno. Taken singly, they could hardly be bettered
as studies of types ; as a group they have no connexion
with each other, and most of them are too obviously
" having their portraits taken."" In more than one way
reaUsm can degenerate into photography.

The gallows with the two corpses before the gates of
the city, standing out against the sky, is another piece
of realism. It has not been otherwise explained, and
surely it needs no other explanation. It may be that good
style is shown by the judicious omission of the unessential ;
the historian of art, however, must also recognise that the
determining characteristic of various schools and periods
is their idea of what is and M^hat is not the essential.
The new realism was bound to pass through this stage,
in which corpses swinging in the wind seemed to give live-
liness to a city-gate. In the Berlin tondo with the Adora-
tion of the Kings (Plate 65) this element is still present,
but minimised. It must be remembered also that the
legend of the innocent pilgrim who was hanged, painted by
Pisanello at Florence, must have afforded ample scope for
the treatment of such a subject ; and doubtless the
i^allows was not absent from the representations of the
Albizzi which gained for Andrea del Castagno the nick-
name " degli Impiccati.''* These, having been painted in
1434,* might well have attracted Pisanello's attention.
And no one can say that such a scene was not charac-
teristic of the time.f

* See Vasari, ed. Milanesi, ii. p. 680 note,
f Muntz, Hist, i., p. 304,

THE FRESCO IN SANT AN ASTASIA 89

The city is indicated by a fantastic group of buildings
of which only the tops are seen, the rest being hidden by
the rolling country which lies behind the group in
the foreground. Thus does Pisanello attempt to indicate
that the city is some distance away ; but unsuccessfully.
Although, as we have seen, he has begun to understand some-
thing of aerial perspective, his knowledge is still insufficient
to enable him to express the distance of the buildings.
Still farther off', in the extreme right-hand top corner, is
a great castle on a mound, with a road winding up to it
from the city. The architecture of this building has
little in it that is unusual. Of the buildings of the city,
the belfry-like construction, in which some have seen
Flemish influence, is a Gothic spire, of which the top has
been replaced by a termination in a quite different, baroque
style. To the right of this is a still more curious building :
evidently a short-naved cruciform church, of which the
front, surmounted by a steep gable, and flanked by two
square towers, is turned away from us. It has a large
central dome over the cross, and we see also the semidomes
of two (out of three or more) apsidal chapels. A broad
band of tracery runs round the whole church above the level
of these semidomes, to each of which further corresponds a
gable decorated with crockets and filled with tracery.
Between these gables rise comparatively plain pinnacles.
In these two buildings Pisanello seems to have taken ideas
from Gothic ciboria and turrets, and combined them
with other architectural elements in a fashion which, at
first sight, suggests that he knew nothing of architecture.
Yet in the fresco of S. Fermo the architecture of the Virgin's
house is treated without extravagance, and with some

90 PISANELLO

sense of its meaning. The profane architecture of the city
— the low towered building with wooden mantlets on the
right, and the other fortified buildings and the city-gate
on the left — is comparatively sensible ; at least, it does
not strike the non-professional eye as obviously grotesque,
although it bears traces of exaggeration. Was it that the
artist, wishing to represent the temples of the heathen
land which St. George converted, hit upon the somewhat
primitive device of using this medley of incongruous
details ? He had no need to go outside of Italy for archi-
tectural models ; a fertile imagination, and a free use of
motifs supplied by the debased Italian Gothic style, were
amply sufficient to produce these strange constructions. *

Below the figure of St. George, on the lower margin of
the fresco, is inscribed his name saxctvs georgivs, in good
lettering, such as Pisanello uses on his medals. AVere we
judging solely from this lettering, on the chronological
data afforded by his medals, we should place the fresco
late in the forties. But the sharp-topped A, which he
does not use on his earlier medals, already occurs in the
signature of the S. Fermo fresco, showing that we cannot
argue from the medallic epigraphy to that of his paintings.
In the medals, in fact, since a long Gothic tradition lay
behind him in the series of mediaeval coins and seals, he
found it more difficult to get rid of the Gothic style of
lettering.

To left and right of the arch, small triangular spaces
in the spandrels are filled by much damaged sprays of
foliage. On the right, where there is more space, we also

* I am indebted to Messrs. G. T. Rivoira and C. R. Peers for some
valuable hints in connexion with the significance of these buildings.

PLATE 18

F.iHiiir J,, 00

THE PELLEGRINI SHIELD

»S'. Anastasia, Veroim

PLATE 19

Hanfstdngl

ST. JER0:ME (BONO DA FERRARA)

XdtioiKil Gallery
Face2>l- 18

THE FRESCO IN SANT' AN ASTASIA 91

have a most interesting portion of the fresco, which was
barely visible before the recent restoration. In a space
defined above and on the right by an ermine bordure is a
diapered shield containing the canting badge of the Pelle-
grini family. A pilgrim (Plate 18) stands to front, his
head pensively inclined, wearing a shaggy cloak and broad-
brimmed hat, with the scallop-shell fastened on it ; he holds
his staff and string of beads. The head is carefully studied
in the master's manner, and one is strongly reminded by
treatment and expression of Bono da Ferrara's St. Jerome
in the National Gallery (Plate 19). Certain faults of
draughtsmanship — worse faults than we find anywhere else
in the fresco — arrest our attention. The arms are dis-
proportionately short and feeble ; the hands too are nerve-
less, but we notice the careful study of the swollen veins
under the skin. Here again a comparison with Bono's
St. Jerome — the saint's foot is treated in exactly the same
way* — is instructive. Finally, the foreshortening of the
pilgrim's right foot is quite unsuccessful. xVllowing for the
fact that the subject is semi-heraldic, we still can only
account for the weakness of this portion of the fresco by
supposing that the master left it, as being of subordinate
interest, for the most part to an assistant. Bono may well
have been in Pisanello's workshop at this time. We first
hear of him as an independent artist at Siena, in I44i.t

If I am right in dating the fresco of S. Anastasia
shortly before 1438, Pisanello must already have passed
the prime of life. We can understand, therefore, that

* Cp. Kristeller, Mantcgna (Eng, ed), p. 73.

t See G. Gruyer, L'Artferraydis, ii. pp. 44-46, for a brief sketch of
his career.

92 PISANELLO

the one subject-picture which can be dated later — the
St. Anthony and St. George — seems somewhat lacking in
freshness. The most astonishing feature, however, in the
artist's whole career is that at an advanced age he struck
out a new line of art, and advanced as far in it as any of
his successors.

A very large number of drawings have been noted as
studies for the fresco. Here again we must repeat the
warning against regarding many of them as studies specially
made for the picture. Even the most remarkable of all,
that of the Kalmuck bowman, may have been a note made
without any view to the purpose for which it was after-
wards used.

The Kalmuck (Plate 20) is the most finished of five
silverpoint studies of Orientals on a vellum sheet in the
Recueil Vallardi,* and is almost exactly reproduced in the
fresco. The drawing, however, gives also his arms and
hands, the right holding an arrow, the left a bow. Each
implement is held vertically, in such a way as to accen-
tuate the symmetry which seems to have struck the artist
in this subject. In many ways this drawing exercises
more fascination than its reproduction in the fresco.

Two other of the riders are also represented by draw-
ings.f One is the ugly man with his head thrown back ;
the turban and bust are only faintly indicated in chalk.
(Plate 21.) The other is the fifth rider from the left;
his hair, beard and pose are as in the fresco, but he is
without the ermine head-dress and cape. The drawings

* Fol. 68, No. 2325. B. de Tauzia, Dessins, 1888, p. 55, No. 1993.
f Fol. 64, No. 2315 v and fol. 128, No. 2621 (Cp. Gruyer, Gaz. d. Beaux
Arts, 1894, t. II, p. 425).

J ijy, iBP.i mt^K' • ^^pi^Bwi^p^^--

PLATE 20

■MM

■^g!"^

*^*ssK

<y/^ <?si9?^ V ^w;:^ \

i v'i-

■"^f

SdiirdiKiinl

STUDY OF KAOIUCK ARCHER

J'('C. YdlJiirdi
Face p. 92

PLATE 21

STUDY OF AN ORIENTAL (RETOUCHED)

SancuiKnid

llec. ]'(iU(irfli
FoUoir j>l. 20

PLATE 22

Sauraiiainl

STUDY FOR THE PRI^XESS

/.'rr. l'(,//tir,/f
FdlJoir j)l. 21

PLATE 23

Jirdun
Face J). 93

STUDIES OF COSTUME

L'ltantiUu

THE FRESCO IN SANT ANASTASIA 93

in their present condition are coarsely executed, and they
were probably inked over by another hand, the only
remains of the original drawing being the chalk lines in
the former.

PecuHarly interesting are those drawings which must be
connected with the Princess. Three studies of a lady's
head in the Recueil Vallardi * are all evidently portraits,
and represent a lady rather older than the Princess appears
in the fresco. She is evidently a noble lady of Verona,
Ferrara, or some other court. The resemblance to Isotta
Atti, which has misled some critics, is quite super-
ficial, and due chiefly to the rounded forehead, with the
front hair plucked out according to the fashion of the
time. In the most finished of the three sketches (Plate 22)
the somewhat anxious, haggard expression of the other
two has been softened down, and we have a near approach
to the beautiful profile of the fresco. In addition to
these heads we have several sketches which more or less
resemble the whole figure of the Princess. Thus at the
University Galleries, Oxford, is the beautiful sheet from
the Lagoy Collection, which shows her figure in a long
flowered robe to left, together with a separate study of
her head (the hair confined with braids as in the third
Vallardi drawing). Similar figures are found on the
Bonnat drawing now at Bayonne f and on that at Chantilly
(Plate 23).^ On a drawing in the Albertina we have the

* Fol. 92, No. 2342 r** (profile r., wearing a kind of turban) ; do.
vo (profile 1.) ; fol. 93, No. 2343 (profile r., with the hair done over a pad
and confined with elaborate braids).

t Venturi, p. 124, No. 3 (reproduced on p. 125): also from the
Lagoy Collection.

+ Venturi, p. 126 (illustration) : Lagoy Collection. Miintz, Hist, i.,
facing p. 312 (wrongly assigned to Malcolm Collection).

94 PISANELLO

upper part of the lady^s figure thrice repeated.* Even if
all these are not from the artist's own hand, still the three
in the Recueil Vallardi, and the Oxford, Bonnat and
Chantilly drawings, as to the authenticity of which there
seems to be no reasonable doubt, although some of them
may have been retouched, show how carefully he studied
this subject.f

Curiously enough, we are unable to point to any studies
for the St. George.f It is worthy of notice, however, that
the same model which served for the St. George appears in
the British Museum drawing signed pisanus f, in the
middle figure of the three ; he is, however, here provided
with a moustache. As to the corpses hanging from the
gallows, Mr. Dodgson has shown that in a drawing in the
Malcolm Collection § two of the hanging figures are clearly
studies for the fresco, where they are exactly reproduced.

The sketches which may be related to the animals in
the fresco are also numerous. Certain careful studies of the
heads of horses were probably used several times over;
for instance, some of them recur more or less in the
same form in the National Gallery St. Anthony and
St. George. !1 The horse of St. George is represented by

* Wickhoff, Vienna Jahrh., xiii. p. clxxx. S.R. 7, and PI. ii. Lagoy
Collection. " By a pupil of Pisano."

t MUntz {Rev. del' Art, 1899, p. 74) mentions a study for the Princess
in the Malcolm Collection. He refers either to a head at the bottom
of the sheet, No. 441 (see below), which really bears no resemblance to
her, or to the Chantilly drawing already mentioned.

+ On the alleged study in the Ambrosiana, see below, where the
sheet is described in connexion with the National Gallery St. George.

§ Brit. Mus., 1895-9-15-441 ; Berlin Jahrh., xv. (1894), PP- 259,
260 (reversed in the plate).

II Vallardi, fol. 141, No. 2352 ; 144, No. 2355 ; 146, No. 2357 ; 150,
No. 2361 ; 151, No. 2362.

PLATE 21

Sdiin/iifiN'f

STUDY OF HORSE

Jiec. J'aUardi
Face p. 94

PLATE 21

THE FRESCO IN SANT' ANASTASIA 95

a study of an armed horseman seen from behind ; * or by
a riderless horse, without harness, which stands turned
sHghtly to the left (Plate 24).t Here again we see that
the same study may have served also for the medal of Mala-
testa Novello (Plate 48)4 In the last-mentioned drawing
the tail of the animal is treated as on the medal, not as
in the fresco. The mule we have in a fine drawing which
has been frequently reproduced.^ More than one drawing
may be connected with the greyhound ; j| the best known
has both muzzle and collar as in the fresco. (Plate 25.)

The architecture seems to be unrepresented by sketches,
although one may find here and there more or less similar
motifs. H

* Vallardi, fol. 167, No. 2487.

t Vallardi, fol. 231, No. 2444.

I The same applies to the horse in Vallardi, fol. 172, No. 2378(6. de
Tauzia, Desshis, 1888, No. 1999, and de Chennevieres, Dessinsdu Louvre,
Ec. ital., Pisan, PI. 2), which Gruyer associates with the horse of
St. George.

§ Vallardi, fol. 174, No. 2380 ; B. de Tauzia of. cit No. 1998 ; de
Chennevieres, op. cit. PI. 2; L'Art, viii. 1882, p. 227 ; Muntz, Hist.i.,
p. 639 ; Venturi, p. 105.

!l Vallardi, fol. 93, No. 2343 vo (head with collar on which is a motto ;
straps of muzzle touched with gold) ; fol. 224, No. 2434 {Gaz. d. Beaux
Arts, 1894, t. 12, p. 421); fol. 225, No. 2435 (red collar and muzzle ;
B. de Tauzia, 0/. cit. No. 2000; L'Art, loc. cit. p. 225; Miintz, op. cit"
p. 637 ; Arch. Stor. dell' Arte, 1890, p. 148). Note, too, the muzzled
dogs in the sheet (Plate 5) already mentioned in connexion with the
Ducal Palace fresco, fol. 219, No. 2432. The other dogs on the same
sheet belong to a different breed from the spaniel in the fresco ; and
the studies of rams on fol. 194, No. 2397, can hardly be brought to bear
on the fresco.

^ Venturi, p. 123, notes that the church in a drawing in S. M. sopra
S. Celso, Milan, which I have not seen, recalls the architecture of the
S. Fermo and S. Anastasia frescoes ; probably, therefore, the resem-
blance is merely general.

CHAPTER VII

THE FIRST MEDAL

The question whether Pisanello " invented " the medal
has long been decided against him ; but it was he, none
the less, who gave to the medal its place as an independent
work of art, and as one of the most characteristic produc-
tions of the Renaissance. The tracking out of his obscure
predecessors* cannot therefore alter our estimate of his
genius ; but it helps to explain how his genius was directed
into this particular channel.

The medal, in the modern sense, as a disc of metal,
worked in relief, usually on both sides, cast or struck for
commemorative purposes and not for circulation as money,
was not entirely unknown to the Romans. Even some
few Greek coins seem to partake of a medallic character ;
that is to say, although conforming to a monetary standard,
they seem also to have been intended as historical monu-
ments on a small scale. The Roman " medallions "'' form a
regular series which — although their exact use is unknown

* The remarks which follow, so far as they concern the medals of the
Carrara family and of Constantine and Heraclius, are chiefly based on
the brilliant essay of J. von Schlosser, Die iiltesten MedaiUen und die
Antihe, in Vienna jfahrbuch xviii. (1897), to which I refer for further
details.

THE FIRST MEDAL 97

— were certainly not intended for ordinary currency. The
same is true of the Roman " contorniates," which were
perhaps counters or a sort of draughtsmen. Nor had the
Middle Ages been without pieces partaking of a medallic
character. A remarkable instance of a medallic coin, on
the threshold of the Renaissance, is the great gold doubloon
of Peter the Cruel, issued in 1360.* But what distin-
guished the modern medal from such predecessors, what
gave it a vogue, was its personal character. As such it
had no necessary connexion with the State, although
naturally it was the princes who most frequently com-
manded the services of the greater medallists. Not till
later, when the art had long been on the decline, was the
use of the medal as an official monument established. In
the best period, by its private character, it appealed to the
strongest element in the Renaissance, the feeling of the
importance of the individual, the admiration for wr^w, and
satisfied that craving for immortality in the memory of
posterity which was so characteristic of the age.f

From the time of Petrarch onwards we meet in litera-
ture with notices, gradually increasing in frequency, of the
practice of collecting ancient coins.| Jean, Due de Berry,
is the first amateur of whom we know that he also collected
modern works of art of this class. In the fifteenth century,
however, the latter practice attained considerable propor-
tions, supply and demand interacting on each other. §

* Heiss, Mon. Hispano-Crist. i. PI. 7, No. i.

t See C. von Fabriczy, Italian Medals, p. 16 f.

t See especially C. A. Levi, Le collezioni venez. (Venice, 1900), i.
pp. xxxvi. f. on collectors like Oliviero Forzetta and Marin Faliero.

§ See the supplement to Miintz, Les Precurseurs de la Refiaissance. In
addition to the proofs which we shall encounter of the zeal with which

98 PISANELLO

The passion of distinguished men of the time for handing
their features down to posterity in this convenient form
kept the medallist busily, sometimes too busily, employed ;
the artistic value and novelty of these portraits excited an
ever-increasing demand. And in the eyes of these wor-
shippers of the antique, the modern medal gained addi-
tional attraction from the analogy which it bore to the
ancient pieces, on which they admired the portraits of an
Alexander, a Berenice, a Julius Caesar, or a Faustina.

We have seen that in the north Italian pictorial art of
the trecento the interest of the individual type was, in
accordance with the political conditions, most strongly
emphasised. It was here then, and in Padua, the asylum
of classical learning, that the modern medal first came
into existence.* We may pass over some curious pieces,
largely inspired by ancient Roman and even Greek coins,
which w^ere struck by members of the Sesto family, who
worked for the Venetian mint from 1393 to 1483, or even
longer. The first pieces which concern us are two remark-
able personal medals (Plate 26 a, b), in the full sense of the
term. These were made — possibly by one of the same Sesto
family — for Francesco II. Carrara, in commemoration of
his recovery, on June 11, 1390, of the city of Padua, which
his father had lost in 1388. They bear the portraits of
the two tyrants, the elder and the younger, treated in a
thoroughly classicising style, after the manner of the

Pisanello's medals were collected, I note that the Paduan collector who
possessed one of his drawings (above, p. 7, note *) also had a collec-
ion of " modern bronze medals."

* The suggestion of Levi {op. cit. p. xxxviii. f,), that Petrarch himseli
may have suggested the making of the Carrara medals, is hardly likely,
for obvious chronological reasons.

PLATE -26

" ■ >■

/■y

THE CONSTANTINE, HERAC

US AND CAKRARA MEDALS

l'i:lliill' I,. ;iH

THE FIRST MEDAL 99

bronze coins of the first century of our era. So strong is
this character, that, but for other evidence of date, one
could hardly hesitate to assign them to the sixteenth cen-
tury, to which time indeed belong the majority of the
reproductions known to collectors. The reverses bear the
canting badge — a four-wheeled car — of the Carrara family,
and an inscription commemorating the recovery of Padua
in 1390 die 19 lunii. The legends on both sides are in
Gothic characters, the combination of which with a
portrait in full Renaissance style has the same effect as
Pisanello's drawing of a head of Faustina the Elder under
a Gothic arch.* These medals, be it noted, were originally
struck from dies, not cast from moulds, although the
majority of the extant specimens are casts. As they are
small f the striking of them was quite possible with the
machinery of the time ; but as the relief of the heads was
higher than that of any contemporary coins, it is probable
that the sides were often struck separately and afterwards
soldered together.

The fact that these medals were actually made in or soon
after the year of the event commemorated is established
by an entry in the inventory for 1401 of the collection of
Jean, Due de Berry. This mentions a " leaden impression,
having on one side the visage of Francesco of Carrara, on
the other the mark of Padua." Such a piece must have
been a leaden proof made by the engraver of the dies —
proofs such as were afterwards and are still more highly
prized than specimens in other metals.J

* See above, p. 23.

t The larger is 34 mm., the smaller 33 mm. in diameter.
X A MS. of Livy in the Bibliotheque Nationale (Fends latin 14,360)
which has numerous representations of Roman Emperors freely copied

loo PISANELLO

These medals were practically without effect on the
development of the art. In fact, it was not until more
than a century afterwards that they won the appreciation
which their technical excellence deserved. But it was
fortunate that an accident enabled the new art to make
its way to the front without the help of a pseudo-classical
tradition, and independently of the methods employed at
the mint.

About the same time as the Carrara pieces, or shortly
afterwards, another group of medals came into existence.
One of these seems to have suggested the earliest medal
which can be with certainty assigned to Pisanello — his
John Palaeologus ; another is thought by some to have
furnished an idea for one of his latest medals. It is again
the Due de Berry**s inventories that have thrown light on
the historical standing of these curious pieces. They are
two, one representing the Emperor Constantine the Great,
the other the Emperor Heraclius ; and they exist in two
or three varieties. The reverse of the Constantine medal
bears the Fountain of Life,* with two figures beside it
personifying the Church and Paganism. On the obverse

from coins, as well as a copy (fol. 268) of Pisanello's head of John
Palseologus, represents (fol. 207) Franciscus de Carraria, bare-headed,
with closely-cropped hair, in profile to right, wearing a mauve mantl
heightened with gold. The head seems to be taken from the medal of
1390 and, as the MS. is of the second half of the fifteenth century, is
another proof of the existence of the medal before the sixteenth
century.

* It may be noted that the " stylised plant " which forms the body
of the Fountain is developed out of the pine-cone, to the significant
use of which in fountains Josef Strzygowski has recently draw
attention {Der Dom zu Aachen, 1904, pp. 16 f. , and Ro7nisc}ie Miiiheilungen,
1903, pp. 185 ff.).

THE FIRST MEDAL loi

(Plate 26 c) is Constantine on horseback. Heraclius, on
his medal, is represented on the obverse by a prophet-
like head with eyes uplifted in prayer. The reverse
(Plate 26 d) shows the entry of the Emperor into Con-
stantinople with the Cross which had been recovered
from the Persians. In the Duke's inventories of 1414
and 141 6 gold specimens of these medals are carefully
described among others, no longer extant. The medal of
Constantine was bou^-ht from a Florentine merchant in
Paris in 1402. The Duke also caused copies of these two
medals to be made.*

These, and other pieces of a similar kind described in the
inventory, seem to have formed part of a series illustra-
ting the history of the Christian religion : thus there were
also medals of Augustus and Tiberius bearing dates which,
according to certain computations, correspond to the birth
and crucifixion of Christ ; and very possibly an ornament
presented by the Duke to the Sainte Chapelle at Bourges
in 141 5, representing Philippus Arabs, supposed to have
been the first Christian emperor, belonged to the same set.

From a technical point of view, we must notice that the
medals of Constantine and Heraclius are the work of
goldsmiths, not struck with dies, but cast and chased ;
in style they are nearer to the great seals of the trecento
than to anything else. They bear elaborate inscriptions,
partly in Greek, partly in Latin. These characteristics we
may be sure belonged to the specimens first ac(juired by
the Duke. But we do not know whether the specimens

* The obverse of the Constantine medal inspired the figure of one of
the Magi in the Due de Berry's Tres Riches Heures (Durrieu, p. 39
and PI. xxxvii).

I02 PISANELLO

which we possess go back to the originals, or to the copies
which were made of them. We cannot therefore definitely
say whether the origin of these pieces was Flemish-Bur-
gundian or Italian (as the purchase from an Italian mer-
chant would suggest).* That they were made towards the
end of the trecento we may be assured ; that Pisanello saw
one or both of them is extremely probable ; that he took
them for antiques it is neither necessary to assume nor
possible to prove.

If the medal of John Pala^ologus is the earliest which
can with certainty be attributed to Pisanello, it does not
follow that it was his first attempt at the new art.f We
have seen that as far back as 1431 Pisanello was under-
taking commissions for Leonello d'Este ; if the Fillon letter
is genuine, he was in 1432 producing work of some kind
in bronze. Although Niccolo III. d'Este did not die until
December 26, 144 1, we have no signed medal of him by
Pisanello. Considering the closeness of the relations be-
tween the artist and the court of Ferrara,| several critics
have attempted to bridge this gap by ascribing to him
one or all of the unsigned medals which represent Niccolo.
(Plate 27. )§ Those who hesitate to accept the attribution

* The theory of an ItaUan origin is favoured by the two numis-
matists who have most recently expressed themselves on the subject :
J. Simonis {Rev. Beige de Num., 1901, pp. 6S-109), and H. de la Tour
{Bull. Soc. Nat. Ant. de Fr., 1903, p. 297).

f Bernasconi, II Pisano, p. 34, conjectures that Pisanello did not sign
his medals until he found that he was being imitated.

X It must be remembered that, so far as our evidence goes, Pisa-
nello's relations were with Leonello more than with his father.

§ For illustrations of the varieties see Heiss, p. 41 ; Trdsor de Numis-
matique, MM. ital. I. xxx. i ; Venturi, pp. 79 (Nos. 20, 22) and p. 86.
Heiss recognises in these two medals the style of Guazzalotti. He is,

THE FIRST MEDAL 103

do so chiefly on account of the inferiority of these pieces
to the authenticated work of the master. Of course in
an early work, in an ahnost virgin field, some inferiority
would probably be perceptible. The question is : if we
suppose that Pisanello had not yet seen the Constantine
and Heraclius medals, which were to open out a new
road for him, but only perhaps the Carrara pieces,
can we bring ourselves to admit that he could have
produced, as a first essay, either of these medals of
Niccolo ?

Let us take the finer of the two medals — that which
has the bust of Niccolo in a cap.* On the reverse is

the Este coat of arms flanked by the letters tt ITt
(Nicolaus Marchio). Placing the obverse of this medal
beside others, such as those of Leonello, we see a
difference in quality and in the method of relief which
makes us hesitate to assign them to the same artist.
The work is nearest to that of the artist who Mid
the larger portrait medal of Pisanello, which we shall
have to discuss later (Plate 57). And although by no
means lacking in force and concentration, it is without
the dignity and refinement of Pisanello's authenticated

however, wrong in supposing the second medal to be a mere coarse
imitation of the first. Armand and Friedlander, as well as Umberto
Rossi (^Arch. Stor. dell' Arte, i. p. 455), Gruyer {L'Art Ferrarais ii.
P- 585)1 Venturi and others who are not numismatists, accept the
medals as Pisanello's.

* This medal is the source of a portrait of Niccolo in a MS. in the
Bibl. Naz. at Rome, published by Ignazio Giorgi (Bidlett. dell' Istituto
Stor. Ital. No. 2, 1887, pp. 88 f.). The drawings in this fragment are
poor, and, as a comparison with extant medals shows, of small icono-
graphic value. The MS. is dated by Giorgi at the end of the fifteenth
century.

I04 PISANELLO

portraits. The other medal of Niccolo,* which repre-
sents him bare-headed, exposing unmodified the flat-
topped, backward-bulging cranium, is frankly and brutally

Those who experience difficulty in accepting the attri-
bution of these portraits to Pisanello find it still harder
to make their ideas of his style square with the reverses.
The treatment of the shield of arms, with its attention
to petty ornament, is more in the style of some gold-
smith. As the reverse of the second portrait we some-
times find the same shield, sometimes the Gothic initials
of N(icolaus) M(archio) E(stensis), with or without a
crown — a poverty-stricken device. f

Further arguments which may be mentioned on the
side of the sceptics are these. Pisanello never elsewhere
uses pure Gothic letters, or the round form of E (except
of course in a Greek inscription). The arrangement of the
inscri])tion on the obverse is also foreign to his early style.
It is only on the comparatively late medals of Vittorino
da Feltre, Belloto Cumano, Decembrio, and Don Inigo
d'Avalos, that he makes the bust fill the field from top to
bottom, while the inscription runs in two arcs behind and
before the bust.J Thus, if there is anything in this
criterion, those who would assign this inferior medal to
Pisanello must date it in his finest period !

These arguments, however, from the nature and arrange-

* This medal was used for the "portrait" of Ugo Aldrovandino,
natural son of Niccolo, in the MS. above-mentioned !

•f From the fact that the fleurs-de-lis were granted to the family in
1431, Bernasconi (II Pisano, p, 34) quite unnecessarily infers that the
medal without the coat of arms must be earlier than that year.

X Cp. also the medals with his portrait (Plate 57).

PLATE L7

i =>

H
W

fa
o

Q
W

:>!

THE FIRST MEDAL 105

ment of lettering, are somewhat meticulous ; and they
could all be swept aside if it were possible to say that the
inner qualities of the heads on the obverses were worthy
of Pisanello. and that the method of relief was such as
he employed. Then, at the risk of being classed with
those commentators who obelize only such verses as do not
fit their hypotheses, we might attribute the obverses to
Pisanello himself, the reverses to some other artist of the
calibre of an ordinary engraver to the mint at the time,
who would be accustomed to engraving coats- of-arms.
The result of this arrangement would be just such an
incongruous combination of Renaissance and Gothic work
as we have here, and such as we found half a century or so
before in the Carrara medals. Many small arguments
could be brought to bear in favour of this theory of a
division of labour. But on the broader ground of style
it remains more probable that these medals are to be
removed from the list of Pisanello's work altogether.
The larger one, which in method of relief and in
feeling is most akin to the larger medal with the master's
portrait, was probably made, not in Niccolo's lifetime,
but early in the forties, by some pupil of Pisanello at
Ferrara.

If the question of this attribution has been discussed
at somewhat tedious length, my excuse must be that it
is characteristic of the kind of problem which besets the
history of the medallic art.

If, however, we reject these medals, we are not left
without a portrait of Niccolo III. from Pisanello's own
hand. A drawing in the Recueil Vallardi (Plate 28) is
recognisable by the peculiai" profile, bull neck, pursed up

io6 PISANELLO

lips, and generally sullen expression, as a portrait of the
marquis.*

On January loth, 1438, there was held at Ferrara
the first session of a Council, the chief object of which
was the union of the Greek and Latin Churches. The
Emperor John VTI. Palaeologus himself attended, reaching
Ferrara on February 29th, and remaining there until
January loth, 1439. The work of the Council of
Ferrara, interrupted by the plague, was resumed by
the General Council of Florence, which lasted from
February 29th, 1439, to April 26th, 1442. But the
Emperor left Florence on August 26th, 1439.

It is usually assumed that the medal of Palaeologus
was made by Pisanello during the Council of Ferrara.
He would hardly, it is said, have waited until the
Emperor had gone to Florence, since at Ferrara he was
so much nearer, and the Court had already given Pisanello
commissions. Again, in May 1439 he was working at
Mantua ; and this fact shortens the time available for a
journey to Florence. It is true that Giovio, in the letter
quoted by Vasari, almost goes out of his way to state
that the medal of Palaeologus was made by Pisanello
" in Florence, at the time of the Council of Eugenius,
where the aforesaid P^mperor was present.^' But he adds
that the medal has a reverse with the Cross of Christ
supported by two hands indicating the Latin and Greek
Church. Now no such reverse has come down to us. But
the design is obviously most appropriate to the subject of
the Council. Further, the description recalls to us the

* Fol. 20, No. 2276— not, as it has been called, Gianfrancesco
Gonzaga.

PLATE 28

y> »

Sauvanntiil

NICCOLC III. DESTE

Jiec. J'nl/ardi
Face p. 106

THE FIRST MEDAL 107

medal of Constantine with its similar symmetrical arrange-
ment of two figures seated on either side of the Fountain
of Life surmounted by the Cross. We shall see that the
extant medal of Pala?ologus is reminiscent of the obverse
of the Constantine medal. Are we to assume that Giovio
is guilty of invention, or of a false attribution ; or did
Pisanello make two medals of the Emperor ? In spite of
Giovio's bad record, he may, perhaps, be allowed the
benefit of the doubt. What other medallist was there
to whom in 1439 such a subject would have been entrusted,
and what likelihood was there of such a subject being
handled after the departure of the Emperor or the end
of the Council ? Giovio'*s statement that the medal was
done at Florence, however, is probably a random guess.*
But in any case, whether this medal and the visit to
Florence are mere happy inventions of Giovio's or not, is
a point which in no May affects the dating of the extant
medal. For this, as it represents the Emperor on his
travels, may well have been made at Ferrara, whither he
had journeyed from Venice with so much circumstance.f

The obverse of this medal if (Plate 29) represents the
bust of the Emperor in right profile, wearing what Giovio
calls " quel bizzarro cappello alia grecanica, which the
Emperors usually wore."" In spite of the oddity of the
headgear, and the curious long curls in which the hair is
dressed, the profile has considerable beauty and dignity. §

* See above, p. 59.

t The Greek history of the Council (Labbe-Mansi, Concilia, vol. xxxi.
p. 463 f.) gives an elaborate account of the Emperor's arrival at Venice
and journey to Ferrara.

I 103 mm. in diam. Heiss, PI. I. i. Fabriczy, Frontispiece.

§ Uno bdlissimo uomo colla barba al modo greco, he is called by Vespa-
siano da Bisticci {Viie, ed. Mai, p. 14), who also notices his cappelktto

io8 PISANELLO

The Greek legend on this side runs 'Iwdvuiw BacrtXeuc ^al
AvToKpoLTivp 'Pii)f.iat(i}v 6 TiaXaioXoyog, 2.f?.," John, King and
Emperor of the Romans, the Palaeologus/' On the reverse,
which is signed *'Yipyov rov Uktcxvov Z(i)ypu(pov, and, again,
opvs . pisANi . ncToiiis, Ave see the Emperor on his journey.
He is mounted on a strange, lean, long-barrelled, big-
headed horse, such as Italy never produced.* Beside the road
along Avhich the beast is ambling stands a cross, and the
rider folds his hands in prayer as he passes. Behind him,
the space is filled by a characteristic figure, a page mounted
on a horse seen foreshortened from behind. The back-
ground rises in a rocky height ; the foregi'ound is indicated
not conventionally, but — in a manner with which we shall
become familiar — as a rough track strewn with stones.
The design is enclosed in a plain linear border, which is,
however, broken by the left ear of the page's horse.

Here we are obviously face to face with an entirely new
development in an art which had hitherto been practically
confined to the production of coins. It cannot be denied
that there are external resemblances to the Constantine
medal, as in the representation of an Emperor riding on
an ambling horse, and in the mixture of Greek and Latin
legends ; further, the technical process of reproduction, by
casting in metal from a wax model, is the same.f But it is
obvious that as regards the inner ([ualities that go to make

alia gveca. The painter of the Dini cassone at S. Kensington gives a
very similar hat to the Queen of Shcba.

* Weizsacker (BerHn Jahvb. vii. p. 52) describes it as of a breed
such as is found in the Danube district or Russian steppes. The re-
presentation of the pace is quite correct, but has been misunderstood
by modern writers to whom the amble is unfamiUar.

t See von Schlosser, op. cit. p. 23.

JOHN PALAEOLOGUS

Jirifish Mnsi'inn

PLATE 29

EMPEROR OF CONSTANTINOPLE

Bronze

FoUoxv p. 108

THE FIRST MEDAL 109

the work of art Pisanello has moved from the old world
into the new. We have a complete contemporary historical
subject treated pictorially, and skilfully reduced to a
circular composition. The conventions which hampered
the engraver of dies — conventions due partly to long
tradition, partly to the inherent difficulty of engraving in
a hard material — are swept aside.*

Working with a free hand in the soft wax, the artist
makes a mould by surrounding his model with fine casting
sand or charcoal. f The wax having been melted out, the
mould is filled with the metal in which the cast is to be
made. The earliest proofs were probably in most cases
made in lead ; and such proofs are naturally most highly
prized. The metal most commonly used is bronze ; speci-
mens in silver or gold that can be regarded as genuine are
exceedingly rare, although there is abundant evidence of
the use of these metals. Any roughnesses in the casting
could be removed with a tool, and from specimens thus
chased a fresh mould could be made.J The process of
reproduction was slow, but as little mechanical as possible ;
each cast, so far as chased by the artist himself, was an
independent work from his hand, not a mere mechanical
repetition. The artist who knew his business adopted the

* Von Schlosser, p. 24, shows well how the conditions of working at
cast medals (as opposed to struck pieces) were favourable to this art
being taken up by a painter, such as Pisanello.

f Cp., e.g., the instructions given by Cennino Cennini for takin
impressions of a seal or coin in ashes (chap. 189, trans. Herringham,

P- 177)-

X By the constant repetition of this process, and the contraction of
the metal in cooling, the diameter of the later specimens was appre-
ciably reduced. The size of a medal thus becomes a criterion of its
age.

no PISANELLO

golden mean in the matter of chasing ; he would use the
tool sparingly, only where necessary to clear the details, so
that the original freshness of the cast surface should be
preserved ; or to help out the modelling, much as a Greek
vase-painter of the best period uses brown " inner mark-
ings." On the other hand, he would not neglect the
laborious task of chasing altogether, or leave it to an un-
skilful pupil. Further, although working his original
model in wax, he would restrain himself, remembering that
the end in view was a relief in hard metal ; therefore,
although he would aim at boldness of relief, in comparison
with the relief usually found upon coins struck with a die,
he would not exaggerate this feature to the degree of
pretentiousness ; nor would he labour details to the extent
of spoiling the largeness of his style. Knowing that medals
are subject to wear, he would avoid treating a bust in such
a way that the characteristic features would be quickly
worn away ; speaking generally, therefore, we should find
him preferring a profile to a full-face presentation.

All these maxims Pisanello observed, consciously or un-
consciously ; but fortunately he seems to have formulated
no theory of medallic art. Before much more than a
generation had passed, the making of the medal was more
or less subject to definite rules, and the work was sharply
differentiated from that of other bronze sculpture in relief.
Thus the medal rapidly lost its monumental character and
largeness of style. The introduction of the practice of
striking, instead of casting, medals facilitated the descent
from grandeur to pettiness.

Compared with Pisanello''s later medals, this of Pala?o-
logus shows certain slight traces of an undeveloped art.

THE FIRST MEDAL iii

The profile portrait is, indeed, in its dignified reserve and

rejection of all trivialities, quite the finest head that he

had yet produced. But on the reverse the composition

seems somewhat crowded, although it contains no more

details than some of his more successful designs.*

It is interesting to find Pisanello's portrait of Paloeologus

repeated in Hartman Schedel's Chronicle (fol. 256 verso).

But by a sad irony the portrait is labelled Malmmeth

turchorum imperator. Presumably the German artist, not

knowing Greek, only realised that it represented a ruler

of Constantinople, and made it serve for the Sultan of

his own time.f

* The gold specimen of this medal formerly in the Bibliotheque
Nationale disappeared in the great burglary of 1831. That in the Uffizi
is a poor cast : see Friedlander, p. 4 ; Supino, Medagl. Mediced, p. 20,
No. 14. Their opinion may unhesitatingly be accepted as against that
of L. Milani, who (in G. Sartori's Protonioteca Veronese, Verona, 1881)
maintains its authenticity. It was given to Cosimo III. in 1715 by Sir
Andrew Fountaine, Director of the London Mint. Stevenson (Md. de
VEc. frang., 1888, p. 461) says the specimen in the Borgia Museum is
also a poor cast ; in the same Museum is a bust made after the medal.
In a bronze specimen in the Louvre various details, such as an
imperial crown round the hat, have been added at some comparatively
recent date. In the Recueil Vallardi (fol. 80, No. 2478; B. de Tauzia,
Desshis, 1888, No. 1988) is a bust of the Emperor to left, designed for the
medal. But the other study in the Louvre (Heiss, p. 44) representing
the Emperor on horseback, with a legend (in Venetian dialect) indica-
ting the colours of his attire and harness of his mount, is by some
Venetian artist. On the same sheet are other sketches of Greeks and
an Arabic legend ("Honour to our master the Sultan, the King, El
Muayyad Shiekh, may his victory be glorified ") borrowed from some
textile. (The Sultan was one of the Burji Mamluks, and reigned 1412-
1421.) See H. Lavoix, Gaz. d. Beaux. Arts, 1877, t. 16, p. 24 ; Ephrussi,
1881, t. 24, p. 179. If the drawing were by Pisanello, and the legend
in his handwriting the fate of the Fillon letter would be sealed. The
style of the drawing, however, differs altogether from his, especially in
the treatment of the horse. t Berlin jfahrb., ii. p. 216 ff.

1 1 2 PISANELLO

A somewhat earlier instance, however, of the influence
of the same medal on book illustration is supplied by a
Ferrarese MS. of the Imprese di Carlo Magmo, where a
bust in the border of the title-page is clearly inspired by
Pisanello's work. The manuscript belongs to the time
of Borso d'Este.* A Livy in the Bibliotheque Nationalef
also reproduces the portrait of the Emperor from the
medal, but the bust is to left, in a white robe ; the centre
of the hat is white, the underside of the brim red.

* H. J. Hermann in Vienna yaJirb.,xxi. (1900) p. 143, fig. ir. The
MS. (Ferrara, Bib com., Cod. class, ii. No. 132) shows other traces of
the artist's influence.

t MS. Lat. 14,360, fol. 268. See above, p. 99, note t- Second half
of fifteenth century.

CHAPTER VIII

GUARINO'S POEM

PisANELLo's compatriot and friend, Guarino, the grand-
father of the author of the Pastor Fido, and himself one
of the most distinguished humanists of his generation, has
ah'eady been mentioned in connexion with the painter's
present to Leonello d'Este. To the friendship that existed
between them we owe a Latin hexameter poem, more in-
teresting than beautiful, which appears to have been
written in acknowledgment of a present from Pisanello to
the author.*

The poem is a glowing eulogy, sincere enough if allow-
ance be made for the exaggeration characteristic of the
time. As a piece of versification it hardly does credit to
the " fountain of Greek and Latin learning.'" The writer
begins, modestly enough, with a confession :

* See Venturi, pp. 39 ff. The poem was known to Biondo (1450).
Vasari mentions it after Biondo, but probably had not seen it. It
was re-discovered by Andres (1797) in the Capilupi Library at
Mantua ; first pubHshed in full by Cavattoni {Tre Car mi Latini,
Verona, 1861). Venturi has collated the MS., reproducing in notes
Cavattoni's errors and alterations, with some suggestions of his own.
I give in the text a slightly abbreviated paraphrase, as the poem is
full of small points of interest.

114 PISANELLO

"My poetical gifts are not equal to my subject ; otherwise
would I extol you, so that even after your death you might
rise immortal like the phoenix. Bui, though Nature has
denied me excellence in song, goodwill and gratitude are
mine ; so let the harmony of spirit that has long bound us
together testify to our love. Poor though my verses be, it is
enough that they should preserve your name. It is not
seemly that you should lie neglected, without your meed of
praise, you who, adding fresh lustre to a lofty hero's name,
can give renown and glory to the lineaments of emperors, clad
in warrior's cloak or armour (so that all who look on them are
fain to cry out, ' e'en so he looked, e'en so he bore himself! ') ;
you, who can by your art divine bestow immortality on high-
souled princes.* This indeed Minerva and your fatherland,t
in which wx both rejoice, and which has given us kindred
names, may not suffer : that fatherland whose glory you spread
far and wide by the many virtues, prudence, dignity, modesty,
generosity, and good faith, for which all men celebrate you.
Great is the renown that comes to our Verona from the excel-
lence of your worth, from the fair garments that adorn you.
Add the mighty talent wherewith Heaven has endowed you,
so that with line and colour you rival Nature's handiwork, to
the wonder of all, whether it be that you depict birds or
beasts, raging seas or quiet lakes ; we could even vow that

* This clumsy passage should probably be punctuated thus :
Haud decet ut, celsos ornans heroas, honores
Induperatorum faciem sagulumque vel arma
Nobilitans (cunctis ut sit clamare necesse : „

Sic oculos, sic ille manus, sic ora gerebat !),
Principibus vitam divina ex arte perennera
Magnanimis tribuens, jaceas, etc.

The grammar and construction are atrocious, but the general sense

is clear, and no emendation seems necessary.

f Reading natale tuuni, or with Cavedoui natale solum.

GUARINO'S POEM 115

we see the white gleam of the foam^ or hear the waves
thunder on the shore. I put forth my hand to wipe the sweat
from the brow of the toiHng figure ; 'tis as though we heard
the neighing of the war-horse, or were thrilled by the blare
of the trumpets. You paint a night-scene : the night-birds
flit around, and the birds that fly by day hide themselves ;
we behold the stars, the sphered moon, and the sunless dark-
ness. Or say the action is in Avinter : all is frozen and stiff
with cold ; frost, and not foliage, clothes the trees. Or it is
spring : the green meadows laugh with varied flowers, the
trees are clad in their pristine tints, the hills are bright ; the
air is sweet with the enchanting songs of birds. But here to
my hand is an example of all these various qualities ; for the
noble gift of St. Jerome the beloved which you send is a mar-
vellous specimen of your virtue and your art : his splendid,
hoary beard ; his holy forehead, austerely frowning, rapt in
contemplation towards God ; he is present, yet we see that he
is far away ; he is here and yet not here ; the cave holds his
body, his soul tastes the joys of heaven. The image, though
but painted, speaks so vividly, that I scarce dare to utter a
sound, and I whisper low, lest my voice break in upon his
contemplation of God and the kingdom of heaven, and I be
called a rude boor. What a proportion is there of light and
shade ! What distance ! What symmetry ! What harmony
in the limbs ! Wlio would not admire and love, venerate
and praise and honour to the uttermost the divine in-
tellect and skill of such an artist ? Nature, sister of poetry,
was the parent of your art. Our age has produced you, to be
numbered with the great sculptors and painters of antiquity,
Canachus, Euphranor, Polycleitus, Apelles, Praxiteles, Myron,
Polygnotus, Timanthes, Zeuxis ; nor will that mighty line
deem you unworthy, who can magnify their glory and praise.
They knew how to make lying effigies of gods; you have power

1 1 6 PISANELLO

to depict the Eternal Father, who built up the world out of
naught, and those holy men who have taught us by their
religion the blessed way to heaven."

At the time when these lines were written, Pisanello
had already represented an Emperor (the plural, of course,
must not be pressed), and there can be little doubt that
Palneologus is meant, whether the reference is to a painting
or a medal. It is noticeable that, except in the list of
famous artists of antiquity towards the end of the poem,
there is no distinct reference to sculpture. We may
assume therefore that not much of Pisanello's medallic
work was kno^^^l to Guarino at the time.* This gives us
a date for the poem soon after 1438. Further, the artist,
to the writer's knowledge, has not yet been celebrated in
poetry. Granting that Guarino may not have heard of
the sonnet of Ulisse " pro insigni certamine '' between
Pisanello and Jacopo Bellini (1441) or of other sonnets of
1442 (to be dealt with later), it is extremely unlikely that
the elegant little poem of Strozzi should not have come to
his notice. Thus Guarino's verses are certainly earlier than
1443, the latest possible date for Strozzi's elegy, and prob-
ably earlier than 1441, by which time Pisanello must have
already been well-known as a medallist.

Guarino's expressions are sometimes of tantalising
obscurity. When he says cum te multimodis p'lngas
virtutihus, has the verb more than a metaphorical sense ?
We shall find that Gauricus described the artist as " most
ambitious in carving his own portrait," and that the
medals with his portrait bear letters indicating the seven

* Crowe and Cavalcasellc {North Italy, i. p. 485, note 1) have
remarked that Guarino refers to non-medallic portraits.

GUARINO'S POEM 117

cardinal virtues. Did Pisanello lay claim to the virtues
in a portrait painted by himself? But of this later.
Pnlcroque insignis amicti( shows that he was fond of
wearing fine clothes as well as painting them. But the
idea that Verona acquired honour thereby, and indeed the
whole tone of this passage, would in any other writer or at
another period savour of satirical exaggeration.

It is unfortunate that Guarino gives a definite descrip-
tion of only one picture, the ♦S'^. Jerome. It is noticeable
that in addition to the harmony of the composition and
the fine proportions of the figure, he praises the treatment
of light and shade, and the depth of background :

Quae lucis ratio aut tenebrae ! distantia qualis !
Symmetriae rerum ! quanta est concordia membris !

The picture was probably the same as the St. Jerome
adoring a crucifix mentioning by Facio.* And it was also
probably the source from which Bono of Ferrara drew his
inspiration for the St. Jerome in the National Gallery.
(Plate 19.) The peculiar composition, with a narrow
valley receding between conical hills — distantia qualis . —
and buildings in the background, was adopted not only by
Bono, but also by Vincenzo Foppa in his Crucifixion in the
Bergamo Gallery.

Another sacred subject painted by Pisanello, to which
Guarino alludes, is God the Father. Strozzi also mentions
it, for the " Jove " of his lines cannot mean anything but
the first Person of the Trinity. We shall meet with yet
another mention of what is probably the same picture.

* As Venturi remarks (p. 39), it cannot have been the picture of
St. Jerome mentioned by Guarino in a letter written between 1420
and 1428.

1 1 8 PISANELLO

Guarino's enumeration of the manifold qualities of
Pisanello's work, even when we allow for his friendly
exaggeration, brings home to us the miserable proportion
of what remains to the total achievement of the painter.
The description of the spring landscape with flowering
meadows and singing birds may apply to the St. Eustace ;
but where are the raging sea, the battle, the winter land-
scape, or the scene at night ?

CHAPTER IX

MANTUA AND MILAN, 1439-1443

PisANELLO, as we have seen, was one of those who failed
to return to Verona at the time of the war between
Venice and Mantua. It is probable that he was at
Ferrara when the war began, occupied with the portrait of
the Emperor Palaeologus. Later on he went to Mantua,
where we find him in the spring of 1439. On May 12 the
treasurer of the Marquis wrote to the Marchesa Paola
Malatesta that, by command of his master, the " Rectore ""
was to promise the sum of eighty ducats for the painter.*
V^enturi maintains that the Rectore is not a court official,
but rector of a church. The Marchesa had in 1420
founded the church of S. Paola in the monastery of Corpus
Christi, to which she eventually retired. Possibly, then, it
was in this church that Pisanello was at work. " At
Mantua," says Facio, " he painted a chapel (aedicida), and
some pictures which are much praised."

From a mandate f of the Marquis of Mantua, bearing

* See Venturi, pp. 44 f.

t U. Rossi, Arch. Stor. dell' Arte, i. (1888), p. 454 ; Venturi, p. 45,
Venturi's text diverges from Rossi's in three points ; in one of these,
Rossi's erga (for et) is required by the sense. The debt is apparently
180 ducats at the rate of 86 soldi piccoli to the ducat, not 186 ducats.

I20 PISANELLO

date March 27, 144 1, " pro Pisano pictore de Verona/' it
has been assumed that Pisanello was at Mantua at the
time. It is ordered that the painter be entered as a
debtor for the sum of 180 ducats to certain creditors
holding his pledges, and that this sum should be kept
back from his salary. Venturi argues that more probably
the sum was to be deducted from his salary when he
returned to Mantua. For reasons to be discussed when
we come to his work in Ferrara from 1441 onwards, it is
probable that Pisanello had left Mantua for Ferrara at
least a couple of months before the issue of this mandate.
On August 16, 144 1, he returned by water to Mantua.*
Thence he seems soon to have proceeded to Milan, to cast
certain medals which we shall describe later. A single
entry in the household ledger of the Mantuan court for
the years 1442- 1444, recording that the artist was to
receive a certain amount of tallow candles and oil per
month, is the only direct record of his presence at Mantua
during the next two years. We shall see that this entry
may be connected with a visit paid by him to Mantua
from Ferrara in 1443. The court of Ferrara seems to
have secured him towards the end of 1442 or beginning of
1443 ; for, on February 27, 1443, Ludovico Gonzaga
wrote from Mantua to Guglielmo Gonzaga f a letter which
throws some light on the rivalry between the two courts :
" Since we understand that the painter Pisano is there and
says that it is not possible for him to come and stay with us

* Venturi, pp. 47 f. On pp. 48, 49, will be found the other docu-
ments relating to Pisanello's work at Mantua down to the end of
Feb. 1443, and his correspondence with the Marquis down to March
1444.

f Probably his brother ; see Litta, Gonzaga, Tav. iii.

MANTUA AND MILAN, 1 439-1443 121

any more, since such are his orders, and if he should come
his goods would be confiscated, we would desire you to
endeavour to intervene, if so it be, and advise us thereof
by letter speedily. Mantua 27 Febr. 1443.'' The word-
ing of this letter suggests that Pisanello had not gone from
Mantua to Ferrara, but that he had been working else-
where— perhaps at Milan. As we see from another letter
from Gianfrancesco Gonzaga to Pisanello himself, the
artist had reported his arrival at Ferrara, and his fixture
there, and had said that he would be able to tell him more
by word of mouth when the Marquis should come to
Ferrara. To this Gianfrancesco replies on March 3 that
he would willingly hear what Pisanello has to say, but
knows not when he will be at Ferrara ; and those who
say that he is coming thither know more than he knows
himself. The next letter, written from Borgoforte on
September 11, is a reply to a request for money. The
Marquis is, as ever, well pleased to hear that Pisanello
is well and in good case ; but God knows that he has
not at present the means to pay the sum due to him ;
but it is certainly his intention to do so as soon as
possible. In a letter of November 6* from Mantua
Gianfrancesco himself makes a claim on the artist ;
Pisanello had taken away with him a picture' belonging
to the Marquis, painted on canvas and representing our
Lord God. He sends a courier, with instructions to
Pisanello to return it carefully packed.

This letter is somewhat puzzling, unless we suppose that

* Pisano de Verona in Ferraria. Egregie dilecte noster. Havendo
inteso che tu hai portato cum ti una nostra tavola de tela suxo la
qual h pincto nostro signor dio, etc.

122 PISANELLO

Pisanello had been to Mantua recently. For Gianfrancesco
writes as though he had just heard of the removal of the
picture. It would be strange that he should write thus if
the picture had been taken away early in the year. We
may therefore infer that Pisanello in the summer, that is
at some time between March 3 and September 11, when
Gianfrancesco's letters prove him to have been at Ferrara,
obtained leave from the Este to go to Mantua. Thus
Guglielmo Gonzaga's intervention was successful. To this
visit to Mantua, then, the entry relating to oil and
candles already mentioned belongs. From Mantua
Pisanello brought away a canvas representing a subject to
his representation of which, as we have seen, allusions are
made by both Guarino (soon after 1438) and Strozzi
(before September 1443). It is, of course, quite possible
that he painted two pictures with this subject ; but the
fact that the three references come close upon each other
in point of date rather points to one and the same picture.
And as it is one of the works singled out for laudation by
Guarino and Strozzi, may it not have been in Facio's mind
also when he said that Pisanello painted at Mantua
tahulas valde laudatas ? He may have brought it away
from Mantua to work on it again ; he did so without the
knowledge of the Marquis, who, discovering its removal on
his return from Borgoforte, lost no time in reclaiming it.

The last letter of this correspondence, so characteristic
of the relations between an artist and his Maecenas in these
days, is dated from Mantua, March 11, 1444. The
painter's address is not given, but he was doubtless in
Ferrara. Pisanello had written giving some information
which the Marquis desired about the rooms which he used

MANTUA AND MILAN, 1439-1443 123

to occupy at Mantua, and also asking for some money
due ; for the lack of this he would be obliged to defer a
journey, on which he had resolved, to the court of Naples.
The Marquis, though as usual in great straits, promises to
try and make some provision. As there is no evidence of
Pisanello going to Naples for some years to come, we may
assume that the Marquis was unable to fulfil his promise.

Besides the chapel-frescoes and the easel-pictures which
Pisanello executed at Mantua, it would seem that he
decorated a room — afterwards known as the sala del
Pisanello — in the Ducal Palace. The frescoes were pre-
sumably ruined in 1480 when the ceiling of the room
gave way.*

A manuscript destroyed in the recent disastrous fire at
the Turin Library seems to have been a significant monu-
ment of the influence of the art of Pisanello on miniature
painting at the court of the Gonzaga.t Various hands were
discernible, but the drawings (done with the pen and
finished with colour) showed great similarity to the
Pisanellesque style, although the work, in spite of its
fineness and minuteness, lacked the spirit of the Veronese
painter. The illuminations included medallions of warriors,
St. George, etc. ; horses were rendered in strong fore-

* For the three letters relating to this, see U. 'Rossi, Arch. Stor.
delV Arte, i. (1888), pp. 455, 456.

I Vitae diversorum principum et tyrannorum (E iii. 19), described
by Gino Fogolari in L'Arte, vii. (1904), pp. 159 f., whence the details
in the text are taken. Gonzaga arms on the title-page. An inferior
Vatican MS. (Cod. lat. 1903) of the same subject is derived from that
which is now lost ; it was written by order of Ct. Bartolomeo
Visconti, who died 1457. The Turin codex therefore belonged to the
forties or fifties.

124 PISANELLO

shorteniiiij ; there were careful naturalistic renclerine:s of
flowers, of the fur of animals, and the artist showed a
delight in the representation of magnificent costumes such
as one finds in the master''s drawings. A characteristic
feature was a series of profile medallions of emperors,
taken for the most part from Roman coins.

When Pisanello was working for Gianfrancesco Gonzaga,
it may be presumed that he would come into contact with
the ally of the Marquis, Filippo Maria Visconti, and also
with the condottiere Niccolo Piccinino. For Piccinino
commanded Visconti''s forces in the war against Venice.
When the peace initiated at Capriana was signed, Fran-
cesco Sforza also came into close relationship with the Duke.
And, as a matter of fact, it would seem that the medals of
all these three persons were made in or about the year
1 44 1. Since Piccinino on his medal is called Vicecomes, it
must have been made between 1439 — the probable date of
his adoption by the Duke of Milan — and 1441 or 1442,
when he was adopted by King Alfonso. It is hardly
probable that it should have been made while he was busy
with the war. The medal of Sforza describes him also as
Vicecomes and Lord of Cremona, titles which he acquired
by his marriage with Bianca Maria Visconti on October 28,
1 44 1. But he is not called Duke of Milan, therefore the
medal is earlier than 1450.* Finally, the apparent age of
Filippo Maria Visconti — he was born in 139 1 — is quite
consonant with the supposition that his medal was made
about 1441. Possibly, as Heiss has suggested, the peace
broufi^ht these three men together at Milan at the end of

* If it is the medal of Sforza which is referred to by Basinio of
Parma (see chap, xiii.), then it is necessarily earlier than 1448.

FILIPPO MAKIA VISCONTI

Mr. M<tr /i'oscii/k iin

PLATE 3)

DUKE OF MILAN

/■'(>/ loir J). 12 1

PLATE 31

Saiiriinatnl

FILIPPO MARIA VISCONTI (COPY)

lice. I'dlhirdi
Follotr PL 30

MANTUA AND MILAN, 1439-1443 125

1 44 1, and they may have sat to Pisanello at the same
time.

Let us take first the medal of P'ilippo Maria Visconti
(Plate 30).* There is a tradition that the Duke declined
to be painted by any one because of his repulsive looks.
Pier Candido Decern brio, indeed, has left us a detailed
account of his personal appearance,! in the course of which
he says that, although he would not be painted by any one,
yet Pisano, that famous artist, with marvellous skill made
of him a likeness that seems to breathe. Decembrio's
statement may be true ; nevertheless, numerous portraits
of the Duke came into existence, at any rate after his
death.J There is no doubt that he was extremely sensitive
as to his physical defects, although to call him repulsive
is to go beyond our evidence. For the rest, we recognise
in Pisanello's portrait some, though not all, of the features
noticed by Decembrio : such are the short nose, large jaw,
thick neck, and double chin betraying corpulence. The
shape of his cranium is concealed by his cap. He is in
right profile, wearing a dress embroidered with a bird within

* Diam. 103 mm. Heiss, p. 11 and PI. I. The much retouched
silver specimen in the Bibhotheque Nationale measures only 95 mm.
■ t Vita Phil. Mariae Vicecomitis (Muratori, xx. p. 1007 f.), especially
cc. 50, 52, 56. The work was finished and submitted to the criticism
of Leonello d'Este in 1447 (Rosmini, Vita e Disciplina di Guavino
Veronese, i. pp. 109 f. and Venturi, p. 58).

X In P. Giovio, Duod. Vicecom. Medio!, princ. Vitae (ed. 1630),
Part ii. p. 132, is a portrait very like the medal, with the statement
that his true portrait is found on gold coins and in various paintings
and reliefs {caelaturae) ; but by far the most lifelike is the por-
trait which Franciscus Tabernius Epistolarum Magister placed on
the door of the Great Conclave. No coins, however, with the portrait
of the Duke appear to be known ; see Gnecchi, Monete di Milanu.

126 PISANELLO

a twisted riband, above which is a crown. He is described
as Filippus Maria Anglus,* Duke of Milan, etc., Count
of Pavia and Angheria, and Lord of Genoa. Although he
lost Genoa in 1435 he never gave up the last title, t On the
reverse, w^hich is signed orvs . pisani • pictoris, is a group
of three horsemen. On the left is the Duke, wearing on
his helmet the Visconti crest, the hiscione swallowing a
child. On the right is a small page, seen on his horse,
considerably foreshortened from behind. Between them
we see a third horseman — or rather only his helmet sm'-
mounted by a huge crest — looking over the head of his
horse much as does St. George^s squire in the S. Anastasia
fresco. In the background are a mountainous landscape
and the tops of buildings ; among them is a colossal
female statue, apparently veiled and holding a short
sceptre.

In some points — as the rather crowded composition, the
rocky background — this piece is akin to the Palaeologus
medal. It is on the whole less successful. The page's
horse stands better, but the Duke's looks wooden, and one
is not clear whether it is rearing or climbing a hill.
Notice, however, the impressive effect of the lances.

Two sketches in the Recueil Vallardi, of which one
is reproduced in Plate 31, represent the profile of the

* In the genealogies of the Visconti {e.g. Brit. Mus. MS. Add.,
26,814, fol. 2), Anglus Junior is the son of Primus Anglus, the son of
Ascanius, the son of Aeneas. Angkis was brought into the genealogy
as eponym of Angheria on Lago Maggiore.

t This fact, noticed by Friedliinder (p. 36) and others, has escaped
Beltrami {Rassegna d'Arte, i. 1901, p. 53 f.), whose attempt to
draw a distinction in age between the drawings and the medal is
refuted by Modigliani {L'Arie, iv. p. 190).

FRANCESCO SFORZA

Jii r/iii Musi mil

PLATE 32

LORD OF CREMONA

I'iilhnr Ji. 1 2G

MANTUA AND MILAN, 1439-1443 127

Duke.* We notice the same meditative look — he was, in
Decembrio's words, aspectu cogHanti s'nnUis — accompanied
by a slight smile. There is certainly nothing repulsive in
this face.

The medal of Francesco Sforza (Plate 32),^ describes
him as Vicecomes, Marquis and Count, and Lord of
Cremona. The hard profile, the determined mouth, the
keen, hawk-like expression, give a vivid idea of the great
condottiere. On the reverse (signed in the usual way) is
a remarkable horse's head, and beneath it three books and
a naked sword. The horse looks a vicious beast, with its
bony head and small ears laid back, ready to bite or kick.
We can well believe with Weizsiicker that it is a portrait of
some favourite charger.J

The obverse of the medal of Niccolo Piccinino
(Plate 33)§ bears a strong resemblance to that of his rival
Sforza. It has the same severe simplicity of design, and
absence of all parade, and is an admirable representation
of the strenuous fighter.

Qui Nicolaus erat Picininiis in orbe vocatus,
Corporis exigui, magnus tamen extitit armis.

In these two medals Pisanello, quite apart from the
revelation of character by portraiture, made even the
externalities of his presentation harmonise thoroughly

* Fol. 88, No. 2483 ; fol. 89, No. 2484 (Heiss, p. 12). The latter
seems to be a pupil's copy.

f Diam, 90 mm. Heiss, p. 14 f. and PI. II. i.

I Berlin Jahrb.,, vii. p. 51. He thinks the breed is Spanish.

§ Diam. 88 mm. Friedlander, PI. II. ; Heiss, pp. 16 f., PI, II. 3.
Profile sketches for the obverse of this medal are to be found in the
Recueil Vallardi, fol. 70, No. 2327, and fol. '^y , No. 2482 (PI. 34).

128 PISANELLO

with his subject. These two warriors required no elaborate
allegories, such as he designed for the splendid Alfonso,
or the cultured Leonello. For Sforza, his favourite horse's
head is enough ; Piccinino is provided with a design that
glorifies both him and his native city by an allusion at
once simple and dignified. This " second Mars,^' as the
legend of the obverse describes him, was, like his master
Braccio da Montone, a son of Perugia; so the griffin of
PERvsiA is represented suckling the infants braccivs and
N. PiciNiNvs, as once the she-wolf had suckled the sons of
Mars. The design, spirited as it is, has one weak point,
in the vacant space above the griffin ; it would, indeed,
have looked less empty had not the spaces to right and
left been filled up with the names of the two heroes. The
signature has the unusual form risAXi p. opvs.*

We have seen that the three medals just described seem
to indicate that Pisanello went to Milan toAvards the end
of 1441. From this time until about the end of 1442 or
beginning of 1443 he may have worked there and at Pavia.
This date for the Pavia frescoes is more satisfactory than
the one hitherto proposed, 1424. For although we know
that the Duke of Milan was carrying out new works in the
Castle of Pavia in 1424, we have no evidence that they
were of any importance.*!*

In the early sixteenth century the frescoes at Pavia

* For a later portrait founded on this medal, see Kenner, Vienna
Jahrh., xviii. p. 245. It was perhaps of this medal that Vasari was
thinking when he said that Pisanello made a medal of Braccio
da Montone. See Friedlander, p, 29.

t As we have seen (p. j6, note f), the visit of John Palsologus
to Pavia in 1424 was only a passing one, and the work of Pisanello
cannot be connected with it as Veuturi supposes.

NICCOLO PICCININO

lU-Hixli Miiaciuii

PLATE 33

•MARS ALTER"

Bronze

FoUou- p. 128

PLATE 34

'^'^r

'^■,^1^-i^-

f^-

^t£»S^

-sjfy;'

Sauvannud

NICCOLO PICCININO

liec. V(i//(in/i
FoUoir pi. 33

MANTUA AND MILAN, 1439-1443 129

were still so brilliant that " one could see one's face in
them."*

We have no certain knowledge of their subject or
extent ; but Pisanello's were certainly not the earliest or the
only frescoes in the castle. Stefano Breventano in the
sixteenth century describes the rooms as having ceilings
painted blue, with animals in gold — lions, leopards, etc. —
and especially mentions a grand room " all frescoed with
beautiful figures, representing hunting and fishing and
jousting and various other diversions of the Dukes and
Duchesses of this state.'' Here were subjects suited to the
master s hand ; nevertheless, as we know that the castle
was being decorated with hunting-scenes as early as 1380,
we cannot assume that these noble sports were depicted
by him. The castle suffered severely from the French
artillery in 1527, and all trace of the work has dis-
appeared.

It is but natural to suppose that Pisanello would have
been employed not merely at Pavia, but at Milan itself;
and accordingly certain frescoes on the ceiling of the
Torriani Chapel in the church of S. Eustorgio have been
attributed to him.f They represent the symbols of the

* For the authorities, see Venturi, p. 32. They are (i) Cesare
Cesariano, di Lucio Vitruvio Pollione de Architectura Libri x., Como,
1 521, p. cxv. ; (2) the Anonimo MorelUano (ed. Frizzoni, p. 12), who
quotes Cesariano ; (3) Stef. Breventano, Istoria delta Antichitd etc.
di Pavia, 1570, Hb. i, p. 7. Venturi suggests that the paintings of
the diversions of the nobiUty in the Casa Borromeo at Milan were
perhaps inspired by the similar work of Pisanello at Pavia ; but the
connexion of these with extant work of the master is distant.

j Both de Tauzia in L'Art, viii. (i.) 1882, p. 221 ; Notice . . .
His de la Salle, p. 62. They have now been photographed by Fuma-
galli.

I30 PISANELLO

four Evangelists, with various saints. In the two lower
corners of each of the four trians^ular divisions of the
vaulting are shields bearing the Visconti hiscione in all
cases save one, which has the semi-Gothic initials B M.
These have been identified as the initials of Bianca
Maria, daughter of Filippo Maria Visconti. iVs the
Torriani Chapel was transformed about 1440,* it might
well be that Pisanello, if he were in Milan in 1441, would
be commissioned to decorate the roof. The frescoes, which
were uncovered in 1868, are unfortunately in wretched
condition. Although they may belong to the Veronese
school, and show certain traces of the manner of Pisanello, j*
it is quite impossible to assign them to him with any
certainty. De Tauzia considered that he had found two
studies intended for these frescoes. J A careful comparison
of these drawings (the winged ox of St. Luke, and St.
Catherine of Siena, kneeling and holding out a scroll)
with a photograph of the fresco shows, however, that the
resemblances are so slight as in no way to justify the
argument based upon them. § And it is obvious that, even
if the desired correspondence existed, it would not definitely
prove that Pisanello actually executed the frescoes. His
time would have been well occupied with the three medals
and with the work at the castle at Pavia. We must,
therefore, rest content with the less adventurous opinion

* Venturi, p. 70. f Cp. Spaventi, pp. 47 f.

X Vallardi, fol. 202, No. 2408 ; Notice . . . His de la Salle, p. 58, No.
82.

I:'- § In the drawing the ox is lying down to the right, with its head
raised, not lowered as in the fresco, and the book is held quite
differently. The attitudes of the saint in the fresco and the drawing
are still more divergent.

MANTUA AND MILAN, 1439-1443 131

which assigns these frescoes to a pupil or imitator,
possibly, in accordance with local tradition, Cristoforo
Moretti.*

If the connexion of these frescoes with Pisanello is
indistinct, what shall we say of other works of art in Milan
and its neighbourhood in which his influence has been
traced ? Some of these f have but the vaguest resemblance
to his work — a resemblance merely due to their having
been done at a time when the naturalistic instinct was
awakening. The frescoes by one of the Zavattari (perhaps
Franceschino) J in the Chapel of Queen Theodolinda at
Monza, which were being completed about 1444, perhaps
show this more clearly than any of the other works which
have been mentioned in this connexion. § The love of
horses, foreshortened in various ways, the rich costumes,
and other qualities — although some of them, like the lack
of perspective, are merely negative — remind us faintly of
Gentile da Fabriano and Pisanello ; but neither in tech-
nique nor in spirit is there anything which proves a direct
connexion with these masters. The same is true of the
charming frescoes by Michelino da Besozzo in the Casa
Borromeo already mentioned. The characteristics of

* Cp. F. Malaguzzi Valeri, Pittori Lombardi del Quattrocento
(Milan, 1902), p. 89. f Cp. Venturi, p. xv.

I Fumagalli and Beltrami, La Cappella detta della Regina Teodo-
linda in Monza (M.i]a.n, 1891), especially p. 12.

§ A characteristic scene is that where the Queen and Agilulf are
starting for the chase {op. cit. PI. XXXII.) : we have a crowd of
people, horses foreshortened from in front and behind, dogs (one
very much in the attitude of the two spaniels in the St. Eustace, or
the small dog in the St. George fresco), a hawk and heron in conflict,
a hilly background. Compare also PI. XXXV. with its background
rising sharply, capped by architecture.

132 PISANELLO

Michelino and other painters of the time, in which they show
analogies with Pisanello, are of a kind which arise from the
tendencies of the age : for instance, the sense of naturalism,
the accurate delineation of picturesque costume, the fond-
ness for animals.* Pisanello is, doubtless, the chief repre-
sentative of these tendencies ; but if we think of him as
sole begetter of them in others we run the risk of ignoring
the widespread character of the awakening of Northern
Italy to the new problems of art.

For certain traces of Pisanello's influence on Milanese
painting we have to look to Vincenzo Foppa, of Brescia,
the real founder of the Milanese school. f The Crucifixion
of 1456 at Bergamo, like Bono da Ferrara^s St. Jerome^ has
a central valley receding between conical hills with buildings
in the distance, and the foliage of the trees is quite in the
same manner.^ " The two medals also at the top of the
picture point to the great medallist Pisanello, but more
particularly the landscape and the delicate technique with
the soft high lights."' § But whereas Bono's picture is the
work of an artist without much character, Foppa's is full
of promise ; in him the seed sown by Pisanello would have
borne good fruit, but for the still stronger influence of
Mantegna.

* Malaguzzi Valeri, op. cit. p. 90. A picture signed by Moretti
in the collection of Comm. Bassano Gabba is described by this
author (p. 87), as showing clearly the influence of the Veronese
school.

•j- H. F. Cook in his Catal. of the Milanese Exhibition of the
Burlington Fine Arts Club, 1898, quoted by Kristeller, Mantegna
(Eng. ed.), p. 65.

X Crowe and Cavalcaselle, Hist, of Painting in North Italy, ii. p. 3 :
*' the landscape of tinted green relieved with yellow touches is like
that of Bono Ferrarese." § Kristeller, loc. cit.

MANTUA AND MILAN, 1439-1443 133

Before passing on to Pisanello's work at Ferrara in the
forties, we may deal with some more literary efforts
prompted about this time by his rapidly increasing fame.

In the first place we have two sonnets, which are gener-
ally attributed to Ottaviano Ubaldini della Carda.* They
are not works of art but show a genuine feeling of friend-
ship and admiration for Pisanello ; that is indeed true of
all the literary tributes to his genius.

The first sonnet is " sent by the magnificent Signor
Ottaviano to Pisanello the painter, 1442.'' It says that
if Cimabue, Gretto (Allegretto Nuzi of Fabriano) and
Gentile, and any one who had been superior to them, were
to return to life and surpass themselves, they would yet be
put in the shade by

el glorioso et dolce mio Pisano.

His proportion, atmosphere, drawing, perspective, realism,

* Dennistoun, Mem. of the Dukes of Urbino, i. p. 416. Venturi,
(p. 49) assigns them to Angiolo Galli, Secretary of Federigo, Duke of
Urbino. Mr. Stuart Jones has kindly examined for me the Vatican
MS. (Cod. Urb. 699). According to the title it contains the poems of
Galli ; but there are also many poems by other hands, as Sigismondo
Malatesta, Guido da Valmontone, etc. Of the two sonnets in ques-
tion, the first is inscribed " Per parte de M® S. Oct° al Pisanello
pictor. 1442." It may, therefore, possibly have been written by Galli.
But the second is inscribed "el sopradicto M° Oct° al S. Duca de
Milano p° di ^ gen. 1442," and in the margin "pro eodem. mandando
p mancia una cerva cu questo sonetto al collo." There is no reason,
judging from this superscription, to suppose that it was not by
Ottaviano himself. It is followed by another sonnet of the same
date, " el M° S. Oct° aj S. Duca de Milano," also sent with a hind,
which is supposed to speak in the sonnet. Mr. Stuart Jones suggests
that the marginal note as to the hind has wrongly been added to the
previous sonnet. After another sonnet from Ottaviano to Francesco
Sforza, the MS. returns to Galli.

134 PISANELLO

and other qualities are praised in the usual terms. The
second sonnet, which Dennistouii supposed to have accom-
panied the medal of Filippo Maria, merely celebrates the
extraordinary skill of the artist in portraiture, and, while
the language would naturally refer to paintings, there is
no reference to " sculpture,^' or anything else which would
imply metallic work.*

The elegy of Tito Vespasiano Strozzi,f of Ferrara, the
pupil of Guarino, is perhaps the best of the Pisanello
poems, and as it is comparatively short may be reproduced
in full4

AD PISANVM PICTOREM PRAESTANTISSIMV^M

Quis, Pisane, tuum merito celebrabit honore

Ingenium praestans artificesque manus ?
Nam neque par Zeuxis tibi nee praeclarus Aj)elles

Siva vehs hominem pingere, sive feram.
5 Quid volucres vivas, aut quid labentia narreni

Flumina, cumque suis aequora littoribus ?
lUic et videor fluctus audire soiiantis ;

Turbaque caeruleam squammea findit aquam ;

* Ventiiri suggests that nevertheless the poet was thinking of the
medals of Filippo Maria and others, of which Ottaviano may have
obtained specimens at Milan.

f For his life, see R. Albrecht, Tito Vespasiano Sirozza (Progr.
Konigl. Gymn., Dresden, 1891).

X I quote from the British Museum MS. 17,421, fol. 29 v°, but
without reproducing mis-spellings and mis-punctuations. Those
who wish to go into the question of the relation of the MSS. should
consult Albrccht's articles in Romanische Forschungen, iv. pp. 341 ff.,
vii. pp. 231 ff., and other references given by Venturi (pp. 52 foil.).
The Brit. Mus. MS. ends with the poem ad lanum Pannonium in
book iv., like the Venetus, with which it seems generally to agree.
In the printed edition {Strozzii Poetae Pater et Filins, Aldus, 15 13)
this poem is on p. 25 of part ii.

MANTUA AND MILAN, 1439-1443 135

GaiTula limoso sub gurgite rana coaxat ;
10 Valle sues, ursos monte latere facis.

Turn liquidos molli circumdas margine fontes,

Mixtaque odoratis floribus herba viret.
Umbrosis nymphas silvis errare videmus ;
Haec humero casses, altera tela gerit.
15 Parte alia capreas lustris excire videntur,
Et fera latrantes rostra movere canes.
Illie exitio leporis celer imniinet umber ;

Hie fremit insultans frenaque mandit equus.
Quis non miretur gestusque et sancta virorum
20 Corpora, quae penitus vivere nemo neget ?
Quisve lovis faciem pietam non pronus adoret,

Effigiem veri numinis esse ratus ?
Denique, quicquid agis, naturae iura potentis
Aequas divini viribus ingenii.
25 Illustris nee te tantum pictura decorat,
Nee titulos virtus haec dedit una tibi :
Sed Polycleteas artes et Mentora vincis ;

Cedit Lysippus, Phidiacusque labor.
Haec propter toto partum tibi nomen in orbe,
30 Et meritas laudes Candida fama canit.

Sis felix ; longum Lachesis te servet in aevum ;
Et nostram, si qua est, dilige Calliopem.

VALE.

The only distinction of importance, for our purposes,
between the manuscript versions and the printed edition
of 15 13, is that the latter replaces lines 30-32 by the
following:*

* Gruyer, L'Art Ferrarais, ii. p. 591, inverts the order of things
when he says that the reference to Strozzi's medal is omitted in the
later versions of the poem.

136 PISANELLO

Te praesens aetas posteritasque canet.
Ast opere insigni nostros effingere viiltus

Quod cupis, baud parva est gratia habenda tibi
Si longos aliter mea non exibit in annos

At saltern vivet munere fama tuo.

The poem, in the form in which it is preserved in the
MSS., was written before Sept. 27, 1443, on which date
Strozzi sent to Leonello d'Este certain libellos eroticos,
among which there can be no doubt that this was contained.
Internal evidence also goes to show that it can hardly be
later. It is true that in verses 27 fF. we learn that in the
art of sculpture Pisanello surpasses Polycleitus, Lysippus,
and Pheidias, while the most famous metal-chaser of the
Greeks, Mentor, is also put in the shade. Reduced to
prose, this means that Strozzi knew of Pisanello's work in
bronze. But he still spends most of his laudatory epithets
on the artist's marvellous realism in representing man,
animals, and nature generally. So that we infer that
Pisanello's efforts in the medallic art were comparatively
novel when these lines were written.

Like Guarino — of whose hexameters indeed this poem
seems to contain a number of echoes — Strozzi mentions the
artist's representations of saints and of the Deity. The
latter, as we have seen, is probably the picture mentioned
in Gianfrancesco Gonzaga's letter of November 6, 1443. It
may well be that Strozzi saw it when it was brought away
from Mantua to Ferrara.

The lines added in the printed edition of 15 13 have been
employed as an argument for assigning to Pisanello a
plaquette representing Strozzi. But — quite apart from
the style of the work, which renders the attribution absurd

MANTUA AND MILAN, 1439-1443 137

— the poet, who was born in 1425, is represented in
advanced age, and the plaquette was therefore made long
after Pisanello's death.* It will be noticed that the lines
only refer to a proposed portrait, not even necessarily a
medal. They are later than 1487, since they do not occur
in the latest MS., which is posterior to that date. They
were probably added after Strozzi's death in 1505 — pos-
sibly when the poems went to be printed — for one of the
following reasons : the editor may have known that
Pisanello made a medal or painted a portrait of Strozzi ;
or he may have known of these plaques, and assigned them
to Pisanello, much as Giovio assigned to him everything
that he thought worthy of such an artist.

* For this (oblong) plaquette and another (oval) with the same
subject, see Heiss, p. 42. They may possibly be by Sperandio, who
made a medal of Strozzi (C. de Fabriczy in Arch. Star, dell' Avts,
1888, p. 429 ; Venturi, p. 85).

CHAPTER X

FERRARA, 1441-1448

A SONNETEER Ulisse,* possiblj the Ulisse de' Aleotti who
in 1448 acted as arbitrator between Squarcione and Man-
tegna, has left us a sonnet describing a contest at Ferrara
between Pisanello and Jacopo Bellini. Pisanello, he says,
set himself to contend with nature and render in painting
the image of the illustrious new Marquis Leonello. Already
had he spent six months on his labour when disdainful For-
tune brought from Venice the excellent painter Bellini, a
new Pheidias, who made a likeness so lively, in the opinion
of Leonello's father, that he was reckoned first and Pisanello
second.

Although we must not press Ulisse's chronological data
too closely, we are justified in assuming that Pisanello had
been in Ferrara about six months, working for at least part
of this time at the portrait of Leonello, when Jacopo Bellini
arrived. If we allow Jacopo another two or three months
to produce his rival portrait, it will result that Pisanello

For the sonnet, which was discovered by Venturi, and for the
hterature relating to it, see Venturi, pp. 46 f. I have adopted his
conclusions, which seem to harmonise remarkably well with all
details known to us about this time.

FERRARA, 1441-1448 139

must have been in Ferrara quite early in the year 1441, if
not earlier. For, as we shall see, Pisanello left Ferrara to
return to Mantua on August 16, 1441 ; and on August 26
Leonello made a present of two bushels of corn to Jacopo
Bellini.* The coincidence is so remarkable, that we cannot
doubt that the competition between the two artists took
place in the summer of this year.

Whether the portrait of Leonello in the Morelli collec-
tion is actually that which — in Niccolo's opinion — was
surpassed by Bellini's work is doubtful. It is so much the
ripest work of Pisanello's brush, that we are tempted to
place it somewhat later in this period. The Venetian
painter's success, which surprises modern critics, was pro-
bably not due to any technical superiority. For Ulisse
reveals the fact that Bellini came first

ala sentencia del paterno amore.

It does not follow that his picture was the truer })ortrait. It
was, perhaps, more pleasing in expression, just as the head
of Sigismondo JNlalatesta in the picture of the Madonna in
the Louvre,f which is perhaps by Jacopo, is in some respects
more pleasing, but much less full of character, than the
representation of the same man on Pisanello's medals.

If Gentile da Fabriano and Pisanello between them
sowed the seeds from which sprang the Venetian school
proper ; if pictures, such as the Adoration by Antonio

* Venturi, Riv. stor. ital. i. (1884), p. 604.

•j- No. 1279 ; attributed to Jacopo by Corrado Ricci in Rassegna
d'Arte, iii. (1903), pp. 162 f. The usual attribution is to Gentile
da Fabriano ; Venturi (p. 26) assigns it to the school of Pisanello,
as Reiset had done before {Gaz. d. Beaux Arts, i?>77, t. 15, pp. 122 f.).

I40 PISANELLO

Vivarini to which we have ah'eady referred, show the effect
of their presence in Venice on the more mechanical sort of
painters at a much later time ; in Jacopo Bellini, as
Corrado Ricci has pointed out, we already see the thorough
assimilation of those of the foreign elements which were
suitable to the Venetian atmosphere. So far as representa-
tion of the Madonna is concerned, there is on the whole
more of Gentile^s manner than of Pisanello's in the work of
Jacopo ; but in his observation of animals and of nature
generally, and in his talent for capturing sudden and
pichuresque effects of pose, he reveals his affinity with the
Veronese artist. Some of the horses in his sketch-book in
the British Museum show the influence of the latter very
strongly ; not so much in the foreshortening — in this he is
often unsuccessful — as in the profile attitudes, where the
horses step out like those on the Sigismondo Malatesta or
Gonzaga medals. The painting in the Louvre already
mentioned shows, as Venturi remarks, a certain naturalism
proper to the school of Pisanello. The painting of the
trees, of the foliage touched with golden light, and of the
sunlit conical hills, is quite Pisanellesque ; and the small
figures in the middle distance, on horses foreshortened from
behind, and the similarly treated stag in the wood, are all
in keeping. But the sky and landscape show a consider-
able advance beyond Pisanello's achievement.*

Two documents record the departure of Pisanello by
boat from Ferrara to Mantua on August i6, 1441.^ A

* Ricci also, with much probability, assigns to Jacopo a drawing
in the Louvre (B. de Tauzia, Dessius, 1888, No. 2029), in whicli the
head of the Virgin was by Venturi (p. 26) attributed to Pisanello,

f Venturi, pp. 47 f.

FERRARA, 1441-1448 141

mandate of Niccolo ordered on August 15 that the most
excellent painter Pisanus should be provided with a boat
to take him from Ferrara to Mantua, and that free passes
should be prepared for him and for his baggage. The pay-
ment made to the boatman Jacopo Marazo is recorded on
the next day. We have already followed his movements
from this date until March 1444, and have seen that much
of his time was spent in Ferrara. We have now to men-
tion the documentary evidence for his presence at Ferrara
down to August 1448. It will then be possible to deal
with such works as may with certainty or by conjecture be
attributed to the period 1441 -1448.

The medal celebrating the marriage of Leonello in April
1444 indicates that Pisanello was at Ferrara at the time,
or soon afterwards. Leonello was spending considerable
sums on his country-seat at Belriguardo.* We do not
know whether he employed Pisanello to fresco the walls ;
but he did commission him to paint a picture which was
to be placed in the Palace. A mandate f of Leonello of
August 15, 1445, orders the payment Pisano pktorinohiUs-
simo of fifty gold ducats on account of the sum which will
be due to him for a picture which he is painting, to be
placed in Belriguardo. Two days later we find the sum
entered in the registro camerale. On January 8, 1447, we
again find a mandate of Leonello ordering the payment
Pisano pictori prestantissimo of twenty-five gold florins,
but the nature of the work is not mentioned. Finally,

* Work had been begun in 1435 {Diario Ferrar. in Muratori,
xxiv, p. 188 ; Gruyer, L'Art Ferrarais, i. pp. 477-483).

t For this and the following documents relating to the work
at Ferrara, see Venturi, pp. 51 f.

142 PISANELLO

on December 31, 1448, there is a record of certain debts to
the treasury contracted by the artist ; but the entry does
not prove his presence in Feri'ara as late as this date.*
But that he was in Ferrara as late as August 19 of the
same year is proved by a letter from Leonello to Pier
Candido Decembrio, at that time Secretary of the brief-
lived Milanese Republic (August 14, 1447, to February 26,
T450). The letter, with which we shall deal later, proves
that Pisanello was living where Leonello could bring
pressure to bear upon him, therefore presumably at
Ferrara.

To the long period of Pisanello's activity at Ferrara
under the reiffn of Leonello we must ascribe two of his
extant paintings and a number of medals. In addition
he found time to work for the courts of Rimini and of
Mantua.

Of the works connected with Ferrara, the only one
bearing a date is the marriage- medal of Leonello, of 1444.
It will be as well, therefore, to begin with the medals of
this prince. There are no less than seven with Pisanello's
signature (or, if we regard as two the slight varieties of
the lynx medal, eight). In three Leonello is called
merely leonellvs marchio estensis ; on the others he
bears the title of Lord of Ferrara, Reggio and Modena.
These five must, of course, all be later than 1441, when
he succeeded to his father ; the difficulty is to discover

* On the debit side of the account is an entry (March 28, 1448)
of a sum of 100 lire owing to Niccolo Marano, late treasurer of the
Camera ; Niccolo held Pisanello's pledges only for a sum equivalent
to 35 ducats (about 85 lire). It has been ordered that Niccolo's
heirs should give security for the balance. Thus Niccolo had drawn
on the treasury for Pisanello at some time previously to March 28.

FERRARA, 1441-1448 143

whether those with the simpler title were made before
that date. If we have rightly decided that the medals of
Niccolo III. are not by Pisanello, we shall hardly be able to
accept the supposition that while Niccolo was still alive the
artist produced no less than three medals of the son and
none of the father, even though he worked more especially
for Leonello. It must be remembered that these medals
were issued for private purposes ; they were not, as they
became in the seventeenth century, official memorials.
We do not now insist on finding the full titulature of
the King on, let us say, a medal issued by some society of
which he is patron ; and it would be no less absurd to argue
that a prince of the quattrocento must always have insisted
on the display of all his titles on his medals. The obverses
of all the medals of Leonello bear so close a resemblance
to each other that we are bound to assign them to one
period of a few years. In style they belong to a different
stage in Pisanello's development of the art from that
represented by the medal of Palaeologus. At the earliest,
then, the medals with the simpler title, even if we admit
that they were made before Niccolo's death, cannot be
placed before 1441, when Pisanello was at Ferrara for some
months painting the portrait of the young marquis.

This fine series of medals,* culminating artistically, and
possibly also in point of time, in the marriage-medal of

* Heiss, p. 19, PL III. and IV, The smallest medal (the
authenticity of which, as we shall see, is open to question) is 42 mm.,
the marriage-medal loi mm., all the others 69 mm. in diameter.
It must be to the medals, and not to any coins of Leonello, that
Flavio Biondo refers, when congratulating him on imitating the
Roman imperial fashion, by putting his head and name on them.
(Letter of 1446, cited by Voigt, Wiederhelehung, ed, 3, p. 563.)

144 PISANELLO

1444, offers us a group of allegorical reverses. The intei--
pretation of these is not without difficulty, although
they presumably allude in most cases to the qualities of
the sitter. On the smaller medals, he usually wears scale
armour (Plate 35), but also in some cases a brocaded dress
(Plate 36). The extraordinarily formed head is repre-
sented with uncompromising fidelity ; nothing is done to
soften the rigidity of the contour ; the perpendicular line
of the nape and the straight line along which the hair is
cropped over temple and ear meet at an ugly angle, from
which starts the equally abnormal contour of the cranium.
These peculiarities are perhaps most glaring in the medal
with the triple-face reverse (Plate 35) ; in some of the
others the line of the neck is gently curved, and the
angle with the contour of the head is less startling.
The ugliness of the profile also comes out most strongly
in the triple-face medal ; the cruel-looking and sensual
mouth, the retreating forehead, are evidently true to life ;
for are they not as evident in the medals by Niccolo
Baroncelli and Amadeo da Milano, and in the portrait
by Oriolo ? (Plate 41.) Yet this was the cultured and
pacific and well-beloved Leonello, than whom the whole
Estensian line produced " no brighter example of domestic
virtue, justice, and manliness ! " * In the other medals the
artist has caught his sitter in a gentler mood.*!*

As though to soften the effect of this stern profile,
Pisanello, in some of the medals with the short title,

* Annul. Est. in Muratori, xx. p. 457. This writer's praises are,
however, too often fulsome.

■j- One of Pisanello's medals was used for Leonello by the artist
of the portraits of the Este in the fifteenth century MS. already
mentioned (above, p. 103, note *).

PLATE 35

LEONELLO D^ESTE

PLATE 36

JJriti.'ih M lint ion
Face p. 145

LEONELLO D'ESTE

JJroihve

FERRARA, 1441-1448 145

has made a sort of border of olive-branches, which fill
the intervals between the three words of the inscription.
He is a master in the handling of inscriptions — one of
the elements in which the medallist most frequently fails
— and in no case is he more successful than in this.

The series of the Leonello medals offers four varieties of
the artist's signature : opvs pisani pictoris, pisaxi pictoris
opvs, pisANvs picTOR FECIT and — if this solitary instance
among all his medallic signatures of the omission of the
title of painter is genuine — pisanvs f.

The reverses are for the most part imprese of Leonello.
The most remarkable is perhaps the triple-faced infant's
head (Plate 35) : three faces so joined that they have
only four eyes between them. To right and left pieces
of armour — apparently ginocchielU — hang from olive-
branches. Leonello is thus indicated as the defender of
the prosperity and peace of his subjects. The meaning
of the triple face has never been explained ; but some
light is thrown upon it by a black stone panel of the
late fifteenth century in the Victoria and Albert Museum,
representing a three-headed bust (the central head has a
slight beard, the others are apparently female) and in-
sci'ibed prvdenza. The fact that the faces in the one
case are infantine, in the other adult, need not prevent us
from explaining one by the other.* The reverse of this
medal then may be taken as alluding to the prudence of
Leonello. The triple-head doubtless has a similar meaning

♦ The same type on the arms of the Trivulzi is a canting badge,
but it may also have symbohsed prudence. The triform head on
coins of Phraates IV. of Parthia (W. Wroth, Brit. Mus. Catal. of
Greek Coins, Parthia, p. ii6, PI. XXI. ii) is probably Hekate.

146 PISANELLO

when it appears on the shoulder-piece of King Alfonso's
armour in one of Pisanello's drawings (see Frontispiece).*

Another impresa (Plate 36) is the mast of a ship, with
an inflated sail ; at the foot sit two nude men, one young,
the other old. It has been explained as symbolising im-
movable firmness : the mast is Leonello's determination ;
not bending before the blast it enables the ship of his
life, or of the state, to pass along its constant course. In
the two figures we may then see the symbols of youth,
when character is fully formed, and old age. But these
two figures are not necessary to the impi'esa^ as we shall
see when we come to the marriage-medal. The explana-
tion is unsatisfactory, but none better is forthcoming. f

On a third medal (Plate 37), two nude men stand turned
towards each other, each carrying on his shoulder a large
basket full of olive-branches. In the backgi'ound, on rocks,
are two closed vessels, which look like censers of some
kind ; on them drops rain from the clouds.J Here again
the two figures carrying olive-branches can only refer to
the blessings of peace ; and doubtless the same meaning
attaches to the falling of the rain from the clouds.

Most obscure of all the imj)7'ese is that which is found
on a small medal (Plate 37), which, although signed

* See below, where the medals of Alfonso are described. The
His dela Salle drawing, no. 83 v° (B. de Tauzia, Notice . . . His de la
Salle, p. 59), has two sketches of the same subject ; but de Tauzia
is inclined to attribute the sheet to Stefano da Zevio.

t M. Chabouillet thinks that it represents the Christian hope of
salvation by the cross, which is suggested by the mast and yard.
See Gruyer, L'Art Ferravais, ii. p. 587. The vela was also used as a
badge by Leonello's son, Niccolo.

X The shape of the drops shows that they are not meant to repre-
sent incense rising from the vases, as one might otherwise suppose.

PLATE 37

LEONELLO DESTE

Face p. 14G

PLATE 38

LEONELLO DESTE : REVERSES

British Museum
Face p. 147

Bronze

FERRARA, 1441-1448 147

pisANvs F., is possibly not from his hand. The character
of the work, at once coarse and petty, the weakness of the
lettering, the occurrence of the border of dots, and the
unusual form of the signature itself conspire to suggest
that the signature is a forgery. The type of the reverse
is a two-handled vase containing branches, apparently of
olive, and pierced below with holes from which the
branches protrude. From the handles hang anchors, one
of which is broken in two. Other imprese of Leoneilo,*
which do not occur on his medals, seem to harp on the
same idea, without revealing to us what it is : a shield
with lances, some whole, others broken ; a target with
some arrows sticking in it, others lying on the ground,
and so on. The theory that the vase represents the
security and peace of Ferrara is shaken by the analogy
of these other devices, which all express some sort of
antithesis — perhaps that between good and ill fortune, the
successes and failures of life. When we remember that
the object of the inventor of an impresa was to avoid the
obvious, we need not be ashamed of our inability to solve
these riddles.

The vase with branches and anchors is also found, on
another medal of Leoneilo (Plate 38), placed on the rocky
background, in front of which lies a nude youth. It is a
singularly attractive figure, resting — more or less in the
attitude of an ancient river-god — on his right arm, his left
arm stretched out, with the hand on his left knee ; he
looks meditatively into the distance. Here again the
broken anchor forbids the otherwise plausible explanation
that the reposing figure represents security.

* Venturi, p. 78.

148 PISANELLO

The impresa of the vase with branches, roots, and anchors
occurs, as we have already seen, on the dress worn by a
girl whom Pisanello portrayed, and whom I have sought
to identify as Leonello's sister Ginevra (above, p. 73).

The last of the imj)7'ese that concern us is the blindfolded
lynx seated on a cushion (Plate 38). Here the medallist
Niccolo Baroncelli supplies the key ; for he made a medal
of Leonello with the same device, to which he added the
legend qvae vides ne vide. Amadeo of Milan also placed
the same impresa on the reverse of his medal of Leonello.
There can be little doubt that type and motto together
express the sagacity of a ruler who sees everything without
appearing to notice it, who shuts his eyes to much that he
sees.*

The marriage-medal of Leonello (Plate 39) is one
of the finest from Pisanello's hand. The obverse repre-
sents the marquis in profile to the left, wearing a richly
brocaded dress. Apart from this ornament, the pre-
sentation is severe in the extreme. The words leoxellvs
MARCHio estensis are placed across the field in two lines,

* The medals of Leonello signed by Nicholaus and Amadeus were,
according to Friedlander (pp. 33, 5 i), cast before 1441, since they give
Leonello only the title of Marquis of Este. We have seen that this
test is insufficient. Further, we may say with Heiss {Les Medail-
leurs, Niccolo, &c., pp. 7 f., 13 f.) that Niccolo and Amadeo copied
Pisanello' s lynx. Gruyer, it is true, holds that their reverses are too
poor to be anything but their own designs {L'Art Ferrarais, ii. p.
587). But the designs are almost exactly the same, and must go
back to a common original. The alternative is to suppose that one
of these two invented the design, and that the other and Pisanello
followed him. But there are no signs that the master was capable
of such slavish imitation. — For a study by Pisanello of a lynx, see
Recueil Vallardi, fol. 206, no. 2413 ; but it was not intended for this
medal.

MARRIAGE MEDAL OF

Jicrliii Mii.-ici/m

PLATE 39

LEONELLO D'ESTE

Lead
Fo/lotr p. 148

FERRARA, 1441-1448 149

broken by the bust — a device which Pisanello henceforward
often adopts. The remainder of the inscription is arranged
in two arcs, a small one over the head, a larger below the
bust. Leonello is described as D(ominus) feruarie • regii •
ET MVTiNE and also as son-in-law of the King of Aragon :
GE(ner) R(egis) AR(agonum). The disposition of these
parts of the inscription in curves is just sufficient to adapt
the whole composition to the round space ; and the whole
arrangement is an ideal instance of the correct decorative
use of lettering.*

The reverse, not merely signed in the usual way but also
dated mccccxliiii, is the earliest of the more elaborate
allegorical compositions which constitute one of their
creator's chief claims to immortality — compositions in
which the allegory is never frigid, the conception always
fresh, the style monumental. A lion (Leonello himself)
stands charmed before the young genius of Love, who
holds before him an open roll of music, and teaches him
to sing. In the rocky background is the Este eagle, treated
not heraldically, but merely as a feature of the landscape,
perched on a withered branch.t The upright lines neces-
sary to the composition are given, quite naively, by a
column, which helps also to fill up the vacant space above
the lion's head, and bears the date and the impi'esa of the

* From this point of view Mr. Lewis Day has included it in his
excellent little book, Lettering in Ornament, p. 72.

f The dead branch or tree recurs as a motif in Pisanello's medal of
Malatesta Novello (PL 48), and was also used by Constantius in his
fine medal of Mahomet II. (PI. 72). The leafless tree, sometimes with
a bird perched on it, seen from behind, quite in the Pisanellesque
manner, is also a characteristic note in many of Carlo Crivelli's
pictures.

150 PISANELLO

mast and sail. The remaining vacant corner is filled by the
signature. It would be difficult to exceed the simplicity of
the means by which the composition is contrived ; the proof
of its success is that, although the column is obviously
inserted to help out the composition, it does not in any
way weaken the effect.

The words " son-in-law of the King of Aragon,"" the
date and the scene on the reverse, show that the medal
commemorates Leonello''s marriage with Maria of Aragon,
the natural daughter of Alfonso V. Leonello was intensely
fond of music, says Guarino in his funeral oration ; * he
was so highly skilled in the art that he trained flute-players
and lutanists to a wonderful degree of harmony, and out of
good players made them the best. At his marriage the
musical pomps were a leading feature of the ceremony :
two "catafalques'" were carried with various sorts of
musics of voices and instruments.^

The marriage-medal of Leonello at once calls to mind
the painted portrait (Plate 40)+ which is one of the chief
treasures of the Morelli Collection at Bergamo, and in the
matter of technique the most perfect of the extant pictures
by Pisanello. From the Costabili Gallery, where it is

* Brit. Mus. MS. Harl. 2580, f. 107. The Annul. Estens. (in
Muratori, xx. col. 456), and Ugo Caleffini {Croyi. di Casa d'Este in
Atti e Mem. delle RR. Dep. per Stor. Pair, per le prov. Mod. e Farm,
ii. p. 288, 289) bear out Guarino.

I Brit. Mus. MS. Chronicle of Ferrara 22,330, fol. 6^ (24 April,
1444) ; cp. Roddi's Annali di Ferrara (Brit. Mus. MS. 16,521, fol.

370 f.).

X Tempera, 30 x 20 cm. Frizzoni, La Galleri Morelli in Ber-
gamo (1892), Plate facing p. 4. Venturi, p. 69 (Plate facing p. 96).
Berenson in Connoisseur, Nov. 1902. The panel has been renewed
for about '4 cm. at the top.

PLATE 10

Face p. lol

LEONELLO D'ESTE

Morclli (Idlhrji. lUrnnmo

FERRARA, 1441-1448 151

first heard of it passed to the Barker Collection, and from
thence it returned to the land of its origin. It suffers more
from reproduction than any other work by the same artist,
and the memory of its wonderful colouring is necessary to
counteract the curious effect of the line of the hair which
is so prominent in a photograph.

As Venturi has remarked, it is unnecessary to assume a
direct relation between the medals and the painting ; the
likeness is such as is inevitable between two portraits by
the same artist in the same position and probably from the
same studies.

Leonello, whose hair is of a dull gold, wears a garment
composed of a dull crimson stuff on the breast, with gold
brocade on the shoulders and round the neck. The brocade
is of the same colour as the hair, but warmer ; it has black-
brown borders, and is edged with fur and ornamented with
pearls. At the back is a riband tied in a bow. In the
background are wild roses. The tone of the picture is a
warm golden brown, not unlike that of the St. Eustace, but
entirely different from that of the frescoes in their present
state. The modelHng of the face and neck is exceedingly
delicate. In a reproduction, where so much of its subtlety
evaporates, one may be inclined to think that too much
stress is laid upon the firm, clean contours ; that, in fact,
the medallist dominates the portrait-painter. Only the
sight of the original can correct this misapprehension. Of
course the silhouette has distinct value, but it is not over-
done, and its effect is softened by the background of roses,*
as we have seen in S. Anastasia the heads of the Princess

* The studies of roses, Vallardi, fol. 15, nos. 2269, 2270, do not
seem to bear any relation to this picture.

152 PISANELLO

and St. George detached against a background of delicate
foliao-e. The same method was used with much less success
in the Louvre portrait (Plate 14). The exquisite painting
of the roses themselves is not the least merit of the work ;
like Philostratus, in his picture of Comus, we " praise the
dewiness of the roses, and could vow that the very scent of
them is painted there.'"*

Compared with other representations of Pisanello's
patron, notably with that by Oriolo in the National
Gallery (Plate 41), and also the medals by Pisanello him-
self, by Niccolo Baroncelli and by Amadeo of Milan, this
portrait gives us by far the most amiable presentment of
the young marquis. The profile is not unrefined, the ex-
pression by no means unpleasant, although it does not lack
determination.* Oriolo's picture has all the appearance of
being painted with the help of Pisanello's medal. The later
artist has altered the fashion of the hair, but he has not
been able to give to the features anything but a sullen,
almost coarse cast.f In Pisanello's picture we see some-
thing of the pupil of the mild humanist Guarino ; in
Oriolo's, rather the ruler in whom it would seem as if the
teacher had failed to quell the tyrant's appetites.

There was doubtless more than one portrait of Leonello
by our artist ; otherwise, as we have seen (p. 139), we must
place the Bergamo picture in the time of Niccolo III. In
the inventory of the Este wardrobe of 1494,+ in the Capl-

* M. de Tauzia's phrase " le profil bestial du due " {sic) seems
much too strong when one stands before the original, and not a
reproduction {Dessins . . . His de la Salle, p. 62).

f See Destree in L'Art Moderne, Sept. 18, 1892 (quoted by F.
Argnani, Sul pittore Giov. da Oriolo, Faenza, 1899, pp. 17 f.).

I Campori, Race, di cataloghi, etc., Modena, 1870, p. 30.

PLATE 41

LEONELLO D'ESTE (ORIOLO)

XdiioiifiJ (idllcrii
Face J). 1 .'>2

FERRARA, 1441-1448 153

tulo de Medaglie et Intaglie et d'l Teste retracte dcd Naturale,
we find mentioned : " two heads of the King of Aragon
portrayed in two pictures, and two heads portrayed after
nature, with the frames gilt, where is the face of Lord
Leonello ; another picture where is portrayed a young lady
unnamed. ''

Although there must have been innumerable portraits of
Leonello, one of these two pictures of the marquis may well
have been Pisanello's ; and one would like to believe that in
the Damisella senza nomewe have the Princess of the Louvre.

Another panel, the only extant one with Pisanello's
signature, may also be assigned to this period. This is
the St. AntJiony and St. George, with the Virgin and
Child, of the National Gallery (Plate 42). Formerly in
the Costabili Collection at Ferrara, it was presented to the
English nation in 1867 by Lady Eastlake.* Unfortunately
it was entirely repainted by Molteni of Milan ; and,
although the restoration is a wonderfully careful piece of
work, it is only necessary to compare colouring and brush-
work with the St. Eustace hanging beside it, to see that
nothing remains of Pisanello except the composition and
the forms. The flesh-colour is of a dirty grey, contrasting
sadly with the rich brownish flesh-tints of the St. Eustace.
The repainting is also very obvious in the drapery of
St. Anthony and in the fur of St. George's surcoat.

St. George and St. Anthony stand facing each other ;

* No. 766 ; tempera on wood, 46 x 29 cm. It has frequently
been illustrated : Venturi, PI. facing p. 88. It is dealt with by
Reiset, Une Visite a la Galerie Nationale, 1887, pp. 39 f. ; Frizzoni,
L'Arte ital. nella Gall. Naz. di Londra (1880), p. 43, and L'Arte Hal.
del Kinase, 1891, pp. 302 f. ; Gruyer, Gaz. d. Beaux Arts, 1894, t. 11,
pp. 212 f.

154 PISANELLO

above them, in an aureole, is the half-figure of the Virgin
holding the Child. The two saints are accompanied by
their emblems. St. Anthony's pig, however, is transformed
into a boar. St. George's dragon, which is alive, is a mild
monster, with a head something between a wolf's and a
hog*'s. In the background is a forest of trees growing
thickly together. Behind St. George, the heads of two horses
project into the picture from the margin, as in the fresco of
S. Anastasia. A few small plants grow in the foreground,
and the signature Pisanus P^i (i.e.^pinxit) is treated, by a not
very happy device, so that it looks like a group of plants.
St. Anthony, in his hermit's hood and cloak, with
nimbus and long white beard, holds his staff and bell.
The expression of his face is alert and keen ; but there is
something of unconscious humour in the vigorous way in
which he seems to address St. George, contrasted with the
latter's imperturbable gaze. The fact is, of course, that
the artist did not attempt to give unity to the elements of
the picture. The two saints have in reality no connexion
with each other, and are completely indifferent to the Virgin
and Child above them. But in such lack of significant
connexion Pisanello sins no more than other painters who
mark the transition from the ancona, in which the various
saints occupy separate panels, to the true composition.
The picture, which has sometimes been called the " Vision "**
of Saints Anthony and George, cannot properly be re-
garded as anything of the kind.

St. George stands looking to the left, his back turned
slightly towards the spectator. He wears * a coat of silver

♦ For his armour, see J, Starkie Gardner, Foreign Armour in
England (1898), p. 2)2.

PLATE 42

SS. ANTHONY AND GEORGE AND MADONNA

HdiifsfniifiJ

Katiiwal (idllcrji
Face p. 1")4

FERRARA, 1441-1448 155

mail with gilt borders under a quilted surcoat ; over this
again is loose-fitting silver plate-armour — shoulder-pieces,
coudieres, etc. The legs are also clothed in mail with plate-
armour over it ; on the feet are square-toed sollerets and
long spurs. On the back of the surcoat, which is heavily
trimmed with fur, is embroidei'ed the cross of St. George.
On his head, contrasting oddly with the armour, the saint
wears a magnificent Tuscan straw hat, with a feather in it,
which has largely contributed to such popularity as the
picture enjoys. His sword hangs at his side, and in his
left hand we see what is apparently a walking-stick. It is
held horizontally across the body, so that only the portion
in the left hand is visible. The saint's attitude, with the
left knee slightly bent, and the weight resting on the right
leg, is a favourite one with Pisanello, and is but a modifica-
tion of the attitude of St. George in the S. Fermo fresco.
As a representation of a saint the figure is far from success-
ful. In S. Anastasia we felt that we had an adequate re-
presentation, if not of a Christian saint, yet of a hero of
romance. The St. George of Pisanello's later years is a
mere cavalier of the time, a gentleman of the court of
Ferrara, who hardly appears to take even his armour
seriously. He has reminded many critics of Leonello him-
self ; but the only resemblance is in the short, crisp hair and
rather long-naped neck. The profile and expression are
entirely different. There is hardly more excuse for calling
him Leonello, than for the remarkable idea that in the
fresco of S. Anastasia the St. George is Leonello, the
Princess Cecilia Gonzaga, and the squire the squire of the
Marquis of Mantua.*

* Spaventi, p. 34.

156 PISANELLO

Of the heads of the horses we have ah-eady spoken (p.
86), and compared them — to their advantage — with those
in S. Anastasia. The forest in the background is one of
the elements of the picture that have lost most by re-
painting ; we miss the golden tints on the leaves, and the
mystery of the darkness between the trunks below ; the
little group of trees on the right of the St. Eustace, and
the inferior work in Bono's St. Jerome, serve to indicate
what the effect of this background may once have been.

It is hardly too much to say that the group of the
Virgin and Child is a blot on the picture. It is as well
that we should frankly admit that there is here very little
trace of that religious feeling which is distinctly present
in the S. Fermo Annunciation, and that the artist has not
succeeded because, apparently, he takes no interest in the
subject. In fact, the whole group is so utterly out of
sympathy with the two figures below, the conception so
commonplace, the execution — so far as we can judge in its
present condition — so undistinguished, that it seems
reasonable to see in it the work of a pupil carrying out the
master's instructions. But the lower part of the picture is,
if not Pisanello's best, yet entirely characteristic of him.

Here, then, we see the end of his development
as painter — a development of which the stages are
typified by, let us say, the St. Michael * of S. Fermo, the
St. George of S. Anastasia, and the St. George now before
us. The three figures — saint, hero, courtier — express
better than pages of description the course which his art
had run.

* The St. George is so badly preserved that his companion must
serve in his stead.

PLATE 43

■?riSS33n

STUDY FOR SS. ANTHONY AND GEORGE (COPY)

SonrniKiinl

Jiec. J'(f//<irf/i
Face p. 156

PLATE 44

^fi^ ' ***%^:,

STUDY OF VIRGIN AND CHILD (COPY)

Snuvanaud
Face p. l-")7

lii'C. ]'<ilhir<li

FERRARA, 1441-1448 157

Technically, of course, there is a steady improvement.
It is true that the old device of gilding over embossing is
still largely employed, as in the sword-hilt, the spurs, the
rivets and buckles of the armour, the bosses on the harness
of the horses, and the bits. But this is the only remaining
trace of archaism.

Some of the drawings which may be mentioned in con-
nexion with this picture show slightly different concep-
tions of the subject. The most elaborate is a rough
sketch * representing the Virgin, seated with the Child on
her lap, and four saints : on her left St. Catherine and St.
George ; on her right St. Anthony and a monk. There is
no composition in the sketch ; the five figures are simply
set in a row. Afterwards — if we assume that this
was a first idea for the picture — Pisanello got rid of the
two figures on the outside, and made a pyramidal com-
position by putting the Virgin up in the air, and bringing
St. George and St. Anthony closer together. A sketch of
two figures for this second scheme is extant (Plate 43).t
One, seen seated to front, holding a book in his hand, with
bare head, curly hair, and short, forked beard, is a much less
dignified figure than the one finally adopted for St. Anthony.
St. George, wearing instead of his Tuscan hat a tall
berretto, mail and plate armour, a fur cloak hanging at
his back, and sword at his side, stands to left. He has a
walking-stick in his right hand, his left rests on his hip.
From this to the arrangement in the picture was but a
slight step, but a step which effected vast improvements.

* Vallardi, fol. 157, no. 2631.

f Vallardi, fol. 173, no. 2633. The sketch is a pupil's copy of
the master's original.

158 PISANELLO

For the Virgin and Child also we have Pisanello's
sketch* (Plate 44), or rather a copy of his sketch by a
pupil, differing from the picture in many small details, as
the position of the hands and the cast of the drapery. It
has as a composition more strength and character than the
group in the painting, in spite of the harshness of the
drawing. This may be regarded as evidence in favour of
the theory already propounded that the execution of the
group was left to a pupil ; for, as we have seen, in the case
of the two saints, the picture shows a great improvement
on the sketch.

The attitude of St. George being characteristic of
Pisanello, it would be more accurate to describe some of
the drawings which have been considered to be sketches
for this figure as mere notes for general use. The way
in which the artist took notes of gentlemen whom he
saw about the court is perhaps best illustrated by a
sheet of delightful drawings in the Ambrosiana,f a por-
tion of which is reproduced in Plate 45. At the top
is a figure in a broad-brimmed hat which recalls the
St. George, and there are seven other similar figures
with wonderful hats and fur-trimmed cloaks. One of
them almost exactly resembles a figure in a drawing in the
Recueil Vallardi.J A ninth figure, the most beautiful on
the sheet, represents a youth in armour resting on a rock,

* Vallardi, fol. 130, no. 2623 v°. See above^ pp. 18, 19.

t Venturi, p. 124. The figure which Dr. Carotti there describes
as a study for the St. George of S. Anastasia I cannot identify,
unless it be the youth in armour ! Nor can I see here any face
recalUng Alfonso of Aragon. Three figures from this sheet are
reproduced in Heiss, Niccolo, etc., pp. 6, 15, 60.

I Miintz, Hist. I., facing p. 29 S (on the left).

PLATE 45

■'■.■•VTtX^SZrji

^ ^

S*^

l^
O

t— I

Q
P
H
w

?:^i
C

FERRARA, 1441-1448 159

his left leg being drawn up so that the foot is supported
against the right knee.* He rests his head meditatively
on his left hand. This sheet also shows two other figures
which can hardly be made out, and a study of a wingless
dragon, seen from above.

The cavalier standing at ease — this time with his left
hand resting on his sword — is found once more in a draw-
ing in the Albertina, which is, however, attributed by
WickhofF to a pupil, not to Pisanello himself.f

The sketches for the horses' heads have already been
mentioned in connexion with the S. Anastasia fresco.

This (with the exception of a medal of Pier Candido
Decembrio to be discussed in a subsequent chapter) closes
the list of extant works which can be associated with
Pisanello's activity at Ferrara. An Jdoration of the Shep-
herds, attributed to him, was in the Canonici Collection at
Ferrara in the first half of the seventeenth century ; for an
inventory of 1632 J has the following item :

" A Christ in the manger by Vittore Pisanello, with the
Madonna, St. Joseph, the ox and the ass, three Shepherds,
an Angel in the air ; has a black frame ; 30 scudi.""

The influence of Pisanello on the early Ferrarese school
has been incidentally mentioned already, in connexion
with Bono, who calls himself pisani disipvlvs on his picture
in the National Gallery. The fresco of St. Christopher in

* Reproduced, Heiss, Niccolo, etc., p. 60.

t Vienna Jahrb. xiii. p. clxxxii. (S. R. 20) and PI. III. ;
Schonbrunner u. Meder, Handzeichn. ii. 231 ; also Gaz. d. Beaux
Arts, 1894, t. ii. p. 209. Gruyer {L'Art Ferrar. ii, p. 27), speaks
of another representation of the same kind in the Bonnat Collec-
tion ; as it was not there in 1904, it is presumably now at Bayoune.

X Campori, Race, di Catal. ed. inventarii ined., 1870, p. lOQ.

1 60 PISANELLO

the Eremitani is also strongly influenced by Pisanello as
regards the landscape :* witness the deer foreshortened
from behind, the ground sloping rapidly up to a high
horizon, and above all the division of the hilly slope into
portions by lines of wood or hedgerows, exactly as in the
fresco of S. Anastasia. On the resemblance between
Bono's flesh-painting and that of the S. Anastasia pilgrim
there is no need to dwell further. But with all this proof
of the debt of Bono to Pisanello, we are unable to say that
he acquired any of the distinction and refinement which
were characteristic of his master.

At Ferrara also we meet with another of Pisanello's
pupils : Matteo de' Pasti, of Verona. We shall deal with
his career in greater detail when we come to consider the
followers of Pisanello in the medallic art. Here, however,
it is most fitting to mention the work which he did for
Leonello as an illuminator. The most important of the
artists working in this branch for the Este court was
Giorgio Tedesco (Zorzo de Alemagna), and in the breviary
— now lost — which he illuminated for Leonello he was
assisted by Matteo de' Pasti among others. Matteo, how-
ever, was not actually at Ferrara ; the entry in the account-
book for March 7, 1446, shows that Matio di pasti da
Verona Aminiatore was paid 35 gold ducats for having
illuminated 10 qumtemi of the breviary, and for his ex-
penses in having come three times from Verona to Ferrara
at his own cost.f

* See Kristeller, Mantegna (Eng. ed.). p. 7Z-

t See Campori, I miniatori degli Estensi (Atti d. R. Deputaz. di
Storia patr. p. le prov. Modenesi e Parmesi, vi. 1872), p. 247 f. ;
Venturi, Arch. Ven. xxx. 1885, p. 417 (in his Vasari, p. xiv., he
seems to confuse this breviary with the Bible of Borso d'Este in the

FERRARA, 1441-1448 161

The influence of the master on the Ferrarese miniators
is patent in such medallions as have already been mentioned
in connexion with the Palaeologus medal.* The Bible of
Borso d'Este also adapts the design from the reverse of
Pisanello's " Liberalitas " medal of Alfonso (Plate 59);
we have an eagle standing on a tree stump, with a dead
fawn below, t The miniature is attributed to Taddeo
Crivelli.

possession of the Archduke of Austria-Este) ; H. J. Hermann,
Viennsi J a hrb. xxi. 1900, p. 133,

* P. 112. Hermann {op. cit. p. 143) describes a figure of a royal
rider in the same MS. as Pisanellesque.

f Hermann, op. cit. p. 149, fig. 17.

CHAPTER XI

THE MALATESTA. GONZAGA, AND OTHER
MEDALS, 1445-144S

Of the two medals of Sigismondo Pandolfo Malatesta,
Lord of Rimini, which we owe to Pisanello, one is dated
1445. It is generally assumed that the artist actually
worked at Rimini. At present there is no proof of this,
and Sigismondo and his brother Novello may have given
him sittings elsewhere. But between the dates of March
1444 and August 1445, when we know him to have been
at Ferrara, there was time for him to visit Rimini.

The undated medal of Sigismondo is probably the earlier
of the two, for on the other he is described as arimini etc.

ET ROMAXE ECLLESIE (sic) CAPITANEVS GENERALIS, whilc OU

the undated piece he is merely arimini fani D(ominus).
The title of Captain General he received from the Pope
in 1445,* although he had previously, as early as 1435,
been made commander of the troops of the Church by
Eugenius IV. t But it is improbable that the two medals
are widely separated in date ; possibly, indeed, one had

* Battaglini (in Basinii Parm. Opera, 1784, t. ii. i, p. 69).
t Yriarte, Rimini, p. 90,

SIGISMONDO MALATESTA

JirifiHli ^fnsci(/)i

PLATE 46

LORD OF RIMINI AND FANO

Lead
Fulluu: p. 162

MALATESTA AND OTHER MEDALS 163

but just been completed when, having received the nev/
honour, he commissioned the artist to commemorate it on
a second medal.

On the obverse of the earlier (Plate 46)* we have the
bust of Sigismondo in right profile, bareheaded, and wear-
ing a brocaded garment, decorated with four-petalled
flowers, over a coat of chain-mail. The same flowers, usually
called roses, are used as stops in the legend. f On the
reverse the celebrated condottiere is represented at full
length, in complete armour, with visor closed ; he stands
to front, turning towards the right, and holds his
sheathed sword in both hands. To right and left of
him are small trees bearing four-petalled flowers. On one
of them hangs his shield, with the SI monogram (for Sig-
ismondo and Isotta) quartered with the Malatesta arms; J
on the other is his helm, crowned and surmounted by an
elephant's head adorned with an engrailed crest. The
elephant was the badge of the Malatesta, and the same
helm and crest, surmounting the escutcheon with the
monogram, form the reverse type of one of the smaller
medals of Sigismondo made by Matteo de' Pasti. The
signature is in the usual form, opvs pisani pictoris.

This medal yields to none of Pisanello's other works in
severe simplicity. Nor does any other portrait or verbal

* Diam. 90 mm. Heiss, PL V. 2.

f Even if they were meant for roses, they could not refer to the
grant of the "golden rose," which Sigismondo did not receive until
1466 (Yriarte, Rimini, p. 295). The flower, as one of the Mala-
testa badges, is plentifully used in the decoration of the Tempio
Malatestiano.

X Quarterly : i and 4, the SI monogram ; 2 and 3, bendy of six,
of which I, 3 and 5 are checquy or and gules, 2, 4 and 6 argent.

1 64 PISANELLO

description give a juster idea of this fiery soldier and
cultivated man of letters, who combined a brutal licence
in the satisfaction of his unspeakable lust with a deep
attachment to the brilliant woman who was so long his
intellectual no less than his domestic companion. The
whole charactei' of the man is expressed in the proud poise
of the head, the cruel but intellectual profile, the sensual,
tightly compressed lips, the indomitable jaw. The figure
on the reverse is felt to be a real living man through the
armour in which he is clad from head to foot.

At a somewhat later date, some worker in metal who
knew the history of Sigismondo thought that his connexion
with Isotta Atti should have been more directly and
obviously immortalised by Pisanello, and not merely by
the inferior medallist Matteo de** Pasti. Several specimens
consequently exist of a false medal, of which one side is
cast from the obverse which we have just described, and
the other from a medal by Matteo representing Isotta. On
this side the signature of Pisanello has been added in the
mould. That it is a forgery is sufficiently evident from a
comparison of the head with Pasti's portrait of Isotta.*

On the medal of 1445 (Plate 47)t Sigismondo, again in

* It is mentioned in Giovio's letter. There are specimens in the
Brera, in the Taverna Collection in the Castello at Milan, in the
Cesena Library (Yriarte, Rimini, p. 150), in the British Museum,
and doubtless elsewhere. They are all in a bad state, and late
castings, from 5 to 9 mm. smaller than the genuine medal of Sigis-
mondo. Heiss, pp. 21, 22. A statement of Maffei {Verona illustr,
ed. 1826, iv. p. 298) suggests that he had recognised the signature
on this medal as false : alcune ancora a lui posteriori ho osservato
mentire il suo nome ch' egli ebbe in uso di porvi.

t Diam. 102 mm. Friedlander, PI. III. Heiss, PL V. i. Fabriczy,
PL II.

SIGISMOXDO MALATESTA

Jkrliii

PLATE 47

CAPTAIN-GENERAL OF THE ROMAN CHURCH

Brome

Foil oil- jj. 1 G4

MALATESTA AND OTHER MEDALS 165

profile to right, wears plate over chain armour. The open
four-petalled flower is represented in relief on the shoulder-
piece, and is used to mark the beginning of the legend.
He is bare-headed ; his hair is longer and falls in a heavy
mass on the nape of the neck. The bust is set rather low-
down in the field, and the vacant space above and to the
sides adds curiously to the severity of the whole effect. On
the reverse we have probably an allusion to the capture of
Rocca Contrada in 1445.* Sigismondo, in full armour,
rides to the left on a horse whose head reminds us of the
reverse of the Sforza medal. He holds in his raised right
hand a general's baton. Ais helmet has a long plume,
but no crets. On the horse's trappings we see the familiar
flower. In the background, to right and left, are steep
rocks ; between them rise the towers of the fortress. On
the keej) is inscribed the date mccccxlv ; a side-tower
bears the shield of arms surmounted by the four-petalled
flower with two leaves. The signature is as usual, but
contained in three sunken arcs. The upper part of the
design, as on the Palaeologus medal, is enclosed in a linear
border.

The horse appears curiously long-legged and short
barrelled, nor has Pisanello been quite happy in his
attempt — for such it appears to be — to foreshorten the
neck by turning its head slightly to the front. Neverthe-
less it is only in comparison with other work of his own
that this reverse can be called unsuccessful.

Another Malatesta, Domenico, known as Novello ("the
younger''), a natural son of Pandolfo HI., was pourtrayed by
Pisanello on a medal which it is generally assumed was

* Yriarte, Rimini, p. 126.

1 66 PISANELLO

made about 1445.* When fighting against Francesco
Sforza at Montohno (Pausula) in 1444, Novello was nearly
taken prisoner. It is said that he vowed, if he escaped, to
dedicate a hospital to the Holy Crucifix, and the reverse
of the medal has been explained as an allusion to this vow,
Avhich he afterwards fulfilled at Cesena.j

On the obverse of this, one of the most attractive of
all the works of Pisanello (Plate 48),! the bust of the

* He was born in 1418. Friedlander (p. 33) thinks that he looks
younger than twenty-seven on the medal ; but it is needless to
insist on the deceptiveness of such appearances. Where the
medal was made we do not know. I note that in the same cabinet of
the Este guardaroba, which contained the portraits of Leonello, was
" un altro quadro grande dove e suso la figura del Sig*^* Domenego
da Cesena " (Campori, RaccoUa, p. 30).

t See Venturi, p. 81. The battle and Novello's escape are de-
scribed by Simoneta, Rev. Gest. Fr. Sfortiae, Lib. viii. (Muratori, xxi.
pp. 354 f.), but without the incident of the vow. Cp. also Yriarte,
Rimini, pp. 300 f. Sc. Chiaramonte (in Graevius, Thes. Hal.,
vii. ii. pp. 423 f.) assigns the foundation of the hospital to the period
after 1448. If he is right, the medal cannot commemorate the fulfil-
ment of the vow, as Braschi {Mem. Caesen, p. 296) and Venturi
suppose.

% Diam. 85 mm. Friedlander, PI. II. Heiss, PI. VI. i. Fabriczy,
PI. HI. The supposed sketch for the reverse of this medal at INIunich
is a poor German drawing of the early sixteenth century, and is a tra-
vesty of the original. The crucifix occupies the middle of the picture,
and is to the front ; Novello, with bare head, kneels to the left ;
behind him, on the right, is his horse in left profile tied to a tree in
leaf ; two other trees and a landscape in the background. Of
drawings in the Recueil Vallardi, the sketches of a crucifix and of
hands fastened to a cross (fol. 163, no. 2368) are not for this medal,
but probably for the St. Eustace. On fol. 171, No. 2378 (H, de
Chennevieres, Dessins du Louvre, Ec. Hal., Pisan, PI. 2 ; B. de
Tauzia, Dessins, 1888, p. 57, No. 1999) is a horse foreshortened from
behind, branded with a circle surmounted by across (compare the
ornament worn by a man on fol. 86, No. 2339) ; it differs from the

MALATESTA NOVELLO

rictorid iiikI Allii-rt MK^ciim

PLATE 48

LORD OF CESENA

Bronze
Follow p. 166

MALATESTA AND OTHER MEDALS 167

yomig lord of Cesena is represented in left profile. The
inscription, which is metrical, is divided into two parts ;
one (dvx eqvitvm praestans) occupies an arc above the
head ; the remainder is placed across the field in two lines,
broken bv the bust. This arrano-ement, which we have
noticed on the marriage-medal of Leonello d^Este, recurs
on the medals of Gianfrancesco and Ludovico Gonzaga,
and of Alfonso of Aragon. The reverse, signed as usual,
represents Novello fully armed, kneeling in prayer before
a crucifix, which he clasps in his hands ; the Christ bends
forward in acknowledgment of his vow. Novello's charger,
skilfully foreshortened from behind, stands fastened to a
leafless tree ; another tree, also bare, grows on the rocks
to the right.

This medal gains enormously in attraction from the
inevitable comparison with those of Novello's elder brother.
The gentle, refined beauty of the profile, and the pathos of
the admirable composition of the reverse are in striking
contrast with the relentless severity of the Sigismondo
medals. We are too ready, in dealing with the work of
Pisanello's maturity, to forget that in S. Fermo he had
produced a picture full of deep religious feeling. Time
and the company of courts had given him other interests,
and when he had to depict a conventional subject like the
Madonna of the National Gallery panel, his heart may
not have been wholly in the work. But who can deny
that this medal is penetrated with religious emotion, or

horse on the medal in standing three-quarters right, and in not
having its tail tied up. On the other hand, the horse on fol. 231,
No. 2444, although unsaddled, resembles Novello's in position and in
the dressing of the tail.

1 68 PISANELLO

fail to wonder at the universality of the artist who repre-
sents with equal fidelity the pagan licence of Sigismondo
and the devout simplicity of his brother ?

In addition to the documents cited in an earlier chapter,
no fewer than four medals, which now fall to be con-
sidered, indicate that Pisanello, while so busily employed
at Ferrara in the forties, kept up his connexion with the
Gonzaga family, although it is improbable that he spent
any long time at Mantua after 1444. For the production of
medals nothing like the same length of sitting was re-
quired as for painted portraits, and the actual work of
finishing the model and casting from it could be done by
the artist at home.

Gianfrancesco Gonzaga died late in 1444, and was suc-
ceeded by his son Ludovico. Of both men, as well as of
Gianfrancesco's daughter Cecilia, we have medals ; the last
is dated 1447. It is a moot point whether the medal of
Gianfrancesco was made in his lifetime, or posthumously.
The balance of evidence seems to indicate the latter alter-
native. The resemblance between the medals of father
and son is so striking that we can hardly place any interval
of time between them. In arrangement of legend the
obverses correspond exactly with each other. Now it might
be urged that, if we suppose Gianfrancesco's medal to
have been made first, that of Ludovico was assimilated to
his father's. But the two obverses also correspond with
others, such as the marriage-medal of Leonello and the
medal of Malatesta Novello, which are not earlier than
1444. It is true that Gianfrancesco is called CapHiouus
MaximiLs Armig^eronun. He was appointed Capitano
Generale by the Venetian Republic in 1433, and did not

/ A. t

[7-v^M>^'(/o7

;^^

^ k

< N

JJri/isli Museum

GIANFRANCESCO GONZAGA

PLATE 49

FIRST MARQUIS OF MANTUA

JJniir.e
Fill loir f. 168

MALA.TESTA AND OTHER MEDALS 169

use the title after the end of 1437. Were the medal made
during his life-time, we should accordingly feel compelled to
date it not later than 1437. But comparison with the
style of the Palaeologus medal alone reduces such a date to
an absurdity.* On the other hand, when Gianfrancesco was
dead, there was no reason why the honourable title which he
had for some time borne should not be used to describe him.
We may add — without however insisting too much on the
point — that his titleytr^^ Marquis of Mantua is the more sig-
nificant if the second Marquis had already succeeded him.
We conclude therefore that the medal of Gianfrancesco f
was cast shortly after his death ; that is to say, between
1445 and 1447. The bust (Plate 49) is in profile to left,
wearing a brocaded dress, and a curious hat, of which the
brim and crown are apparently of fur, the sides being fluted.
Across the field is his name iohannes franciscvs de gon-
ZAGA in two lines ; above, capit. maxi. armigerorvm ; below,
PRiMvs MARCHio MANTVE. On the rcversc the Marcjuis,
wearing a similar hat, armed, and carrying a generaPs
baton, is seated on a horse ambling to left. Behind him is
a small squire on a horse in Pisanello's favourite attitude,
foreshortened from behind. The signature fills the space
between the two riders ; in the vacant space to the left is
inserted a circular door-knocker.

* Venturi (p. 80), presumably feeling that the medal cannot be
earlier than 1438, suggests that it was cast about that time. But
he points out that though Gianfrancesco calls himself by the title
down to November 1437, from 1438 he does not use it. Rossi
{Arch. Sioy. dell' Arte, i. 1888, p. 455) also thinks that the medal is
not posthumous.

t Diam. 100 mm. Heiss PI. VI. 2 (this specimen has been some-
what retouched).

I70 PISANELLO

Some interesting studies are extant, representing various
ideas for the reverse of the medal. Of these, one said to be
at Oxford represents the idea finally adopted.* Very near
to it is a drawing at Milan. Neither of these, however, is
above suspicion ; but no doubt attaches to the spirited
and telling sketch in the Recueil Vallardi (Plate 5o),t
which represents the Marquis accompanied by his daughter
and a numerous escort in a mountainous landscape.

The bust on Gianfrancesco''s medal was, like many other
of Pisanello's portraits, the origin of later representations
of the Marquis. Thus it is adapted on one of the panel-
reliefs in the Gallery of the Ancestors in the Ducal Palace
at Sabionetta,! and in paintings of a later date.§ It is
especially interesting to find that in the fourth and later
states of Rembrandt's " Three Crosses," the rider on the
left of the central cross is taken directly from the reverse
of the medal; II the figure was copied straight on to the
copper, so that it appears turned to the right.
The obverse of the medal of LudovicoGonzaga^ (Plate5i)

* Heiss, p. 24. This drawing is not in the University Galleries,
and ]\Ir. Sidney Colvin tells me that he has not seen it in the Christ
Church Collection. Judging from Heiss's reproduction— if that is
allowed — I am inclined to doubt whether it is an original ; the
treatment of the ground is not in Pisanello's manner, and the drawing
lacks spirit. The Milan drawing is described by Carotti in Venturi,
p. 123 ; its genuineness is doubtful. Of the sketches described as*
portraits of Gianfrancesco, Vail. fol. 20, No. 2276 (above, PI. 28),
is Niccolo d'Este; and His de la Salle, No. 81 (B. de Tauzia, Notice . . ,
His de la Salle) is not certainly identified.

t Fol. loi, No. 2595 v'^, Heiss, p. 23,

X Gaz. d. Beaux Arts, 1898. t. 19, p. 19,

§ Kenner, Yicwm. Jahrb., xvii. pp. 181 f., No. 43.

il Berlin Jahrh., ii. p. 258 ; xv. p. 178.

If Diam. 103 mm. Friedlander, Pi. VI. Heiss, p. 25, PI. VH. i.
The illustration in PI. 51 is from the lead specimen in the British

PLATE 50

Sauvanaud

GIANFRANCESCO GONZAGA AND SUITE

liec. Vallardi
Face 2). 170

Zj^ MlQ

\\/\M)\/\„

CON/

hQ--

ilM/xH \

LUDOVICO GONZAGA

Ilrifi^li Mii.-i< inn

PLATE ol

SECOND MARQUIS OF MANTUA

Ltad

FdUinr pi. .JU

MALATESTA AND OTHER MEDALS 171

shows his bust in left profile, bare-headed, and wearing
shoulder-pieces of plate armour. As he is called capitanevs
ARMiGEROiivM, it is probable that the medal was made in
1447 ^^' 144^9 when Ludovico was using the title of Capi-
tano Generale, conferred upon him by the Florentines.* The
legend, which is rhythmical, is arranged exactly as on his
father's medal. On the reverse, we see the Marquis on his
powerful charger pacing to the right. He is clad in full
armour ; his helmet, with visor closed, is surmounted by a
globular crest. He rests his commander's baton on his
right knee. In the field are placed a sun,^ and a sunflower
turning towards it. The stony ground is represented in the
way characteristic with the medallist, whose signature fills
the space between the sun and the horse's crupper. The
horse is a splendid, heavily-built, tall animal,;|: in many
ways finer than Gianfrancesco's charger. The design is an
excellent instance of the combination of convention and
realism at which the medallist should aim. Later artists
regarded the field of the medal in the same way as a
painter regards the surface of his panel or canvas ; the
upper part must be filled by sky or some sort of back-
ground. Pisanello, on the other hand, deals with his space
in the same way as a Greek vase-painter or coin-engraver of

jNIuseum, which perhaps was once hi the cabinet of Alfonso of
Aragon ; for, incised on the shoulder-piece, we see AA (in con-
temporary lettering) surmounted by a crown.

* Venturi, p. 8i.

t Ludovico used the sun as the type of some of his small
silver coins.

X Weizsacker, Berlin Jahib., vii. p. 52. The head of the horse,
Rec. Vallardi, fol. 147, No, 2358, can hardly be a sketch for this horse ;
nor are the helmets on fol. 51, No. 2295, meant for this medal {Gaz.
d. Beaux Arts, 1894, t. 11, p. 416).

172 PISANELLO

the best period. The vacancies are filled with adjuncts
which are simply set on the plane surface ; the artist does
not disturb himself as to how they could be supported
where they are. Yet Pisanello's treatment of the ground
gives depth and solidity to the picture.

When in 1465 the porticoes surrounding the court of
the palace of the Bentivogli at Bologna were being de-
corated with portraits of distinguished persons of the
ancient and contemporary world, the medal of Pisanello
was taken as the model for the medallion of Ludovico.* It
was also the source of later painted portraits. f A fine
medal of Ludovico was made between 1452 and 1457 ^y
the artist who signs himself Petrus clomo Fani (Plate 70).
He is undoubtedly inspired by Pisanello, but at the same
time shows considerable power and originality. The influence
of the master is perceptible in the restrained dignity and
simple modelling of the portrait, and not in the borrow-
ing of motifs. In this respect Pietro da Fano contrasts
favourably with Sperandio, who somewhat shamelessly
adapted Pisanello's reverses to suit his own purposes.]:

The most beautiful of the Gonzaga medals is un-
doubtedly that which Pisanello made for Cecilia, the
charming and cultivated pupil of Vittorino da Feltre.

* Letter of Bernardinus Benedusius, May 2?>, 1465. Rossi, Arch.
Star, deir Arte, i. 1888 p. 455.

f Kenner, op. cit. p. 183, No. 45.

X Cp. his medals of Carlo Grati and Giov. Bentivoglio II. (PI. 74) ;
on the former we have a parody of the medal of JSIalatesta Novello, on
the latter a close copy of the reverse of the Gianfrancesco Gonzaga
medal. One would not complain of these borrowings, did not the care-
lessness of the workmanship indicate that they were prompted by
indolence as much as by admiration.

Hrithli Musetitn

CECILIA GONZAGA

PLATE 52

DAUGHTER OF GIANFR. GONZAGA

Lead

Follmr p. 172

MALATESTA AND OTHER MEDALS 173

Born in 1425 or 1426, she was destined to be the wife of
Oddantonio di Montifeltro, but preferred to take the
veil. This she did, we are told, in 1444 ; * nevertheless
Pisanello has represented her in 1447 in ordinary secular
dress. This fact, however, is hardly sufficient to prove
that the accepted date for her retirement is wrong.
Pisanello is content to indicate her seclusion from the
world by the inscription ctcilia virgo, and by the
symbolism of the reverse.

The obverse (Plate 52)"f represents Cecilia in half- figure
to the left. The treatment closely resembles that which
we have seen in the portrait of Ginevra d'Este, but the
lines of the figure are very much more beautiful, and the
contour of the head, thanks chiefly to the more becoming
method of dressing the hair, leaves little to be desired.
We notice, however, the same slight stiffness in the hang
of the arm, due presumably not to the artist but to the
fashion of carriage which was prevalent at the time. The
forehead is not left completely bare, as we find it in so
many contemporary portraits. In its innocent charm, the
face is quite equal to that of Ginevra d'Este ; nevertheless,
it is the face of a woman in her twenty-third year, a
cultivated Greek and Latin scholar. There could be no
greater compliment to the excellence and wholesomeness
of the teaching of Vittorino than this portrait of his
pupil.

The composition on the reverse symbolises innocence.
The rocky landscape is lit by a crescent moon, as it were

* Litta, Gonzaga, xxxiii. 75.

t Diam. 88 mm. Friedlander, PI. V. Heiss, PI. VII. 2.
Fabric zy, PI, IV,

174 PISANELLO

in contrast with the sun in whose light the maiden's
brother Ludovico goes forth to war. A half-draped
girlish figure, seated in quiet meditation, lays her left
hand on the head of a great unicorn, which is couched
beside her. The upright figure of the girl is balanced by
a cippus, inscribed with the artist's signature and the date
MCcccxLvii. The perfect felicity of the composition — the
upright lines of the human figure and the cippus contrast-
ina- with the horizontal of the recumbent monster — is
attained in defiance of all academic rule. By such rule, it
would be difficult to justify the insertion of the cippus
either here or in the marriage-medal of Leonello d'Este.

The female figure is not meant for Cecilia herself; it
bears no resemblance to her, nor would the artist have
represented her thus half-nude. It is rather Innocence
personified. The unicorn was the symbol of purity, and
could, according to legend, only be taken alive by a young
virgin. As we shall see, Pisanello has made his unicorn
out of a he-goat, and in this fact — the long-bearded beast
being an emblem of wisdom — there may be a further
allusion to the learning of Cecilia.*

For the unicorn we have two interestins; studies of
recumbent goats, of which that in the Duke of Devon-
shire's collection at Chatsworth (Plate 53) is the finer. j*

* Heiss, p. 26. In connexion with this reverse, Venturi (p. 123)
mentions a drawing in the Uffizi, representing St. Justina seated, a
unicorn beside her, and three hunters with dogs who stop in surprise
at discovering her (Ahnari, Race, di disegni, Uffizi, 310). It may be
of the Veronese school (Both de Tauzia, Notice . . . Hts de la Salle,
p. 70), but hardly by Pisanello.

f S. A. Strong, Reproductions, of Drawings in the Duke of Devon-
shire's Collection, PI. 10 ; R. Fry, Burlington Magazine, iv. No. 10

PLATE 53

V
1

■ ' i^

;S™'^ . •

■• - -^; i^ '^■'

* ,'/'

" ^ • ^'

.■X-

-^V *

i2*:*j.

'-^..

...>^^i*

j'i

Vi^^X^'--'-

MALATESTA AND OTHER MEDALS 175

The apparent difficulty which the animal finds in disposing
of its legs in this position is admirably caught by the
artist. Eminently characteristic, too, is the way in which
Pisanello constructs his monster, merely replacing the two
curving horns of nature by the single straight one of fancy.
" Like Leonardo after him, exploring those reasons in
Nature which are not shown in experience, he does not
plunge at once into the possibilities of the unreal ; he
simply takes one step in advance on the line already
traced by Nature/'*

With the medals of the Gonzaga family we must
associate that of the man who had charge of the education
of its younger members. Vittorino da Feltre is perhaps
the most attractive character among all the Italian
humanists, as English readers may judge from the pleasing
sketch of his career by Wood ward. f He came to Mantua
at the request of Gianfrancesco towards the end of 1423.
From that time onwards he conducted the school in which
were educated the children not only of the Marquis, but
also of other distinguished persons, as well as of certain
poor people to whom V^ittorino extended his noble charity.
He died on February 2, 1446, in his sixty-sixth year,
having exercised on his time a far greater influence than
many educators who earned fame by their writings.

(1904), p. 5. For the Vallardi drawing (fol. 205, No. 2412), see Heiss,
p. 26. The head of a ram on fol. 194, No. 2397, has nothing to do
with this subject ; nor probably is the half-figure of a woman on
fol. 69, No. 2326, a study for the figure of Innocence.

* Strong, op, cit. p. 11,

t W. H. Woodward, Vittorino da Feltre and other Humanist
Educators, 1897. For his personal appearance, see Vcy^pasiano da
Bisticci (ed. Flor. 1859), p. 495.

176 PISANELLO

The medal * (Plate 54) represents the great teacher
wearing a tall berretto and plain dress. The face is of
singular beauty, the beauty of humane asceticism. Age
and Spartan self-discipline have worn but not hardened its
lines. The inscription, which is continued from obverse
to reverse, describes him as victoiuxvs feltreksis svmmvs

MATHE]MATICVS ET OMNIS HVMANITATIS PATER. In aU inner

circle of the reverse is the artist's signature. The type is
that of a pelican tearing her breast to give nourishment
to her young — an obvious illusion to Vittorino's single-
hearted devotion to his pupils.f

The medal is probably to be dated, at the earliest,
in the last years of Vittorino's life.| When Pisanello
was working on the medals of the Gonzaga family, it was
but natural that he should be commissioned to portray
their beloved master. We shall find reason to believe
that Pisanello also produced a panel-portrait of Vittorino,
which may indeed have been painted after the teacher's
death.

The Louvre posseses a painted portrait of Vittorino
which, although a poor piece of work, is interesting
because the head is carefully copied from Pisanello's
medal. The head indeed is the only part of the picture
that has any merit ; bust and hands, for which the medal
afforded no help, are stiff and wooden. It is a good

* Diam. 67 mm. Friedlander, PL III. ; Heiss, PI. VIII. i.

I A sketch of this subject in a somewhat different attitude is in
the Rec. Vallardi, fol. 195, No. 2398 (Heiss, p. 2-] ; Gaz. d. Beaux Aits,
1894, t. 12, p. 493).

I There is no evidence, I believe, for the earher date (Hfe-time of
Gianfrancesco) proposed by Rossi {Arch, Star, del/' Arte, i. 1888,

P- 455)-

PLATE 54

VITTORINO DA FELTRE

]'<rliii Mic^i'inii

Jironze
Face }). 176

PLATE 55

BELLOTO CUMANO

J!i r/iii Mnsvuvi
Facv [), 17 7

MALATESTA AND OTHER MEDALS 177

instance of the way in which uiedal'5 were u^ed as guides
for painting portraits.*

The reverse design of the medal seems to have attracted
later artists. Thus Guazzalotti copies it exactly for the
reverse of his medal of Pius II. f and Lysippus for his
medal of Marinus Philethicus.;|:

To the year 1447 belongs a small medal of Belloto
Cumano, a young man of whom practically nothing is
known. § The name Belloto, common in the genealogy of
the illustrious Paduan family of Cumano, was borne by a
son of Rinaldo, who was living in 1457, and is therefore
probably the youth represented on the medal. Basinio
of Parma, writing shortly after this medal was cast,
enumerates it (or a painting of the same person) among
others :

Bellot usque puer, sed non puerilibus usus
Artibus, ingenio notus et ipse tuo.

It is clear that he was a promising young scholar, possibly
a pupil of Vittorino. But we know nothing to connect
him with Mantua rather than with Ferrara.

The medal (Plate 55)11 represents him with a zazzeru^
and wearing a cap. On the reverse is an ermine or
weasel, moving to the left through underwood, indicated

* Salle des Sept Metres, no, 1628 ; inscribed vitorino feltren.
Friedlander's suggestion (p. 23) that it is the work of Pisanello
will not bear examination. Cp. also Ephrussi, Gaz. d. Beaux Avis,
1881, t 24, p. 170.

t Friedlander, PI. XXIV. 5.

X Fabriczy, Italian Medals, p. 160, PI. XXXIl. 4.

§ What we do know is due to U. Rossi, Arch. Stor. dell' Arle, i.
1888, p. 456.

II Diam. 56 mm. Heiss, PI. VIII. 2,

178 PISANELLO

by a few leafless plants. Around is the artist's signa-
ture (with quatrefoil stops), and above the animal the
date MccccxLvii. The ermine was a symbol of chas-
tity, and also emblematic of the man who listened much
and talked little.* But if the animal is a weasel, it
may be a canting type, for in certain Italian dialects the
names hellotula^ bellora, and others derived from the
Latin bellus, seem to have been used instead of the
Tuscan name donjiola.'f

The medal, though pretty, especially as regards the
graceful and refined profile, cannot be reckoned among
the artist's best achievements. The same is true of the
medal of Pier Candido Decembrio, to which we now come.J
Although it is undated, we are fortunate in being able to
fix exactly the time of its appearance. On August 19,
1448, Leonello d'Este wrote as follows to Decembrio, in a
letter which has already been mentioned :§

" Leonello Marquis of Este to P. Candido greeting.
At last we have wrested from the hands of Pisano the
painter the coin with your likeness, and send it to you
herewith, keeping a copy thereof, in order that you may
understand how highly we esteem you and all that con-
cerns you."

The medal (Plate 56)!] represents the distinguished

* Cp. Ul. Aldrovandi dc quadrup. digit, vivip., p. 321 (Bologna,

1637)-

t Cp. Heiss, p. 28.

X Although it was made at Ferrara, it is considered here rather
than in the previous chapter, since it has only an accidental con
nexion with Leonello.

§ Above, p. 142. Published by Venturi, p. 58.

II Diam. 80 mm. Heiss, PI. II. Friedlander, p. 40, No. 26.

PLATE 56

!5 ^

'pi
o

o
o

d
w
o
w

MALATESTA AND OTHER MEDALS 179

scholar and statesman in the prime of life. He was born
about 1399, became Professor of Greek and Latin at
Milan, and enjoyed the favour of Filippo Maria Visconti.
After his patron"'s death he filled the position of Secretary *
to the Milanese Republic (August 14, 1447, to February
26, 1450). It is clear from the letter of Leonello that
there had been some delay over the medal. It is just
possible, therefore, that it was begun, or that the necessary
sketches were made, at the time when Pisanello was at
work on the other Milanese medals. But we know that
in the beginning of the summer of 1447 Decembrio went
to Ferrara on behalf of Visconti, and did not return to
Milan until about the middle of September.f It is there
fore more probable that the medal was begun during this
visit.

On the obverse we have Decembrio wearing a cap and
plain dress. He is described as p. candidvs stvdiorvm
H VM ANITA Tis DECvs. The type of the reverse is an open
book, with eight markers between the leaves. On a
specimen in the Taverna Collection at Milan the words
LIBER svM are engraved on the second page ; this, and the
fact that the book rests upon a rock, may indicate, as
Friedlander suggests, that it is a Bible. Decembrio at
one time made a special study of parts of the Bible.|

Although the bust is fine, the medal is otherwise some-
what disappointing. The composition of the obverse is
overcrowded ; the double arcs of lettering inconvenience
the bust, and the lettering itself loses in decorative value

* See M. Borsa, P. Candido Decembrio e I'Umanesimo in Lom-
bardia, in Arch. Star. Lomb., 1893, p. 364.

•f M, Borsa, op. ctL pp. 359, 362. J Borsa, p, 402.

1 8o PISANELLO

through lack of space — a fault which iii also discernible on
the medal of Vittorino da Feltre. In some ways the reverse
is better than the obverse ; for although at first sight the
idea does not seem original, it is redeemed from common-
placeness by the treatment of the rock and of the marking-
ribands.*

* On the specimen illustrated by Heiss, as on that in PI. 56, the
lettering is of a character foreign to Pisanello's medallic style, with
sharply indicated serifs, and an elegance not preferable to the
severity of his usual forms. This character is apparently due to later
chasing.

CHAPTER XII

DOUBTFUL AND LOST PORTRAITS

We have now dealt with all the extant medals which can
with certainty be attributed to Pisanello, except those
which he was to produce during his activity at Naples in
the service of Alfonso. This is the most convenient place
in which to discuss the two medals to which we owe our
knowledge of the master's personal appearance, as well as
certain works (medals, or in some cases more probably
paintings) which are mentioned by his contemporaries, but
have since disappeared.

Of the two medals (Plate 57) with the artist's portrait,
the larger * represents him in the prime of life, wearing a
high, soft berretto, much crumpled, and a brocaded dress.
On the other "f he is bare-headed, and considerably older,
and the type is enclosed in a border of dots, such as we
find in no other certainly authentic medal by Pisanello.;|:
Both describe him as pisanvs pictor, and have more or less

* Diam. 57 mm. Friedlander, PI. T.

•]■ Diam. 33 mm. For the cast of this medal I have to thank
M. Valton.

J For there are independent reasons to doubt the genuineness of
the smallest medal of Leonello d'Este : see above, p. 147.

1 82 PISANELLO

the same reverse. On the larger the field, which is
enclosed in a wreath, contains merely the letters f • s . k • i •
p • F • T • in two lines, with small laurel-sprays at the begin-
ning and end of the second line, and a larger spray rising
from the bottom of the wreath. On the smaller we have
the same letters in a wreath, but the sprays are omitted,
and a branch of laurel separates the two lines. The
letters are the initials of the seven virtues, Fides, Spes,
Karitas, lustitia, Prudentia, Fortitudo, Temperantia.*

In a work, de Sculptura, first published in 1504,
Pomponius Gauricus, in a sentence of Plinian crabbedness,
mentions among sculptors of his time " Pisanus pictor in
se celando ambiciosissimus."*|- It follows, therefore, that
Gauricus believed Pisanello to have made a medal of him-
self (caelare, of course, denoted any form of modelling and
chasing on a small scale in metal). Further, w^e know
that this medal was in existence before 1467. J In that
year Pope Paul II. repaired the Basilica of St. Mark, and
on some of the leaden tiles made on this occasion were
placed casts of the obverses of the medal which we are
considering, and also of the " Liberalitas " medal of Alfonso
of Aragon (Plate 59). The casts were apparently made
separately in the usual way, in matrices formed from
earlier casts, and then affixed to the tiles. § Paul II. (Pier

* Froehner, Melanges d'Epigraphie, 1875, PP- 79. 80.

f Ed. H. Brockhans, Leipzig, 1886, p. 254.

J H. Stevenson in Melanges d'Arch^ol. 1888, pp. 438 f. with
PI. X.

§ In the case of the Alfonso medal, there is a double impression,
the medal from which the matrix was made having slipped and
caused what in the case of struck medals is called a " double-
striking." It cannot, as Stevenson (p. 459) supposes, be explained

PLATE 57

«;-VA^>y^..^

i-s-rx'

t
' >

.1.

PISANELLO

British Miisciiiii nml M. \'(ill(iii
Face p. 183

llroirj'

DOUBTFUL AND LOST PORTRAITS 183

Barbo) was, as we shall see, an admirer of Pisanello, and
collected his medals. The fact discovered by Stevenson
disposes of the theory that the larger medal is a work of
the end of the fifteenth century. Finally, we have to
consider the question of style. The weight of the opinions
of the chief authorities is almost equally divided. Fried-
lander accepts the medal as by Pisanello. Of those who
are not numismatists, Morelli, Brockhaus, Umberto Rossi,
and Venturi are on his side. The lettering is in Pisanello's
style.

On the other hand, among numismatists, Armand and
Heiss decline to accept either of the medals. It is impos-
sible to deny the vigorous characterisation of the portrait.
But it is entirely lacking in the elements of dignity and
refinement which are to be found in all the signed medals
without exception. The fine brocaded dress sorts ill with
the shrewd, good-natured, but decidedly vulgar features.
Further, if we compare the relief with that of the signed
medals — in the absence of originals, this can best be done
by consulting Fried lander ""s admirable plates — we are at
once struck by a difference which is somewhat difficult to
define, but which is certainly there. On the other hand,
we find a somewhat similar treatment in the work of some
of the medallists who worked at Ferrara, notably in that
of Antonio Marescotti,* and of the creator of the medals
of Niccolo d'Este (Plate 27). In Pisanello's work the
effect of the silhouette is obtained by great subtlety of
contouring ; the outlines look as if drawn with a pencil,

as a case of actual striking from a die ; the apparatus available at
the time was not equal to work on so large a scale.

* Friedlander, PI. X. ; cp. also Petrecini, ibid. PI. XI.

1 84 PISANELLO

and the relief rises gently within their limits. In the
portrait-medal before us, as in the work of Marescotti and
others, the angle between relief and background is more
pronounced, and the plane of the background appears, as
it were, to cut the head in half.

The poverty-stricken reverse is in itself an argument
against assigning the medal to Pisanello. It is hard to
believe that the great naturalist, whose flowers and
branches, even where conventionalised, as on the medals
of Sigismondo Malatesta and Leonello d'Este, are full of
spirit, could have produced the ugly wreath. It is hard,
too, to admit that he who, above all other medallists,
possessed the genius of composition, should have contented
himself with a string of letters.* It has been suggested
indeed that, however vain he may have been, he would
hardly have attributed to himself all the seven virtues.
This argument, it must be admitted, cannot be pressed,
especially since the mention of the virtues does not
express a claim to possess them so much as an aspiration
of which no one need be ashamed. Some of his admirers,
indeed, credited him with nearly all of them, and I have
already hinted that certain lines of Guarino may conceiv-
ably be interpreted as an allusion to a portrait in which
the virtues were actually in some way indicated :

Cui {sell. Vemnae) decus et famam per longas porrigis oras

Cum te multimodis pingas virtutibus atque

Ore virum volites prudens, gravis atque modestus,

* We are reminded of Petrecini's medal of Gianfrancesco Pico
della Mirandola, with a reverse consisting simply of an in^^criptiou
in a wreath (Friedlander, PI. XL).

DOUBTFUL AND LOST PORTRAITS 185

Munificus propriis alienis fidus amicis.
Moribus ornatus pulcroque insignis amictu
Maxima Veronae reddis praeconia nostrae.

But at the most this can only refer to a painted portrait.
Basinio, who gives a nearly complete list of the persons of
whom Pisanello made medals, mentions none of the artist
himself. As to the testimony of Gauricus, it may be
accepted only so far as proving that the writer had seen at
least one of the two extant medals, that he thought them
works of the artist's own hand, and that he blamed the
assumption of a claim to all the virtues.* But as evidence
of the authorship of the medals the sentence, published
half a century after the death of Pisanello, is of no value
whatsoever.

There is, of course, nothing improbable in the supposi-
tion that Pisanello produced a portrait or portraits ot
himself; and we may well believe that in such portraits, if
they still existed, we should find the originals of the
medals before us. Whoever made them succeeded in
coming fairly near to the style of the master in all but its
higher qualities.f

The list of medals attributed to Pisanello, of which no

* The contention of Brockhaus (p. ']']) that the words of Gauricus
may perhaps mean " ambitiously intent on having his own portrait
carved " breaks down on its own subtlety ; for the phrase would be
pointless in the context, which is a list of sculptors and their works.

f Marescotti made a medal of a person of his own name, Antonio
Marescoto da Ferara. An unpublished variety of this medal in the
British Museum — unfortunately a very poor cast — has, in the portrait
bust, a strong suggestion of the larger medal of Pisanello, It is
inscribed antonivs, marescottvs. ferr. Attached to the obverse
IS a reverse of a later date.

1 86 PISANELLO

trace now remains, or which can definitely be proved to
have some other origin^ is lengthy. It will be convenient
to discuss them according to the authorities who mention
them. We have already dealt with the supposed medal of
Tito Vespasiano Strozzi (p. 137), and found that it was
never made and probably never contemplated.

An elegiac poem of seventy-eight lines in honour of the
artist was composed by Basinio of Parma shortly after
1447 :* Basinius ad Pisanum Pictorem inge^iiosum et opti-
mum. It begins with a pious wish that Pisanello, who
gives immortality to his sitters, who is the best of all
painters that have been, or are, or are to be, who has
represented Leonello and the Duke of Milan, may not
forget to portray the poet also. Then comes a list of
portraits : of Carlo Gonzaga, Sigismondo Malatesta, Picci-
nino, Sforza :

* It mentions a portrait of Belloto Cumano (whose medal is dated
1447), but none of the medals of Alfonso. Further, we may be fairly-
sure that it was composed before August 1448 ; for although the
argument ex silentio is treacherous, it would be surprising that other-
wise the medal of Decembrio should not be mentioned, where so
many other ornaments of the literary world find a place. Vv. 75, 76,
show that the poet was engaged on his Meleagris, which he did not
begin before 1447 (R. J. x\lbrecht in Roman. Forschungen, iv. p. 344).
The poem was written while Basinio was still at Ferrara, whither he
had come when still a youth, and where he was made Professor of
Latin in September 1448. In 1449, probably, he went to Rimini,
having lost the favour of Leonello (Battaglini, pp. 7, 12). The poem
has nothing to do with any possible visit of Pisanello to Rimini.
It has been re-collated by Venturi, pp. 56 f., from the unique MS.
in the Bibl. Estense, Modena, iv. F. 24, fol. 27, 28. An earlier
transcript, with facsimile, in Cavattoni, Tre carmi, p. 34. The MS.
is mentioned by Affo (Notiz. intorno la vita dc. di Bas., in Basin.
Parm. opera, 1784, t. II. i. p. 7).

DOUBTFUL AND LOST PORTRAITS 187

necnon Sforciadem saevis monstravit in armis
ut premit annates^ marte tonante, viros.

Further, the great teachers, leaders of the age, who live in
these marvellous portraits : Guarino, Aurispa, Hierony-
mus, the boy Belloto, Tuscanella, Porcellio (who is de-
scribed as the author of the Belhim Tliehanorum cum
Telehois\ Vittorino. Of the last, Basinio's own master,
there is an enthusiastic description. The poet then goes
on to celebrate the artist's power of depicting nature :
the wild beasts of the earth, the bright stars in the firma-
ment, dolphins leaping through the waves, trees bent by
the wind, and birds cleaving the air ; the eagle seizing
the timorous hare, the hounds traversing the haunts of
wild beasts, the stag raising clouds of dust in its flight ;
you may see the hideous bears that howl in the mountains,
and hear the voice of the tiger and the lioness ; there are
tawny lions fighting with boars, so lifelike that you
would think the struggle real. Then suddenly he turns
to a gentler theme :

Quin etiam teneras fingis, Pisane, puellas
Et niveam faciem purpureamque manum,

Et simulas pulchros gemmis duo sidera ocellos,
Et delinitos cogis amare procos.

If he would only portray for the poet his own Cyris, he
would devote his whole Muse to singing the praises of the
artist.

In dealing with the problems raised by this poem, it is
necessary at the outset to remark that we must not assume
that in every case Basinio is describing medals. In spite

1 88 PISANELLO

of the liint to the contrary expressed by Crowe and
Cavalcaselle,* more writers than one have made a list of
the names mentioned by the poet, and, subtracting from
it those which are found on extant medals, regarded the
remainder as representing other medals which are lost.
This process has sometimes been adopted with so little
intelligence, that a medal of Basinio has been included in
this group of lost works. Obviously, however, we can
only say that Basinio was anxious to have his portrait on
a medal by Pisanello :

ut puer aeterna celatus imagine vivam.

And, if these portraits were not always medals, we can
well understand why they have not come down to us.
Even the portrait of Carlo Gonzaga, although it is imme-
diately followed by those of Sigismondo and Piccinino,
may have been a painting. If the description of the
Sforza portrait may be taken literally, it suggests some-
thing more than the mere bust which we know from the
medal, with the horse's head on the reverse ; possibly he
was represented in battle. When we come to the vates,
quos vivos mira tahellafacH^ the use of the word tahella
points to paintings. The fact that a medal of Belloto
exists does not prove that there was not also a painting of
him, made presumably about the same time. In fact, we
must remember that the medal in those days largely took
the place of the modern engraving or photograph by
which a popular picture is multiplied. It is probably to
paintings, therefore, and not to medals, that Basinio,
at least in some instances, refers in connexion with

* Hist, of Painting in North Italy, i. p. 458, note i.

DOUBTFUL AND LOST PORTRAITS 189

Guarino, Aurispa, Hicronymus,* BelJoto, and Tuscanella.f
That Pisanello made a medal of Porcellio we know from
the reference to it in Porcellio's own poem, the date of
which we shall presently discuss. The description of the
portrait of Vittorino da Feltre ends with the following
lines :

Et legi ingenuis caelatum epigramma tabellis,

Dignaque tarn prisco carmina culta viro.
Istum non auri domuit scelerata cupido,

Non metus, aut animi cura nefanda dolus ;
Mille viros docuit sacras tractare camenas,
En alius Socrates solus et iste fuit.

Now the extant medal of V'ittorino has no verses on it.
The word caelatum^ it is true, naturally suggests a medal ;
on the other hand, tahellis points to a picture. May not
the solution of the difficulty be that the verses were
inscribed somewhere on or below the painting ? Nay, the
four lines describing the virtues of Vittorino have all the
air of a quotation, introduced as they are by the preceding
couplet. If so, then the painting, or at any rate the
epigram, was made after the death of Vittorino. Finally,
in vv. 69 ff., Basinio is clearly referring to paintings — such

* Perhaps Girolamo Castelli, a pupil of Guarino, who taught in the
Studio of Ferrara ( Venturi, p. 76, who mentions other identifications).

■f Probably Giov. Toscanella, Ducal Secretary at Milan, rather
than Paolo dal Pozzo Toscanelli, astronomer, physician and philo
sopher (Venturi, p. 85). For the latter, see La Vita e Tempi di P. dal
Pozzo Toscanelli (1894), by G. Uzielli, who (pp. 70, 71) virtually
retracts his older opinion {Boll, dell a Soc. Geogv. Ital., 1890, pp. 586 ff.)
that Pisanello represented the man of science. I have not traced the
authority for Kenner's statement (Vienna Jahrb., xviii, p. 140) that
Vasari copied a medal of this man by Pisanello.

190 PISANELLO

as that of Ginevra d''Este — -rather than to medals like
Cecilia Gonzaga's. since he lays stress upon the flesh-
colouring.

A portrait of the notorious Giannantonio de' Pandoni,
better known by the significant sobriquet Porcellio,* is, as
we have seen, mentioned by Basinio. We possess from
Porcellio's own pen a httle poem of eleven elegiac couplets,
i?i laudem Pisani Pictoris.'f He gives the customary lavish
praises of the artist's skill in painting portraits and
nature, and then of his medals : effigies humanas cwre
refuso. Of these he mentions two which are extant :

Aspice quam nitide Leonelli principis ora
Finxit, et anguigeri lumina vera Ducis.

He continues :

Mille alias finxit mira novitate figuras
Quas inter vivet Porcelli effigies.

The four concluding lines express the usual commonplace
about the artisfs supreme rank in the history of art.

Even if we suppose that the portrait mentioned by
Basinio was not the medal here mentioned, but a painting,
it is probable that the medal was made about the same
time. For it is certain that this poem must be earlier than
1449. Porcellio was secretary to Alfonso of Aragon. Now,
when Pisanello went to Naples, one of the first commissions
which he executed was a medal of the king. He would not,

* On this unpleasant variety of the humanist, see Ugo Frittelh,
Giannantonio de' Pandoni, Flor., 1900. The mention of his " Bellum
Thebanorum " by Basinio enables us to date it before 1448.

t Cavattoni, Tre Carmi, p. 20, with facsimile ; Friedlander, p. IS ;
Venturi, p. 62.

DOUBTFUL AND LOST PORTRAITS 191

while employed at the court, have set to work on a medal
of the king's secretary before this. On the other hand, if
the poem were later than 1449, the king's secretary would
hardly fail to mention his master's medal of that year. We
may conclude therefore that the medal of Porcellio was
contemporary, if not identical, with the portrait mentioned
by Basinio. Where Porcellio gave the artist sittings we
do not know. After his exile from Rome (about 1435) he
seems to have passed some of his time with Francesco
Sforza ; but Ferrara he was never allowed to visit.*

After the poems by Pisanello's contemporaries comes the
letter of Paolo Giovio to Cosimo de' Medici, quoted by
Vasari. Curiously enough, of all the medals there men-
tioned, not one is to be found among the genuine extant
works of Pisanello. In fact Giovio's statements are of
little value, and need not therefore be discussed at length
in the text.f To Giovio's six Vasari adds seven, for the
authenticity of which there is equally little or less to be
said.J

* Frittelli, pp. 32, 103.

t Friedlander, pp. 28 ff. The medals are : (i) Alfonso in armour,
rev. Helmet. (2) Pope Martin V. with the arms of the Colonna.
(3) The Sultan Mahomet, rev. the Sultan on horseback, with a whip
(this is the medal of 148 1 by Constantius, PI. 72). (4) Sigismondo
Malatesta and Isotta (this is the forged combination described
above, p. 164 ). (5) Niccolo Piccinino with a tall cap, rev. Horse in
armour. (6) John Palaeologus, rev. The Cross supported by two
hands (see above, p. 106).

t (i) Filippode' Medici, Archbishop of Pisa. He became Arch-
bishop in 1462 ; there is a medal of him with this title by Bertoldo
(W. Bode, Florent. Bildhauer, p. 302). (2) Braccio da Montone (see
above, p. 128). (3) Giangaleazzo Visconti (died 1402). The fine
drawing of him (Vallardi, fol. 67, No. 2323) is probably not mtended
for a medal, as it is not in profile ; nor, for chronological reasons.

192 PISANELLO

So much for the medals ascribed to Pisanello by the
older authorities. It is unnecessary to do more than men-
tion the erroneous attribution to him, by more recent
writers, of medals of Dante, Eugenius IV., and Cosimothe
Elder.* But an attempt to make him responsible for the
oval plaques of Leone Battista Alberti requires considera-
tion, as it has been made very recently by Venturi, and in
part accepted by Cornelius von Fabriczy. The plaques
are three in number. f The largest (Plate 58), which is in
the Dreyfus Collection, is a magnificent work, full of fresh-
ness and vigour, and of fine nervous modelling. The smaller
specimen in the Louvre has, on the other hand, every
appearance of being a copy. The modelling is tortured
and exaggerated — this is esDecially noticeable in details
like the swollen vein on the forehead.^ The drapery, too,

can it well have been done from the life. (4) Carlo Malatesta, Lord
of Rimini. Perhaps the medal of Novello is meant. (5) Giov.
Caracciolo, Grand Seneschal of Naples. Of this we know nothing.
(6) Borso d'Este. There are several medals of Borso, none by Pisan-
nello. Two drawings in the Recueil Vallardi may possibly be by
him (fol. 66, No. 2322, and 6^, No. 2314; Heiss, NiccoJo, etc., pp. 19,
20). (7) Ercole d'Este (only born in 1433). The medals of him are
all later than 1471.

* Heiss, pp. 39-41.

t On Alberti, see G. Mancini, Vita di L. B. Alberti, Flor., 1882.
For the plaques, Heiss, Leon-Bapt. Alherti, PI. i and 2. It may be
suggested that the winged eye which occurs on the Dreyfus plaque,
and also on the reverse of Pasti's medal, is an allusion to Alberti's
discoveries and contrivances in the way of optical illusions (Mancini,
pp. 1 10 f,).

X Herr von Fabriczy's opinion {Italian Medals, p. 34) is diametri-
cally opposed to that stated in the text, whicli has, however (so far
as concerns the originality of the Dreyfus plac^ue), the advantage of
being supported by Dr. Bode {Zeitschr. f. bildende Kiinst, November
1903, p. S7).

PLATE 58

LEONE BATTLSTA ALBERTI
Heiss, Lc>i ^[l (liiillciirs

tacc p. 102j"":j

DOUBTFUL AND LOST PORTRAITS 193

is treated in a bungling fashion. The third portrait, a
small oval medal, with the name of Alberti in a wreath on
the reverse, has still less claim to be an original.

As Bode points out, the shape, style of relief, arrange-
ment and treatment, especially of the drapery and hair,
are essentially different from those employed by Pisanello.
Still less do they resemble anything known to be from the
hand of Matteo de' Pasti. The analogies between these
works and Pisanello's medals insisted on by Venturi are
as nothing compared with the radical differences. The
matter may indeed be summed up in a word — the Dreyfus
plaque is not the work of a medallist at all ! Rather was
its creator an artist of extreme originality and force,
whose technique shows no signs of familiarity with the
precision and reserve inculcated by work on medals.
Why then should it not be the work of Alberti himself,
to whom it has been conjecturally assigned, and of whom
tradition says that he worked in metal as in every other
material ? * The work is entirely worthy of that universal
genius.

* Cp. the words : me qui pingendo fingendoque nonnihil dilector
(Alberti, Op. ined., Flor. 1890, p. 238).

CHAPTER XIII

PISANELLO AT NAPLES. HIS DEATH

Towards the end of 1448 Pisanello went to Naples, to
which his eyes had turned some years before (p. 123). It was
natural that the splendid court of Alfonso the Mag-
nanimous should have attractions for him ; and it is
probable that the king, as soon as he had established
himself in his Neapolitan realm in 1442, took steps to
bring to his court the greatest portrait-painter of the
time. But six years elapsed before Ferrara and Mantua
yielded to Naples.

That Pisanello arrived there before 1449 is proved by a
drawing (see Frontispiece) dated 1448, showing a design
for a medal of Alfonso, with which we shall deal presently.
But a privilegium of Alfonso, dated February 14, 1449,
grants him a regular salary in the service of the king.
The document has been a fruitful source of error; but
there can be no reasonable doubt that it refers to
Pisanello, and not to any other artist.* It is true that it

* Venturi, p. 59, from R. Camera della Sommaria, Privilegi, vol. 4,
^ol- 93. 94- He gives a history of the errors to which the document
has given birth. It was first pubhshed by H. W. Schulz, Denkm.
der Kimst des MittelaUers in Unteritalien, iv. pp. 184, 185, who gives

PISANELLO AT NAPLES 195

is headed " Pisanelli de pisis pictoris " ; but internal
evidence shows that it can hardly refer to any but
Pisanello of Verona. The erroneous description " de
pisis " may be put down either to the secretary himself or
to the copyist who transcribed the document. Although
the copy is attested as true by a notary, we do not know
whether this attestation applies to the heading.* The
name Pisanus would naturally suggest Pisa to the clerk,
who wished to be precise, and jumped to an erroneous
conclusion.

The tedious document begins with a profession of faith,
to the effect that princes should patronise men of genius
for various reasons. Having heard enthusiastic reports of
the singular skill of Pisanello in painting and in bronze
sculpture, and learned to know and admire his works, the
king resolves to admit him to the royal household, with
all the privileges of the position ; and, in order that he
may be able to remain honourably in the royal service,
grants an annual provision of four hundred ducats, to be
paid to him, or to his lawful agent, out of the salt-dues

the main document (No. 448) and also (No. 446) a brief abstract of it
with the wrong date, 1446. As it stands, the document is a copy-
abstracted from the original parchment written, signed, and sealed
by the king; it is attested by Peter de Casanova, notary public.
The heading " Pisanelli de pisis pictoris " — is this from the original,
or was it added in the copy ?— has produced one imaginary artist,
Pisanello da Pisa ; and from the phrase " de singulari et picture et
sculpture enee {i.e. aeneae) pisani arte " has sprung a second, Enea
Pisano ! The document has also been wrongly connected with the
sculptor Isaia da Pisa. The remarks of Rolfs, in the Berlin Jahrb.,
XXV. p. 84, in reference to Pisanello's activity at Naples, must be
corrected in the light of Venturi's investigations.

* On the baselessness of the supposed connexion of Pisanello with
Pisa, see above, p. 5.

196 PISANELLO

from the district of Francavilla in the province of the
Abruzzi.* The document is dated Puteoli, February 14,
1449. It was subscribed by Thomas of Rieti, the king"'s
secretary, and also passed through the hands of Don Inigo
d'Avalos (locumtenens of the grand chamberlain), with
whom we shall meet again. Apparently it did not take
effect until June 6.

Thus, then, Pisanello is settled at Naples. Those of
his extant medals which we have not yet discussed are all
connected with his sojourn there. Besides this, he may
also have been employed for various other purposes, such
as designing jewellery, and possibly works on a greater
scale. But the evidence for these must be gathered from
the drawings.

The medals of Alfonso — a series worthy of the magnifi-
cent king — fall first to be considered.

The finest of all (Plate 59)! is that which is known,
from the inscription on the reverse, as the LiheralHas
Aiigusta. On the obverse is the king's bust to the right,
clad in plate armour over a coat of mail. In front of the
bust is his crown, with the date mccccxlviiii in three lines;
behind is his helmet. It is adorned with one of his devices,
an open book \ seen from behind, and inscribed on its
covers with the half-verse vir sapiens dominabitvr astris.§

* Francavilla al Mare (Abruzzo Citehore).

t Diam. no. Friedlander, PI. VII. ; Heiss, PI. IX. Fabriczy,
PI. V. There is a specimen in silver at Madrid.

X Ant. Beccadelli (Panormita) de dictis et factis Alphonsi Regis
(Basel, 1538), p. 40: librum, et eum quidem apertum, pro insigni
gestavit, quod bonanim artium cognitionem maxime rebus convenire
intelligeret, quae, videlicet, ex librorum tractatione atque evolutione
perdisceretur, etc.

§ On this tag, see Burckhardt, Civil, of the Ren., p. 510.

Jirifisli Miixi'inii

ALFONSO I. OF NAPLES

PLATE 59

LIBERALITAS AUGUSTA

Lead
Fallow J). 196

PISANELLO AT NAPLES 197

These words, an allusion to the king's achievements in the
science of astronomy, are incised, and not visible on all
specimens. The main legend is arranged in an arc above
(mvvs ALPHONsvs REx) and in two horizontal lines below
(trivmphator et pacificvs).

The reverse bears the legend (in two horizontal lines
across the field) liberalitas avgvsta, and the metrical
signature pisani pictoris opvs on a sunken arc at the
bottom. An eagle is perched proudly on the stump of a
tree, at the foot of which lies the dead body of a fawn,
with a great gash in its side. Around are grouped four
other birds, three of them apparently vultures, the fourth
a smaller bird of prey. They are waiting until their lord
shall dispense their food. In the background is rocky
land, rising up to right and left, but low in the middle,
allowing the figure of the king of birds to stand out in un-
interrupted majesty of outline. At the top the design is
closed by a linear border, which, as it is only necessary for
the upper half, is finished off with a little turn where it
reaches the mountains of the background. The same kind
of border was used in the medals of Palaeologus (Plate 29)
and of Sigismondo Malatesta (Plate 47).

The meaning of the design, as an allusion to Alfonso's
magnanimity, must have been obvious to all who knew
the symbolism of the animal world. This moral applica-
tion of the eagle as the emblem of LiheraUtd is found in
the Fiore di Virtil from which Leonardo da Vinci copied a
passage in his zoological moralisings.* " Of the eagle

* See Gerol. Calvi in Arch. Stor. Lomb. xxv. (1898), fasc. 19.
The exemplum of the Eagle is cap. xiv. of the 1474 edition of the
Fiore di Virtu (c. xi. of Bottari's edition of 1740).

198 PISANELLO

men say that he has never so great hunger as not to leave
part of his prey to those birds which are around him, the
which, not being able to find food for themselves, must of
necessity court the eagle, since by this means they are
fed."* '

A manuscript f from the Aragon library, now at Paris,
and containing the Defence of Plato by Andreas Con-
trarius, reproduces on one of its frontispieces the reverse of
this medal. The small bird below and the outer bird on
the right are omitted, and other details are not very
closely copied. J On the same page are two medallions
with heads of Alfonso; but the artist has not availed
himself of Pisanello's medal.

The design of this reverse naturally challenges com-
parison with the group, on ancient Agrigentine coins, § of
two eagles standing on the body of a hare, which has been
rendered famous not merely by its own spirited beauty,
but by the aptness with which it illustrates a magnificent
passage in the Agamemnon of iEschylus. It has even been
said that Pisanello may have seen one of these coins. But
beyond the fact that both groups represent eagles and
their prey, and are superb, and perfect in their combina-
tion of naturalism with dignity of conception and skill in

* J. P. Richter, Lit. Works of Leon, da Vinci, ii. p. 317.

t Bibl. Nat, MS. Lat. 12,947 » ^^-s"- d. Beaux Arts, 1881, t. 24,
p. 178 ; Stevenson, Melanges de I'Ecole frangaise, viii. p. 470 ; a fine
reproduction facing p. 424 of Muntz, La Ren. a I'Epoque de Charles
VIII. Another medallion of Alfonso is on the title-page of the
Bibl. Nat. MS. Lat. 17,842.

X See also above, p. 161, for another copy of the same design in an
illuminated MS.

§ Th. Reinach, L'Hist. par les Monnaies, PI. IV. ; Hill, Coins of
Ancient Sicily, PI. VII., 15, 17, 18.

PISANELLO AT NAPLES 199

composition, how can we say that they are related ? The
spirit which inspires them is not the same, except in so far
as both artists aim at expressing a rehgious or symbolical
idea without being untrue to nature. What is more, we
must remember that the collecting and consequent study
of Greek coins, as distinct from Roman, was almost un-
known at this time. Such Greek coins as were prized
were usually those bearing portrait-heads, or having some
distinct connexion with a well-known king like Alexander
the Great.* The probability therefore that Pisanello
was inspired by the coin of Agrigentum is small. But a
comparison of the two works is none the less instructive,
for it shows at a glance how like and yet how far apart
were the styles of the best medallic artists of ancient
Greece and the Italy of the Renaissance.

Of studies more or less closely connected with this medal
there are more than one in the Recueil Vallardi ; but the
finest — one indeed of the finest of all the artist's drawings
— is a carefully finished pen and sepia study (see Frontis-
piece).\ Apart from the mere accident that the bust in
the drawing is to the left, the differences between the
study and the medal are instructive. The shoulder-piece
is decorated with the triple child's face, the emblem of
Prudence, which was used for one of the medals of Leonello
d'Este (Plate 35). The form of the shoulder-plate, with
its indented edge, is fantastic. The helmet is surmounted

♦ Beccadelli {op. cit. p. 39) describes Alfonso's own collection as
containing the coins of illustrious emperors, but of Caesar above all
others ; they were preserved with almost religious care in an ivory
cabinet.

t Fol. 61, No. 2307. Gaz. d. Beaux Arts, 1881, t. 24, p. 171 ;
1893, t. 10, p. 357 ; Heiss, p. ZZ-

200 PISANELLO

by a bat,* with outspread wings, and decorated with the
arms of Aragon (or, four pallets gules) crowned and
supported, on the sinister side which alone we see, by a
griffin.f The structure of the bafs wing is reproduced,
in a conventionalised form, in the shoulder-plate. In
front of the bust is the crown, more elaborate than
on the medal, and below it the date, which at present
reads in four lines, . m . | . cccc . | . xlviii . ] . hi . The
lower two lines are lightly erased. Apparently the artist first
proposed to put the date in three lines, and then tried to
see how it would look if the three units were transferred
to a fourth line. In the medal we see that he placed the
crown lower, dividing the date into two parts and creating
a better balance. For a similar reason he omitted the
bat, which tended to overweight the design by making
the accessory nearly as striking as the main object in the
design — the bust. So too he eliminated the fanciful ele-
ment in the decoration of the shoulder-piece. The result
is a design of great dignity and richness, but without any
of the fantastic features which are perceptible in the
drawing.^

* The significance of the bat (usually a creature of unpleasant
association) is obscure ; possibly, as it sees best by night, it may
allude to Alfonso's astronomical knowledge.

t The same arrangement, in a more elaborate form, is found on
Alfonso's triumphal arch at Naples.

I This medal was copied for a portrait in the Collection of the
Archduke Ferdinand of Tyrol (Kenner, Yienna, Jahrb. xviii. pp. 174
f.), and for a circular marble bas-relief (life-size) in the Museum of
the National Library at Madrid (Carderera y Solano, Iconografia
Espannla, I. PI. xlii.). The Rec. Vallardi contains numerous other
sketches of Alfonso. Fol. 63, No. 231 1 : bust three-quarters r.
(Heiss, p. 32). No. 2313 : various profiles, including one of Alfonso.

Jiritisli Mii.ieuiii

ALFONSO I. OF NAPLES

PT.ATE 60

VENATOR INTREPIDUS

Foliate p. 20U

PISANELLO AT NAPLES 201

Less successful than the Liheralitas medal as regards the
obverse, but equally fine in the conception of the reverse,
is the medal to which we next come (Plate 60).* It is
undated, but one of the Vallardi drawings,"f which is closely
related to it, bears the date 1449. On this medal the
king is represented in profile to right, wearing a loose fur-
trimmed garment ; below is his crown. The legend is
long, and completely surrounds the type.J It is placed
at some distance from the line which forms the border, and
is perhaps for that reason less satisfactory in effect. The
reverse shows the king as a boy hunting the boar. Repre-
sented in heroic nudity, he has leapt on the back of the
huge beast, which he is about to despatch with the hunting-
knife which he holds in his right hand. One hound has
seized the boar by its left ear ; another is visible on the
farther side. The contrast between the slight human
figure and the rough, bristly body of the boar is most
effective. Above in two lines is the inscription venator
iNTREPiDvs ; below, in the usual sunk arc, the signature,

Fol. 85, No. 2481 : profile r., with thick hair cut straight, without
the notch as we see it on most of the medals (Heiss, p. 32). On the
verso of this are three heads of eagles, and an eagle seen from behind ;
but none of them is exactly reproduced on the Liheralitas medal.
The heraldic eagles (fol. 258, No. 2485 ; B. de Tauzia, Dessins, 1888,
No. 1997) have nothing to do with this medal. Besides these draw-
ings there are others which will receive independent consideration
below.

* Diam. no mm. Heiss, PI. X.

t Fol. 61, No. 2306 : bust r., divvs • alphonsvs • rex
MCCCCXLViiii ; below, crown.

X It is to be expanded thus: Divus AlphonsusAragonumSiciliarum
Valenciae Hierosolymae Hungariae Maioricarum Sardiniae Corsicae
Rex, Comes Barcinonae, Dux Athenarum et Neopatriae, Comes
Rosciglionis Ceritaniae.

202 PISANELLO

opvs pisANi picTORis. The rocky background and the
linear border above are arranged as on the Liheralitas
medal.

Two other medals of Alfonso (Plate 6i) allude to the
king's triumphal entry into Naples on February 26, 1443,
and correspond in a way to the descriptions which the
literary men of his court produced.* The largerf repre-
sents the bust of the king wearing a cloak over chain-
armour; below is his crown. The legend (substantially
the same as on the Venator Tntrepidus medal) is arranged
in four lines across the field and in a circle around it.
On the reverse is a four-wheeled chariot, drawn by four
horses guided by two squires, and driven by an angel .J
A legend (from Exodus xv. 2) in four lines occupies the
upper part of the field : fortitvdo mea et lavs mea

DOMINVS et FACTVS EST MICHI IN SALVTEM.§ Bclow, On

some specimens, is the signature opvs • pisani • pictoris. ||
The design bears a superficial resemblance to that on the

* See Ant. Beccadelli, op. cit. pp. 229 f. : Alphonsi Regis Trt-
umphus ; B. Facio de rebus gestis ah Alphonso (Lyon, 1560), p. 185 ;
and V. Nociti, II tnonfo di Alfonso I. d'Aragona cantato da Porcellio
(Bassano, 1895). The last work is inaccessible to me.

f Diam. 1 1 1 mm. Heiss, PI. XI.

X Beccadelli (p. 230) describes the grand four-wheeled, four-horsed
car on which Alfonso rode ; five noblemen guided the horses and
marshalled the procession. Cp. B. Facio, loc. cit. : four white horses
draw the car, preceded by a fifth.

§ Cp. Beccadelli, p. 230 : " after this, in the name of Christ, the
true and most wise God, to Whom he always most earnestly desired
that all the praise and glory of victory should be given, he ascended
the car." Cp. also p. 239.

II The signature, when it does occur, is lacking in firmness and
regularity. Was it added in the mould by a less experienced hand ?
On the British Museum specimen the place is left rough.

.\'

)NIA:i'

)

:')i

loMSVv,\

'V t

ALFONSO I. OF NAPLES

PLATE 61

TRIUMPH MEDALS

Folloic J). 202

PISANELLO AT NAPLES 203

reverse of the medal of Heraclius mentioned in a previous
chapter (p. 10 1, Plate 26d). By itself, the resemblance
would be insufficient to prove that Pisanello had seen the
earlier medal ; but the similar analogy between the medals
of Palaeologus and Constantine makes it possible that he
is indebted to his Dredecessor.

The bust on the obverse of this larger Triumph medal is
repeated on at least two plaquettes.* The larger, in the
Dreyfus Collection, also has the crown below the bust, and
is an almost exact reproduction, differing only slightly in
the hair. The smaller, without the crown, is otherwise
nearly as close a copy. Whether they are from Pisanello's
own hand it is hardly possible to decide ; such plaquettes
could be made in indefinite numbers by casting from the
medals.f

The smaller medal (Plate 61) J referring to the Triumph
of Alfonso is unsigned. This may be merely for lack of
space, but we may be permitted to doubt whether it is by
Pisanello. The king's bust is to the right, suiTounded by
the legend alphonsvs • rex • aragonvm. There is no crown
below. On the reverse is the angel of Victory in a two-
wheeled car drawn by four horses, and the legend victor .
siciLiE • p . REGi.§ Both sides have linear borders. The

* Dreyfus Collection (octagonal, 90 x 60 mm.) and Vienna
Cabinet (oval, 62 x 58 mm.). Heiss, p. 31.

t They should be compared with other plaquettes such as those
made from Petrecini's medal of Borso d'Este (Heiss, Niccolb, etc.,

p. 34)-

J Diam. 25 mm. Heiss, PI. X.

§ Victor(i) Sicilie P(io) Regi, or Victor Sicilie P(acificator) Reg(n)i.

A small medal of Ferdinand, son of Alfonso, has the same type with

a different legend (Heiss, p. $6).

204 PISANELLO

work is rough. Apart from the general resemblance of
the bust to that by Pisanello and the correspondence in
the reverse types, there is no reason to assign this piece to
the great medalHst.

The Recueil Vallardi contains several sketches for medals
of Alfonso which seem not to have been earned out. One
sheet * has four little sketches with profile busts of the
king. On the reverses are triumphal cars (one of them to
the front, another boldly foreshortened three-quarters to
right). Three of them bear the legend trivmphator et
PACiFicvs, the fourth the legend which was used for the
larger of the Triumph medals.

On a second sheet "j* we have two more studies of medals.
One represents the crowned bust of the king facing ; on
the reverse are his arms, sketchily indicated in a floriated
lozenge contained in a quatrefoil. The second shows him
kneeling in armour, receiving the standard of Aragon from
St. Michael — an adaptation of the type of the Venetian
sequin, on which the Doge receives the banner from St. Mark.
At the king's feet is his helmet surmounted, it would seem,
by a bat. On the reverse are his arms, crowned, and
supported by two eagles.

Yet another design would have made a fine medal
(Plate 62).| Alfonso is on horseback, in armour, with a
broad-brimmed hat on his head. The horse is richly
caparisoned; on its head is perched a fantastic, swan-
like bird ; on its crupper is a putto holding the shield of

* Fol. 65, No. 2317. Heiss, p. 36 ; B. de Tauzia, Dessins, No.
1989 B.

f Fol. 65, No. 2318. Heiss, p. 36. B.de Tauzia, Dessins, No. 1989 C.

X Fol. 249, No. 2486. Heiss, p. 35. B. de Tauzia, Dessins, No.
1089 A. Gaz. d. Beaux Arts, 1881, t. 24, p. 169.

PLATE 02

Sail rami lid

STUDY FOR iMEDAL OF ALFONSO

Jiec. Vallardi
Face p. 204

PISANELLO AT NAPLES 205

Aragon. Above is the royal crown between two shields
(Aragon and Sicily on the right ; Aragon, Naples, Jeru-
salem, etc., on the left). This drawing is signed pisani

PICTORIS OPVS.

Sketches on two other sheets * seem to represent obverse
and reverse of yet another medal. On the one is a
circular design representing a dog seated, with head
reverted, among grass and flowers. On the same sheet the
dog is repeated on a larger scale. At the top of the circular
design is a floral decoration which recurs on the second sheet
above a circular design containing the arms of Alfonso.

Finally we may note a drawing f which represents an
eagle above an open book. The combination of these two
subjects suggests that the design was intended for a medal
or other work of art relating to Alfonso ; but the book is
represented lying open in the usual way, and not seen from
the back as in Alfonso"'s impresa.

It is probable that Pisanello's portraits of Alfonso were
not confined to medals. If, however, he painted any por-
traits of the king, they are at present lost or unknown.
It is true that a panel portrait has been conjecturally
assigned to him by Friedlander.;}: It represents the king
in half figure, facing, in armour ; on a table is his helmet,
at the side his crown and a copy of Caesar, de Bello Civilly
open at Lib. I. 38.§ The helmet bears the impresa of the

* Fol. 21, No. 2277, and 22, No. 2278.

f Fol. 195, No. 2398. Gaz. d. Beaux Arts, 1894, t. 12, p. 493.

X Pp. 22 f. Engraved in Seroux d'Agincourt (Berlin, 1840),
Malerei, p. 129, PI. cxliv., and attributed to Antonello da Messina (?)

§ The passage, except in so far as it deals with the beginning of
Caesar's war in Spain, does not seem to have any particular point in
connexion with Alfonso.

2o6 PISANELLO

book seen from behind. The same device is embroidered
on the curtain behind the figure. In the background is a
landscape. So far as it is possible to judge from an en-
graving, the connexion with Pisanello would seem to stop
short at the use of the helmet with the device of the open
book.

Two sets of drawings not relating to medals have
further been connected with the master's activity at
Naples. In the first place, the Recueil Vallardi contains
a certain number of ornamental designs for artillery which
bear the arms and emblems of Alfonso.* But for the
fact that these drawings are included in the Recueil, it is
difficult to suppose that any one would have thought of
assigning them to Pisanello, so rough and characterless
are they. The water-mark which occurs on two out of
the three sheets — a five-petalled rosette — is not found on
any paper which we know with certainty to have been
used by Pisanello.

Secondly, in the same collection are a number of curious
sketches of fantastic vessels, borne by dragons.-f De
Tauzia has suggested I that they were designed for the
fetes which Alfonso offered to the people of Naples, at
which naval fights took place. On the other hand,
Guiffrey points out § that on one at least there are indica-
tions of gems on the poop and prow, so that they must be
designs for jewellery. In any case, these drawings are no

* Fol. 49, No. 2293 ; 50, No. 2294 ; 51, No. 2295. For reproduc-
tions, see Heiss, p. 34; Gaz. d. Beaux Arts, 1881, t. 24, p. 175 ;
L'Arte, ii. pp. 352 f.

j- Fol. 43-48, Nos. 2287-2289, 2291, 2292.

X Notice . . . His de la Salle, p. 69.

§ In Venturi, p. 90.

PISANELLO AT NAPLES 207

more worthy of Pisanello than the sketches of artillery
above mentioned.

But that Pisanello's presence at Naples should remain
without influence on the art of the city it is hardly reason-
able to assume. And indeed more critics than one have
seen that influence in the sculptures of the triumphal arch
of Alfonso. Weizsiicker, for instance,* finds proof of it
in the treatment of the horses on the bronze gates. But
it is going far beyond our evidence to suppose f that
Pisanello actually supervised the construction of the arch,
as Matteo de' Pasti supervised for Alberti the construction
of the Tempio Malatestiano.

A distinguished member of Alfonso''s court, Don Inigo
d'*Avalos, son of Ruy Lopez d"'Avalos, Constable of Castile,
had accompanied the king to Naples in 1442. There by
marriage he became second Marquis of Pescara, and Vasto
was also conferred upon him in 1444. His portrait is
preserved on a medal by Pisanello (Plate 63).! He is
represented in right profile, wearing a broad-brimmed hat ;
a scarf is wrapped round the crown and descends in a
magnificent sweep to fall over his right shoulder. § The
inscription don inigo de davalos occupies the two arcs
behind and before the bust. No composition could be more
perfectly adapted to the field, no handling of the con-
trast between face and dress more harmoniously eff^ective :

* Berlin Jahrb., vii. pp. 56 f.

f With E. Bernich in Napoli Nohilissima, xii. (1903), p. 131. His
theory is rejected as unproven by Rolfs, Berlin Jahrb., xxv. p. 84.

X Diam. 83 mm. Friedlander, PI. V. Heiss, PI. VIII.

§ A similar head-dress (although the scarf does not fall to the
shoulder) is worn by one of the figures in the sheet in the Ambrosiana
already referred to (p. 158, PI. 45).

2o8 PISANELLO

the face, sensitive and refined, modelled in low and
extremely delicate relief ; the hat and drapery disposed in
bold masses, with strongly accentuated lines.

Quern non attonitum maiestas reddere possit
Oris, et obstupeat quis non in veste superba ?

This portrait is a compendium of the whole art of Pisa-
nello the portrait-painter as well as the medallist. Some
colour-effect, such as we see in the head of the St. Eustace, is
suggested by the disposition of the planes in the modelling
of this bust ; yet the design is not in any sense pictorial,
but remains truly sculpturesque. In such works as this
we see how true it is that in the medal the arts of painting
and sculpture meet.

The reverse is somewhat less successful. On a sphere is
represented the earth, with the starry heavens above and
the sea below. The earth is represented by a landscape
with conical mountains, high at the sides and opening out
in the middle to show the distance ; in the foreground are
trees and two cities. Below is the motto per wi se fa
(" for you is it made ") ; above, the d'Avalos arms (within
a bordure, a castle triple-towered) between blossoming rose-
branches. The signature fills so much of the circum-
ference as is not occupied by the arms.

A spirited drawing for the landscape of this reverse
fortunately still exists (Plate 64).* We see a plain, sur-
rounded by mountains capped by castles or churches ; a
large church with many spires ; a city and a lake with
vessels on it. Above, in the sky, shines a solitary star.

The motto per vui sefa and the two cities on the earth
♦ Rec. Vallardi, fol. n, No. 2280. Heiss, p. 29.

en
O

o
u

PLATE 64

r
>

o
o

<
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i.' AMI A'

^=51---

';m

^*\f'.

. . \

PISANELLO AT NAPLES 209

make it possible that the artist has in his mind the shield
of Achilles.* In the eighteenth book of the Iliad the
poet describes how on the shield the fire-god " wrought
the earth, and the heaven, and the sea, and the untiring
sun and the waxing moon, and all the signs that make the
crown of heaven . . . and on it he wrought also two cities of
mortal men, fair cities."" Of course there is no attempt
to represent the Homeric shield, as, for instance, Flaxman
attempted it. The artist is wisely content with little
more than an allusion, and entirely disregards literal
accuracy. It would, for instance, have been possible for
him to make the ocean surround the earth as Homer does.
But then he would have been confronted with the difficulty
of a composition involving several concentric circles.

Still, even if this explanation be right, it does not take
us far ; and it must be admitted that there is no attempt
at representing a shield. All that we see is a sphere repre-
senting the three divisions of the universe. It is the design
therefore of Achilles' shield, not such a shield itself, that is
indicated. But what connexion has this with the person
represented on the obverse ? We know how the medal
was interpreted in the sixteenth century ; for Giuseppe
Castaglione of Ancona, who was tutor of the young Tom-
maso d'Avalos, a descendant of Inigo, addressed a poem to
his pupil on this very subject.^ Apparently the poet came

* The suggestion is made by Giuseppe Castaglione in the poem
to be mentioned below. Cp. Friedlander, p, 40 : " at the court of
Alfonso, where the best scholars of Italy were gathered together,
such a reference is not improbable."

t Venturi, p. 6^ ; first published at Parma in 1690 (in the Miscel-
lanea Itahca crudita of Gaudentius Robertus) ; forgotten until re-
published by Friedlander, p. 17. Castaglione was tutor first of

2IO PISANELLO

across a specimen of the medal, unknown to him before ;
he was as delighted as Cicero when he discovered the
tomb of Archimedes. The artist " has represented by
mystic signs the excellence of the man in the arts of
peace and war ; for he has wrought cunningly Olympus,
and the constellations, and in the midst the Earth
with woodlands and wild creatures, and cities, and castles
twain on the mountain-tops, and below the coast where
the breakers roar, and the watery plains of Ocean, and
has fashioned the whole world for his hero. Such was
the shield which Mulciber is said to have shaped for
Achilles ; such does Martian Rome devise, stamped on
the yellow brass, for its Ca3sars, under whose laws the
whole world is set.''*

Such an interpretation would be more acceptable if we
were dealing with the medal of a great prince like
Alfonso. To Don Iiligo some less ambitious idea would
be more suitable ; but it has yet to reveal itself to us.

It is possible that the Recueil V^allardi contains yet
another trace of Pisanello's connexion with d'Avalos. This
is an exquisite little drawing,"f which seems to be meant for
a jewelled badge to be attached to a garment. It bears the

Tommaso d'Avalos, then of the sons of the Duke of Sora, settled
in Rome in 1582, became Governor of Corneto in 1598, and died,
probably, in 1616 ; see Niceron, Mem. pour serv. a I'Hist. des Hommes
ill., t. 42, p. 352 f.

* Cp. the bronze medallion of Commodus with tellvs stabilita,
where the Earth-goddess is represented with her hand resting on a
starry globe, past which file the figures of the four Seasons. Grueber,
Roman Medallions, PI. 32, i.

f Vallardi, No. 2273. A similar badge, on the verso of No. 2612,
bears, instead of wast, apparently the Gothic letter y twice repeated.
Is this the initial of Ynicus, as the name is sometimes written f

PISANELLO AT NAPLES 211

letters wast, which suggest the name of Vasto, the estate
conferred on Inigo by Alfonso in 1444.

When Pisanello left Naples, we do not know. The state-
ment made by Vasari in his first edition, that Pisanello
painted in the Campo Santo at Pisa, that he spent much
time and died there come in amatissima Patria sua, is
omitted in the second edition, and apparently worthless.*
There is some slight reason to suppose that he went to
Rome and died there ; but the evidence is unsatisfactory
in the extreme. It is true that among the drawings as-
cribed to him is a sketch for a medal of Pope Nicholas V.f
It represents Atlas bearing the world ; to the left, cross-
keys ; to the right, a tiara ; above, nicolavs papa. In the
corner of the same sheet is a drawing of a circular legend
nicolavs • PAPA V, without any type. The style of the
drawing is not however, convincingly like that of the
authentic sketches ; and the paper bears a watermark (a
pair of shears) which, although it became common about
1440, is not found on any of the paper used by Pisanello
that I have been able to examine. This drawing, therefore,
affords no evidence for Pisanello's presence at Rome.
Apart from this, however, we have a curiously puzzling
question as to whether he did not actually die there.

He was still alive when Flavio Biondo was writing his
Italia Illustrata in 1450.I '' Of men skilled in the art of

* Possibly, however, " et parimente nel campo santo di Pisa "
is a parenthesis, and Vasari meant to say that Pisanello died at
Rome. Of course, the omission of a statement in Vasari's second
edition is not a proof that he considered it wrong ; he did not re-
write his book methodically.

f Rec. Vallardi, fol. 65, No. 2319 ; Heiss, p. ^^8,

J Published at Verona, 1482.

212 PISANELLO

painting," he savs, " Verona had Altichiero in the last
century ; but there is one still alive, who has easily sur-
passed all others of our century in reputation, Pisano by
name, about whom there is a poem by Guarino entitled
Guarini Pis amis. ''"'

Guarino himself mentions Pisanello in a letter written
from Ferrara to his son Battista on December 13, 1452,
but unfortunately in a way that does not tell us whether
the artist was alive or dead.*

On the other hand, Bartolomeo Facio, writing in 1455-
1456 cZe vlris illiistribus, f in a passage which we have often
had reason to quote, speaks of Pisanello as dead.J

Thus we have to date the artist's death between 1450
and 1455. As we have no knowledge of any work what-
ever executed by him after 1449, ^® ^^^ naturally inclined
to approach as close as possible to the earlier date. The
matter is, however, much complicated by a reference in a
letter of Carlo de' Medici to Giovanni de' Medici on
October 31 [i455]§ "I had,'' he says, "a few days ago

* Brit. Mus. MS. Harl. 2580, fol. 88 ; Venturi, p. 64. " Thus to
my sense you have surpassed Zeuxis, Apelles, Polycleitus, and (to
speak of our own time) Gentile, Pisano, Angelo, in the art of painting,
and the more so because in the first place they painted or paint in
colours which are fugitive and disappear as the days go on," etc.
Venturi points out that Angelo is probably Angelo da Siena, who
died at Ferrara in 1455, i^ot Fra Angelico.

•f Published at Florence in 1745, p. 47. Venturi, p. 65.

X Malaguzzi-Valeri rightly rejects the identification of the artist
with the Pisanello who was receiving a salary from the Duke of
Milan in March 1456, as a purchaser of horses {Pittori Lombardi,
pp. 88 f.).

§ The date is quite certain ; see V. Rossi in Rendiconti dei Lincei
{CI. di Scienzi Mor., etc.), Ser. v. vol. ii., 1893, pp. 130-136. For a
history of the controversy about the date, see Venturi, pp. 62 f.

HIS DEATH 213

bought about thirty very good silver medals from a pupil
of Pisanello, who died a few days ago.* Monsignor di San
Marco, I know not how, came to know of it, and finding
me one day in Sant' Apostolo took me by the hand and did
not let me go until he had brought me into his chamber."
Finally, Monsignor (Pier Barbo, afterwards Paul II., who,
as we have seen, had Pisanello's medals copied on his roof-
ing-tiles) relieved the unfortunate Carlo of the silver
medals.f

Signor Venturi has pointed out that it is disputable
whether the clause che mori a questi d\ refers to Pisanello
or to his garzone. If to the latter, then we have no reason
to suppose that Pisanello was alive much later than 1450.

This, it must be admitted, is a piece of grammatical
subtlety. Why should Carlo mention the death of a mere
nameless garzone of Pisanello ? The death of the great
artist, on the other hand, would be news of some interest.
And would he call the man garzone del Pisanello if the
master had been dead some four years ? On the natural
interpretation of the letter, it would appear that Pisanello
had just died ; that one of his assistants had parted with a
number of medals, probably his late master's property ; and
that Pier Barbo used his position to secure them for his
own collection. On this interpretation we have no need to
force the sense of anything in the letter.

* " lo avevo a questi di comprate circa di 30 medaglie d'ariento
multo buone da uno garzone del Pisanello, che mori a questi di," etc.
It should be noted that these silver " medals " were not necessarily-
contemporary pieces ; they may as well have been ancient coins.

t In a letter of March 13, 1456 (Rossi, loc. cit.). Carlo says that he
will use all diligence in the matter of the medals, " but, as I told you
in another letter, there is a marvellous scarcity of them, thanks to
this Monsignor of St. Mark's."

2 14 PISANELLO

But if Pisanello died in Rome in 1455 we are confronted
with other difficulties. His hand, when we hear of him
last at Naples, has not lost its cunning — witness his
crowning achievements in the medals of Alfonso. Down to
that date, also, we have almost continuous records of his
movements. Yet we are asked to believe that for some
four or five years he produced no medals, dated or datable,
which are still extant, and that of the three or four
documentary records of his existence, for which we should
have a right to look, not one has yet been unearthed. Did
he suddenly break down, or, like Paolo Uccello, retire to
study perspective ? Can we assume that Carlo's reason for
mentioning Pisanello may have been that his correspondent
had asked for some of the well-known medals, and that
Carlo had therefore applied to a man who had been a
pupil of the master ? Even then the mention of the
pupiPs death seems pointless. It is unsatisfactory to have
lo return a no7i liquet to these questions, but that is the
only rational course to pursue.

CHAPTER XIV

CONCLUSION

At the close of each stage of the artisfs career, as he
moved from one artistic centre to another, we have
endeavoured to indicate the traces which remain of his
influence on the painting of his time. There are indeed
few men of the quattrocento of whom it can be said that
they left marks upon the art of Venice, Verona, Ferrara,
Milan, Rome, and Naples.

It remains now to deal with a certain number of paint-
ings which have not come naturally to be considered in
the course of the preceding remarks, and also to sketch, all
too briefly, the development of the medallic art in its
early stages from its inception at Ferrara.

Among these paintings one takes precedence of all
others : the tondo in the Berlin Gallery representing
the Adoration of the Magi (Plate 65).* In the Barker

♦ No. 95a. Klass. Bilderschatz, 1357. W. Bode u. H. von
Tschudi, Berlin Jahrb., vi. (1S85), p. 18 ; cp. Gaz. d. Beaux Arts,
1889, t. I, p. 494. Of tone and colouring, having unfortunately been
unable to see the original, I cannot pretend to speak ; but the
description of the Berlin authorities in this respect does not conflict
with the estimate stated in the text of those features of the picture
which can be judged from photographs.

2i6 PISANELLO

Collection it was ascribed to Filippo Lippi ; for others it
was by Dello Delli, or a picture of the school of Pesellino.
Morelli * regarded it as a comparatively feeble piece by a
Veronese of the school of Stefano da Zevio, trying to
imitate Pisanello, and not uninfluenced by contemporary
Florentine painting.

When a picture has thus been sent " from pillar to
post,"*"* it is a sign that it contains many incongruous
elements ; and these incongruities, a priori^ make it diffi-
cult to accept a theory which attributes it to an artist
who, as much as any of his contemporaries, had a distinct
and characteristic style. One is reminded of the bronze
statue from Cerigotto, which, after being assigned to more
than one great sculptor of the fourth century, is gradually
being relegated to the class of eclectic works of a later
date.

The general effect of the picture is rich, thanks to its
good preservation, and to the opportunity for depicting
fine costumes which the subject presents. The sacred
group is commonplace, and shows no advance on the
Gothic tradition. The kings and their suite, on the
other hand, are treated with that sumptuousness for which
Gentile da Fabriano seems to have set the fashion. The
train winds back into the distance in a manner more true
to nature, perhaps, than in Gentile''s famous picture, but
far less effective. The landscape itself is admirably dis-
posed ; indeed it is perhaps the feature in the picture which
first raises a doubt as to the attribution to Pisanello.
The only points in the landscape which suggest his in-
fluence are the way in which it is animated by birds — herons

* Die Galerie zii Berlin, p. 103.

PLATE 65

Hani'siaiKjl

ADORATION OF THE MAGI

Berlin
Face p. 216

CONCLUSION 217

attacked by hawks, a peacock, etc. — and the presence of
the gallows by the roadside in the far distance, reminding
us of the similar motif in the St. George fresco. It is
difficult to imagine two pictures more utterly opposed in
feeling for landscape than the St. Eustace* and the
tondo which we are considering. In the former the land-
scape is given for the sake of introducing the animals ; in
this, the few animals are introduced to enliven the land-
scape, which is a composition in and for itself.

But the attribution to Pisanello is confirmed by the fact
that among his drawings are certain sketches of subjects
found in this picture ? In the first place there is in the
Recueil Vallardi f a study of a rich mantle trimmed with
fur, showing a general similarity to that worn by the page
who is seen from behind. A somewhat similar mantle is
worn by one of the men in the signed drawing in the
British Museum. Again, we have a drawing of a camel,
which bears some resemblance to that in the picture, and
of a peacock like the one which is perched on the roof
of the hut. J But it is necessary to remember that Pisa-
nello's drawings, or copies of them, must have been
scattered all over Italy. As to the peacock, its position
is that in which it is most commonly seen perching. The

* It is true that medals and sketches such as those on Plates 12 and
64 show a great advance beyond the St. Eustace in landscape compo-
sition ; but the disposition which the artist affects is still clearly
different from what we find in this picture.

■j- Fol. 19, no. 2275. A rough note of a similar mantle on fol. 109.
no. 2603 v°. Cp. also one of the two men conversing, in a drawing
in the Ambrosiana (Venturi, p. 123).

I For the camel (Vallardi, fol. 195, No. 2398), see Gaz. d. Beaux
Arts, 1894, t. 12, p. 493. The peacock is one of five on fol. i88, No.
2390.

2 1 8 PISANELLO

resemblances, in fact, amount to proving no more than
the influence of Pisanello, which nobody would deny.

When we come to the figures in the suite of the Magi,
the conviction that the picture is the work of an imitator
grows. A study of the faces shows that they have no trace
of the refinement which is characteristic of the master.
His courtiers are always gentlemen ; among the por-
traits here most are vulgar. In the same way, the horse
foreshortened from behind, with its abnormally plump
barrel, turned-in hocks, and platter-like hoofs, is a
caricature of the Pisanellesque type. The painting of the
horses is extraordinarily smooth, and the muscles are
hardly indicated. This may, it is true, be paralleled from
the medals ; * but while an imitator might transfer the
short-hand method of the medal to a panel, Pisanello
himself would be the last to make this mistake. It is
significant that the rider on the horse seen from behind
turns his head so that it is in profile. The art w^hich
avails itself of such a compromise — whether excused or
not by the interest which the rider may be taking in the
action — indicates a certain lack of self-confidence. It is
curiously paralleled in such works as Benozzo Gozzoli's
fresco in the Riccardi Palace, or the Schifanoia frescoes.

Thus, in some features of the picture, notably in the
landscape and the relation thereto of the figures, we find
elements wholly at variance with what we know to be
characteristic of Pisanello. The colouring and treatment
of atmospheric effect are, by all accounts, not in his
manner. The isolated points in which the picture is in
contact with him are easily explained by the widespread

* Weizsacker, Berlin JaJirb., vii. p. 51.

CONCLUSION 219

influence which he exercised through his paintings and
drawings. And the representation of the human face
lacks the distinction which we find in all his authenticated
works.

There is neither room nor necessity for a detailed
discussion of certain other works which have been ascribed
to Pisanellox The following may, however, be briefly
mentioned :

A remarkable fresco in the Hospice at Palermo repre-
sents the Trmmph of Death, Miintz's suggestion * that
this may have been painted by Pisanello during his
Neapolitan period has met with no acceptance. Such
apparent resemblances to the master*'s work as it presents
are in reality closer to Lombard painting of the middle of
the century.f

The Madonna and St. Catherine in the Verona Gallery
has already been mentioned (p. 6). Another Madonna in
the same Gallery, once in the possession of Bernasconi, has
been much repainted, so that we cannot speak with any
certainty of its authorship ; it appears, however, to be a
work of the Veronese school.

A picture in the Victoria and Albert Museum, represent-
ing the Madonna on a throne with flowers growing about
it, and two small angels holding out scrolls above, was
given to Pisanello by Both de Tauzia.lj: Apart, however,
from salient differences in style, it is signed in large letters

PEREGRINVS PINSIT MCc[c]cXXVIII.

Other works which with almost as little reason have

* Gaz. d. Beaux Arts, 1901, t. 26, pp. 224 f.

+ L'Arte, iv. p. 340.

^ Notice . . . His de la Salle, p. 65. Venturi, p. xv.

220 PISANELLO

been given to Pisanello are the eight small panels by
Fiorenzo di Lorenzo at Perugia, representing scenes from
the life of San Bernardino of Siena ; No. 3 in the Galleria
Lochis at Bergamo ; and the fresco of the Adoration of
the Ma^i above the Cappella degli Agonizzanti in S. Fermo
at Verona.*

It would be tedious and unprofitable, without full illus-
tration, to give details of various other nameless paintings
which, although not attributed to our artist, are claimed
as showing his influence.!

The most important of the painters in Verona itself who
were influenced by him, in fact the only one, save Matteo
de** Pasti, to whom we can put a name, was Stefano da
Zevio.J The works attributed to him, of which the chief
is the Adoration of the Magi in the Brera, signed and
dated 1435, show that he was a graceful but timid painter,
who came even more strongly under the influence of
Gentile da Fabriano than under that of Pisanello. § Some

* Cp. da Persico, Descr. di Verona, 1820, i. p. 195.

I Some have been noticed incidentally in the preceding pages.
Others are: (i) Frescoes in the bell-chamber of S. Maria della
Scala at Verona (Crowe and Cavalcaselle, Hist, of Painting in North
Italy, i. p. 457). {2) Panel (part of cassone) in the Este Gallery at
Modena with scenes from the life of St. Patrick : B. de Tauzia,
Notice . . . His de la Salle, p. 65 ; Venturi, La R. Galleria Estense
(1883). p. 459 ; Weizsacker, Berlin Jahrh., vii. p. 55. (3) Frag-
ment of cassone in Museo Correr, Venice ; Weizsacker, loc. cit. ;
E. Jacobsen, Rep. f. Kunstwiss. 22 (1899), p. 26. (4) Crucifixion
in Mus. Civ. at Ravenna: Weizsacker, /oc. a7. (5) Portrait (dated
1462) of Portinari kneeling before S. Peter in S. Eustorgio, Milan
(de Tauzia, op. cit. p. 65).

\ For recent research on this painter, see G. Frizzoni in L'Arte,
iv. pp. 221 f. A brief sketch of his works at Verona is in Biermann,
Verona, p. 100. § Cp. Venturi, p. xiv.

CONCLUSION 221

of the drawings in the Recueil Vallardi which have been
utilised to show that Pisaneilo was affected by northern
art may be from his hand.*

Pisaneilo did not, strictly speaking, found a school in

painting. That is to say, he did not leave after him a

body of painters who perpetuated his methods and

mannerisms. We find, as we have seen, traces of his

influence in widely distant places, in painters of widely

different character. But the effect seems to have been to

stimulate the artists who came into contact with him to

further progress, rather than to overpower them by the force

of his own personality. Nevertheless in the northern Italy

of his time (especially after the death of Gentile da Fab-

riano) there is no power in painting comparable to him,

and his domination is supreme until the rise of Mantegna

and of that Venetian school which he had helped to

bring into being. But since he is essentially an artist of

transition he suffers the fate of his class. The special

features which in our eyes contribute charm to the period

of the change from archaic to classical art must ipso

facto disappear as soon as the classical period is reached.

Parallels between Italian painting and Greek sculpture are

apt to be misleading ; but we may perhaps venture to

compare Pisaneilo and others, such as Pol de Limbourg,

who were doing the same kind of work, to the Attic

sculptors of the end of the sixth and beginning of the fifth

century. The loving attention to all such details as they

understood, the charis which invests all their work, making

it, in spite of imperfections, a model to all later art in

respect of sincere and honest workmanship, are marks of a

* See above, p. i8, note.

22 2 PISANELLO

preliminary stage which was necessary to make the art of
Pheidias possible. Minutely conscientious work, inspired
by a real love of the objects represented, and not by a
passion for technical epideixis, suffused by an atmo-
sphere of naive charm, such as is only possible in cycles
when the world is young and cheerful — such work was
produced by the early Attic sculptors, and by certain
painters of the early quattrocento, of whom in Italy
Pisanello is the chief representative.

But there was a strain in Pisanello which is not
accounted for in the analogy which I have presented. He
sometimes rises in his paintings to the really grand style ;
of this the St. George fresco is sufficient evidence. He
does not, of course, move consistently on as high a level
as, let us say, Masaccio. But the work which he did, in
preparing the way for the art of the classical period, was
as essential as Masaccio''s, although his message was
expressed in less elevated language, in less complete
form.* The quality of solidity of relief, obtained by
regarding the figures represented as palpable masses to be
modelled, not mere spaces to be enclosed and decorated by
line and colour, was the chief element contributed by the
Florentine to the development of painting. This quality
is rarely attained by Pisanello in his paintings ; yet that
he recognised something of its value is shown by his por-
trait of Leonello. His experience as a medallist must
have increased his power of plastic rendering of form in
painting, and the result would probably be evident if we
possessed any picture dating from his last years. It is
universally admitted that his medals are characterised by a

* Cp. Miintz in the Art Journal, 1898, p. 205.

CONCLUSION 223

certain monumental, epic quality of style. Working on
this small scale, he realised, as perhaps no one since has
realised, that too great attention to detail engendered
smallness of style. His figures and compositions are con-
sequently free from over-elaboration ; moreover — and this
is the supreme test of grandeur — they suffer little from
reduction, and will bear enlargement to any degree. Of
his followers — and few of the medallists of the second half
of the quattrocento are independent of him — some lack
refinement ; others the faculty of composition ; some are
devoted to elaboration of trivialities ; others fail in their
lettering. Only one or two, and those in isolated cases,
produced portraits or compositions comparable to his in
dignity of conception or largeness of style.

The literary extracts which have been cited in the course
of this study are sufficient evidence of the high esteem
in which Pisanello was held by his contemporaries. Three
other brief testimonies may be cited to the same effect.

It was in 1432 that the Florentine Leonardo Dati, the
Latin versifier, came to Rome.* Even if we reject the
evidence for the presence of Pisanello in Florence before
his visit to Rome, we are not obliged to assume that the
two men became acquainted in Rome in the first half of
1432. For in the language of the epigram which Dati
wrote in praise of the artist there is no proof that they
ever knew each other personally. What is more, it is
clear from the beginning :

Inter pictores nostri statuere poetae
Pisano palmam :

♦ See Venturi, p. 35, with references to further literature, and text
of the epigram. In 1. 8 reaJ vtvum (as in Berlin Jahrb., xvi,, p. 87)
for civum ; and in 1. 5, I suppose, parceque for parteque.

2 24 PISANELLO

that this was not the first poem in praise of Pisanello.
Other poets had been exercising their pens. Dati tells us
that although the poets had agreed to give Pisanello the
palm among painters, as equalling nature with his pencil,
he himself had hesitated to accept this opinion ; but he is
astonished and convinced

cum, proh luppiter ! ipsum
nostros heroas video deducere vivos,
vivos alipedes, vivum genus omne ferarum.

It is clear from this that Pisanello had won fame not only
as a painter of wild animals and horses, but also as
portrait-painter — or medallist. In fact, there can be little
doubt that Dati had in his mind the verses of Guarino or
Strozzi. His epigram therefore must be dated in the
forties rather than the thirties.

The other two references are merely made in passmg.
One is in Giovanni Sanzio's Chronicle of the Life of
Federigo di Montefeltro.* A long list of the painters of
the fifteenth century begins with Jan van Eyck {el gran
lannes) and Rogier van der Weyden {el discepul Rugiei'o).
It then continues :

Ma neir Italia in questa eta presente

Vi fu el degno Gentil da Fabriano

Giovan da Fiesol frate al ben ardente
Et in medaglie et in pictura el Pisano

Frate Philippe et Francesco Pesselli

Domenico chiamato el Venetiano

and so on down to the great names of the end of the
century.

* Ed. H. Holtzinger (Stuttgart, 1893), lib. xxii., cap. 96, 120 f.
Venturi, p. 19.

CONCLUSION 225

Again,* in dedicating to Eleonora of xVragon, Duchess
of Ferrara, his " Discorso della Nobilta,''' a translation
of Leonardo Bruni's " De Nobihtate."'' the author makes a
contemptuous reference to

Cose doro e dargento fatte d'arti
Meccanice^ e tal miniate carte
Da Zotto o dal Pisan . . .

It is impossible here to sketch, however briefly, the careers
of even a few of those medallists who derived most directly
from Pisanello.j But one of them, Matteo de"* Pasti (or de
Bastia) of Verona, claims more detailed notice than the rest. J
He was the son of a Master Andrea, perhaps a member
of that Veronese family which had supplied the monas-
tery of S. Zeno with two abbots in the latter half of
the fourteenth century. | He is first heard of at Venice in
1441, when he was engaged on some work illustrating the
Triumphs of Petrarch for Piero di Cosimo de' Medici.
Early in 1446 he is at Verona, working for the court of
Ferrara, whither he journeys from time to time as portions
of his task of illuminating a breviary for Leonello are com-
pleted (see above, p. 160). In the same year he seems to
have transferred himself to Rimini, and settled down there

* Venturi, p. 66, from Cod. Est. vii., A. 31, at Modena.

f The best general sketch of the subject, Fabriczy's Medaillen der
italienischen Renaissance, is now accessible to English readers in
Mrs. Hamilton's translation (Eondon, 1904).

J See for details, Ch. Yriarte, Rimini (1882), especially pp. 422-
425 ; Heiss, Leon-Baptiste Alherti, etc., pp. 16 f. ; Gruyer, L'Art
ferrarais, i. pp. 595 f. Heiss wrongly cites Matteo Bosso, de gerendo
magistratu, as his authority for certain details ; I assume that he
obtained them from some other trustworthy source.

§ Ottonello, in 1364; Jacopo, in 1387. BiangoUni, N'o^. Stor. i., p. 54.

226 PISANELLO

for a considerable time. He made over twenty medals of
Sigismondo and Isotta Atti ; some bear the dates 1446,
1447, 1450, 1457, while the rest are undated. In addition
we have some half-dozen other medals of distinguished
persons, such as Guarino of Verona and Alberti, and also a
medal of Christ. Some of these at least, such as the medal
of Guarino, presumably belong to the period before he
went to Rimini. But more important than his employment
as medallist was his superintendence of the work on the
Tempio Malatestiano.* In Alberti^s absence he carried
out the instructions of the architect, who addressed to him
a letter, still extant, couched in friendly and flattering
terms. He was held in high honour, as Bosso tells us, and as
is proved from legal documents, by Sigismondo, who must
have appreciated the conversational gift with which he was
endowed. He married Li via, the daughter of Giovanni
Valdigara of Rimini, and his daughter Pera also married
into the family de' Arduini in 1457. About 1460, the
Sultan Mahomet II. sent a request to Sigismondo asking
for the loan of Matteo to paint a portrait and make a medal
of him. A copy of the reply, which was written by Val-
turio, Sigismondo's secretary, is extant. It lavishes un-
stinted praises on the artist, who was despatched with a
letter and a copy of Valturio's work de remilitari. He does
not seem, however, to have arrived at his destination. f

* Besides the documents quoted by the authorities already cited,
see a contract made in 145 1 between Matteo and Maso di Bartolora-
meo for some bronze work (Yriarte, Livre de Souvenirs de Maso di
Bartolommeo dit Masaccio, Paris, 1894, pp. 16 and 70).

t L'Arte, iii. . p. 145 : extract from a letter of Ant. Guidobono from
Venice relating to the journey. The Director of the R. Archivio di
StatO ctt Milan kindly inform? me that the date of the letter is

STGISMONDO MALATESTA

/Iritish Miisiinii

PLATE 66

BY MATTEO DE' PASTI

Bronze
Follow p. 226

CONCLUSION 227

He reached Caiidia, and there seems to have confided the
nature of his mission to an engineer, who communicated
with the Venetian authorities. Matteo was promptly sent
back to Venice with his book and letter. The Signoria
regarded the sending of Matteo as a most unfriendly act on
the part of Sigismondo ; but we hear nothing more of the
matter. As the original recpest for the loan of the artist
came through the Venetian ambassador, we can only con-
clude that Matteo was entrusted with some secret mission
to the detriment of Venetian interests with the Sultan, and
that the betrayal of this fact caused his return.* He was
back at Rimini in 1464, is said to have lived there until
1483, and to have died in 1491.

Matteo was evidently a versatile artist, whether or no
the attribution to him of the designs for Valturio's work,
published at Verona in 1472, be accepted. The evidence for
the attribution is certainly very slight.f Nor can we be

November 10, 1461, not 1467, and that the original letter from which
the extract was copied is also preserved in the same collection
{Potenze estere — Venezia — 1461 ). It is addressed to Francesco Sforza.
In another letter of November 23, 14.61, the same affair is mentioned :
Preterea avixo vostra Sub'® quello scrisse de quello Matheo Pasto
veronexe che andava al turcho e che e destenuto per questa I. S* e
vero, et questa S^ e molto amarichata verso S. Sigis. et farane
grande demonstratione ; per una altra scrivero piu destexo, ma hollo
da bona radice che may non mente.

* In connexion with the letter entrusted to Pasti, Burckhardt
{Civil, of the Ren. 1890, p. 93) cites the speech of Bernardo Giustiniani
to Pius II. {Pii II. Comment, x. p. 492, ed. 1584), saying that Sigis-
mondo was likely to call the Turks into Italy.

t A conjecture of Sc. Maffei. An interesting MS. of the work
(Brit. Mus. 24,945), about contemporary with the printed edition,
has illustrations on tiie whole inferior to the engravings. On the
latter, see especially Lippmann {Wood-Engraving in Italy, pp. 57-62),

228 PISANELLO

sure that any specimen of his work as painter or miniator
is extant. On the strength of the letter written by
Matteo to Piero de' Medici, a piece of furniture in the
Uffizi with representations of Triumphs has been assigned
to him.* Styhstically, the attribution rests merely on a
superficial resemblance to Pisanello. But the artist who
produced the sturdy, if not very successful elephant on the
medal of Isotta could hardly have painted the elephants on
the chest of the Uffizi. Of Matteo's architectural ability it
is also difficult to judge, for in the Tempio at Rimini he was
but carrying out the instructions of Alberti. It is even
doubtful whether he executed any of the decorative
sculptures himself; possibly some of the bronze work
may be from his hand. He certainly failed to impress
his individuality on the other artiste, like Agostino di
Duccio, who were working there. Apart from mere re-
productions of his medallic designs, such as the Strength
with the broken column, his influence is perhaps trace-
able in the splendid and well-known medallion-portrait
of Sigismondo on a column of the chapel of the Madonna
deir Acqua.

It is therefore to his medals that we must go to obtain
an idea of his merits as an artist. His most successful
efforts in this direction were made in the service of Sigis-
mondo. The portrait-medal with the Rocca Malatestiana
on the reverse (Plate 66) is indeed his masterpiece. For
it stands quite alone among his medals in combining

who also regards favourably the still more doubtful theory that Pasti
designed the illustrations for Accio Zucco's Aesop.

* Reproduced in Prince d'Essling and Miintz, Pf^tvarque, ses Etudes
d'Art, &c. (Paris, 1902), pp. 135, 139. A similar work at Turin : E.
Jacobsen, Arch, Stor. dell'Arte, 1897, p. 126.

ISOTTA ATTI

Jlrifisli Miiscinii

PLATE 67

BY MATTEO DE' PASTI

Folloir j>, 228

CONCLUSION 229

with a fine obverse a really successful and original reverse
composition.

The medal, of which several slight varieties exist,* for
the most part unsigned, but all certainly from the same
hand, bears a fine profile bust of Sigismondo. Still, to the
eye fresh from Pisanello''s portrait of the same man, Matteo''s
is a comparatively tame production. It lacks the fire and
spontaneity of the great medallist's work ; its effect is
more formal ; one doubts whether it can be as good a
portrait, seeing the way in which the contour of the head
is accommodated to the circular field.f A little more,
and we should say that the style was petty. On the reverse,
however, is a design the merit of which has hardly been
adequately appreciated. This is the Rocca Malatestiana, in
commemoration of the completion of which in 1446 the
medal was cast. No representation of a piece of architec-
ture on any other Italian medal can compare with this
splendid mass. Doubtless Fasti's practical experience as
architect and painter helped him to obtain this surprising
effect of solidity and depth. Another medal (of 1450)
represents the fa<j*ade of the Tempio Malatestiano as it
would have been if Alberti's design had been completed.
Apart from its architectural interest, however, this piece
has little merit, both obverse and reverse being heavy and
dull. It is unsigned.

The bust of Isotta Atti,t Sigismondo's mistress, and
afterwards wife, is represented in two forms, and combined

* The " Poliorcetes semper invictus " in the Berlin Cabinet, so
highly praised by Friedlander and Fabriczy, seems to me to be
spoilt by the wreath which Sigismondo wears.

f See the excellent criticism by Venturi, p, 72.

X On this lady, Heiss's remarks (pp. 45, 47) should be read in

230 PISANELLO

with many reverse designs. The dated medals are all of
the year 1446, long before she was married to Sigismondo,
and the others are probably of the same time. The more
pleasing of the busts (Plate 67) represents her wearing a
veil on the back of her head, the hair being done up
elaborately over a high pad. The face of this " Catherine
de Medicis au petit pied " is by no means without attrac-
tion. But it is distinguished by a certain shrewdness of
expression, as of an able woman of the world, such as we
know her to have been. The other bust, where she has no
veil, is much less pleasing, owing to the bizarre dressing of
the hair and the heaviness of the lips. Among the
reverse designs the most striking is the Malatesta
elephant.

Of other portrait-medals by Pasti, the best known are
those of Alberti and Guarino, both perhaps executed about
the time when Matteo was working for the court of
Ferrara. Guarino was permanently installed there, and
Alberti was there in 1444, helping to choose the sculptor
for the equestrian statue of Niccolo III. Matteo's por-
trait of Alberti is a poor and uninspired production. With
Guarino he is more successful (Plate 68). This remark-
able profile, with its curiously retreating forehead and
powerful nose, is at least forceful, and for once Matteo is
not the victim of formality. Can it be that he made the
medal, while Pisanello painted the portrait, of the distin-
guished humanist, and that the medal Avas merely a repro-
duction of the portrait as conceived by the greater artist ?
This would explain the superior virility and energy of this

correction of the curious theory of Yriarte (pp. 157 ff.) that her
reputation for Hterary skill was unmerited.

PLATE 68

r »

•^

British Miisctnn

GUARINO. BY MATTEO DE' PASTI

Bronze
Face J). 230

PLATE 69

S. BERNARDINO. BY MARESCOTTI
FEDERIGO I. GONZAGA. BY TALPA

lUrliii Mtiscxm

Jlcduci il
Fiivc p. 231

CONCLUSION 231

head. Still it must be admitted that the medals of
Benedetto de"* Pasti and Timoteo MafFei reveal a certain
amount of the same force.

Matteo's medal of Jesus Christ is eminently unsuccess-
ful. The weak, carefully-groomed head, oppressed and
over-balanced by a solid looking nimbus, has little
dignity. Nevertheless, this bust had considerable influ-
ence on art, and a type more or less closely derived
from it may be traced far into the sixteenth century,
not only in Italy but also on the northern side of the
Alps.*

The reverse designs by Matteo, with the exception of
the Rocca Malatestiana, are poor in conception and com-
position.

Of other medallists who are associated with the court
of Ferrara, two, the jeweller Amadeo of Milan, and
Niccolo (presumably the sculptor Baroncelli), have already
been mentioned. They probably borrowed from Pisanello,
but show themselves quite incapable of learning from him,
or of grasping the principles of medallic work. More
inspiration and understanding of the nature of the medal
are to be observed in Antonio Marescotti, whose dated
medals range from 1446 to 1462. His most interesting
works are the medals of the Beato Giovanni da Tossignano
and of S. Bernardino of Siena (Plate 69). The latter
portrait — made evidently from a death-mask — has consid-
erable pathos. But honest and full of feeling as Marescotti's

* See K. Lange, Peter Flotner, p. 106, and Reliquary, 1904,
pp. 175 f. A head derived from it is seen in a medallion in Bart.
Montagna's altar-piece of 1499 in the Brera (Madonna with four
saints).

232 PISANELLO

work may be, it lacks distinction, and the designs show
no power of composition.

The obscure artists Lixignolo, Petrecini, Coradini, and
their feUows, who worked at Ferrara under Borso and
Ercole L, must be passed over. Although by no means
independent of the founder of their art, they show no
closer connexion with him than do many others, working
at other courts, who could only be discussed in a general
history of the subject. On the other hand, the remarkable
medal of Ludovico Gonzaga by Pietro da Fano (Plate 70),
which has already been mentioned, and Bartolomeo Talpa's
medal of Federigo I. Gonzaga (Plate 69) show that
Pisanello's traditions were not forgotten in Mantua. In
Venice, too, Marco Guidizani (working between 1450 and
1460) made a fine medal of Bartolomeo CoUeoni (Plate
71); and the medal of Mahomet II., dated 148 1 (Plate
72), by the otherwise unknown Constantius, has a severity
and dignity learned from the master and worthily pre-
served.

The medallists whom we have mentioned are, however,
comparatively unknown to amateurs ; even Matteo de'
Pasti is little more than a name. But there is another
artist who has long enjoyed a wide reputation, and for
some time indeed counted as a greater master than
Pisanello. This is Sperandio of Mantua (born about 1425,
died after 1495), who worked at Ferrara, Mantua, Milan,
and Bologna, both as medallist and as sculptor. The fall
in his position in the hierarchy of medallists * cannot be
due merely to the swing of the pendulum, which diverts

* See the just appreciation of his merits by Friedliinder (pp. 61 f.)
and Fabriczy (pp. 87 ff.)

PLATE 70

LUDOVICO GONZAGA. BY PIETRO DA FANO

ncdiici-.i

F'nc j). •:?j2

PLATE 71

Berlin Mti.it inn

BARTOLOMEO COLLEONI

BY GUIDIZANI

Htdiiccd
FoUoic PL 7u

PLATE 72

MAHOMET II. BY CONSTANTIUS

Jhr'iii Mtisftiin

FoUuic I I. 1\

PLATE 73

-//

FEDERIGO OF URBINO AND FRANCESCO
SFORZA. BY SPERANDIO

/iih/i<>t;n(jiif XiitiiXKilc (iinl lUiliii ncditced

Face p. 233

CONCLUSION 233

the public taste now to the archaic, now to the classical,
now to the decadent period. Our reasons for declining to
place him beside Pisanello are based on his breach of certain
fundamental principles of good art. He is often pretentious
and vulgar, to a degree only surpassed by the Florentine
Francesco da Sangallo in his medals ; his work is careless,
not only in sheer erroneous drawing, but also in roughness
of execution. Good castings are very rare, and there can
be little doubt that, amid the pressure of the commissions
that poured in upon him, he rarely took the trouble to
chase his casts himself. His reverse compositions are, as a
rule, ugly ; even one of the best of them, the figure of
Federigo of Urbino on horseback, is ill-proportioned.
The bust on the obverse of this medal (Plate 73) is one of
his most refined portraits ; but it would have been
difficult to vulgarise this model despot, as he has succeeded
in vulgarising Francesco Sforza (Plate 73). Another
somewhat attractive portrait is that of the poet Carbone
in advanced age. But it is only necessary to compare
this head with Pisanello's Vittorino da Feltre to see at a
glance that the later artist has not penetrated below the
external appearance of his subject. Admirers of Pisanello
also owe Sperandio a grudge for the way in which he has
murdered some of his master^s most picturesque designs
(Plate 74).*

Although for nearly forty years Sperandio was the
most popular medallist in North Italy, there were other
artists who in a more modest way carried on the more
refined tradition. Such were Pier Jacopo Ilario Bonacolsi,
known as TAntico, Gian Cristoforo Romano, Giovanni

* See above, p. 172.

2 34 PISANELLO

Boldu, Fra Antonio of Brescia, Ganibello and Enzola.
Less pleasing in their work, but immediately dependent
on Pisanello for such merits as it possesses, are Pietro da
Milano and Francesco Laurana. Their activity as
medallists at the Court of Rene of Anjou in the sixties had
been preceded by work on the Triumphal Arch of Alfonso
at Naples, wliere they had doubtless been directly in-
fluenced by Pisanello. But to attempt to characterise
the work of these artists would lead us far beyond the
scope of this volume; nor can we even mention the names
of the early masters of the great Florentine school.

One fact emerges, however, with increasing distinctness,
the longer we study the development of the medallic art
in Italy, and that is the unapproachable supremacy of
Pisanello. Is there any other branch of art in which the
greatest name is also the first in point of time ?

PLATE 71

REVERSES OF ^lEDALS OF CARLO GRATI AND
GIOV. BENTIVOGLIO IL BY SPERANDIO

JUductd

Face p. 234

APPENDIX I

CHRONOLOGICAL SUMMARY

(yh'ca 1 380-1 390. Pisanello born.

Circa 1384. Altichiero and Avanzo paint in fresco the Hall
of the Sereghi.

1390. The Carrara Medals.

After 1390. The fresco in the Cavalli Chapel by Altichiero.

Circa 1390-1400. Tiie Constantine and Heraclius Medals.

Between 1409 and 14 14. Gentile da Fabriano and P. at
Venice, painting in the Ducal Palace.

1423 (May). Gentile da Fabriano's Adoration of ilie Magi.

Between 1424 and 1428. The Annunciation of S. Fermo.

1428. Death of Gentile da Fabriano.

1 43 1 (April 18)- 1 43 2 (ult. February). Payments to P. for
work in St. John Lateran at Rome.

143 1 (between April 18 and September 22). P. passes
through Ferrara on his way to Verona.

1431 (November 27). P. again in Rome.

1431 or 1432 (June 28). Doubtful letter to F. M. Visconti.

1432 (July 26). P. receives passport.

Between 1432 and 1438. P. in Florence ; paints Story of
the Pilgrim.

1435 (January). P. sends to Leonello a portrait of Julius
Caebur.

236 PISANELLO

Between 1435 '"^"'^^ ^43^- ^^- Fjusiace (National Gallery),
Ginevra d'Este (Louvre), and St. George and the Princess (S.
Anastasia).

1438 (July). Mantua joins Milan against Venice. P. ex-
cluded from Verona.

1438. Medal of John Palaeologus made at Ferrara.
Soon after 1438. Guarino's Poem.

1439 (May). P. at Mantua.
1 44 1 (early). P. at Ferrara.

1 44 1 (March 27). Debt recorded against P. at Mantua.

1 44 1 (summer). P. paints portrait of Leonello in competi-
tion with Jacopo Bellini.

1441 (August 16). P. returns to Mantua.

1 44 1 (December 26). Death of Niccol6 d'Este. Leonello
succeeds him.

1441 (end) to 1442. P. at Milan and Pavia. Medals of
F, M. Visconti, N. Piccinino, Fr. Sforza. Frescoes in Castle
at Pavia.

1442. Sonnet of Ubaldini della Carda.

1442. P. mentioned in list of Veronese fuorusciti.

1443- 1448. Smaller medals of Leonello. Panel Portrait
of Leonello (Bergamo). St, George and St. Anthony with Virgin
(National Gallery).

1443 (February 27, March 3). P. at Ferrara

1443 (between March and September). P. visits Mantua^
and brings away picture of God the Father.

1443 (September 11). P. at Ferrara.

Before 1443 (September 27). Elegy of T. Vespasiano
Strozzi.

1443 (November 6). P. at Ferrara.

1444 (March 11). P. at Ferrara; proposes to visit Naples.
1444 (April). Leonello marries Maria of Aragon.

Marriage-medal of Leonello.

APPENDIX I 237

1445. Medals of Sigismondo and Domenico Malatesta.
1 44 5- 1 44 7. Payments to P. for work at Ferrara.
Circa 1447. Medals of Gianfrancesco and Ludovico
Gonzaga, and Vittorino da Feltre.

1447. Medals of Cecilia Gonzaga and Belloto Ciimano.
Circa 1447-1448. Elegies of Basinio and Porcellio.

1447 (August 13). Death of Filippo Maria Visconti.

1448 (August 19). Medal of Decembrio finished at
Ferrara.

1448 (end). P. goes to Naples.

1448 (December 31). Debt recorded against P. at Ferrara.

1449 (February 14). Privilegium of Alfonso for P.
1449 (June 6). Privilegium takes effect.

1449. Medals of Alfonso {Liberalitas and Venator^.

Circa 1449-50. Other Medals of Alfonso and Inigo
d'Avalos,

1450. P. mentioned as living by Flavio Biondo.

1455 (October 31). P. mentioned by Carlo de' Medici.
1455-56. P. mentioned as dead by Facio.

APPENDIX II

DRAWINGS IN THE BRITISH MUSEUM

Mr. Sidney Colvin has kindly called my attention to two
sheets of drawings (Nos. i and 2 below) in the British
Museum, which he has recently identified. I take this
opportunity of giving notes of all the drawings by Pisanello
or his pupils in the National Collection.

I. (P. p. - 10.) Vellum, 15.5 X 22 cm.

Recto. Pen. Four studies, (i) Figure of a man standing
to front, bald, full beard, clad in ample cloak which hangs in
heavy folds ; he holds in 1. a book half covered by the
drapery. From the same model as the " St. Anthony," Val-
lardi, fol. 173, No. 2633 (Plate 43); note the resemblance in
the hands. (2) Half-figure of woman r., looking up, wearing
helmet and loose robe, which is tied on r. shoulder with
tasselled cord, and hangs in long folds ; it is open at the r.
side, so as to show the arm ; underneath the robe is another
garment. The helmet ('^'^ Corinthian," crestless, with hook in
front of bowl, attachments for crest, and neck-piece, as on
Corinthian coins) suggests that this is an adaptation from the
antique. (3) Figure of a man seated to front, in girdled robe
and full cloak, holding with 1. hand on 1. knee a closed book,
r. extended as though declaiming. (4) Half-figure of an
Emperor r., laureate ; wears robe with embroidered border

APPENDIX II 239

and front, fastened on r. shoulder with tasselled cord, as in
subject No. (2). The head vaguely recalls the portraits of the
Emperor Frederick II. on his famous gold coins.

Verso. Pen and bistre. Two studies of heraldic eagles.
The upper one has its head turned to dexter side and is
crowned ; the lower, uncrowned, has its head turned three-
quarters to sinister. Cp. Vallardi, fol. 258, no. 2485, where
the eagles have changed places, the positions are reversed,
and both are crowned. The correspondence is so exact
that one drawing would seem to have been produced by
transfer from the other, were it not that the respective
dimensions of the birds have been altered.

The drawings on this sheet, although close to Pisanello, do
not seem to me to be from his own hand. The connexion of
the chief figure on the recto with the artist of the similar
Vallardi drawing is very near.

2. (P. p. -11). Vellum, 23.5 x 16.5 cm. Lagoy Collection.

Recto. Pen. Two studies, (i) Male figure, with short
beard and ivy-wreath in hair, advancing r. ; nude but for
drapery which covers his 1. shoulder, side, and back, and is
knotted round his waist ; carries on his 1. shoulder an eagle (its
legs not shown) which hangs forward with open beak,
vomiting. Ground rendered with characteristic hooked
strokes ; hair and shading minutely done ; attitude of
staggering under weight of the bird well rendered. (2) Nude
female figure, in almost pure outline, standing r.,1. hand hold-
ing mirror, r. (unfinished) raised to breast. Her hair is dressed
in a long plait which is brought round above the forehead,
small locks escaping under it. Details can be seen in a large-
scale reproduction of this head by a very unskilful pupil in
Vallardi, fol. 94, no. 2589.

Verso. Chalk. Two studies. (1) Head of beardless man
r., looking up ; only the face and ear are seen. (2) Head of

240 PISANELLO

young woman three-quarters 1., mantle drawn up over back of
head and framing the face with its crinkled edge. The
treatment of the mouth and eyes recalls some of the faces in
the picture in the Colonna Gallery (Madonna and angels)
attributed to Stefano da Zevio.

The drawings on the recto of this sheet are among the
most delicate from Pisanello's hand, and the more inter-
esting because of the rarity of representations of the nude
among his works. They presumably represent allegories.
The chalk drawings on the verso seem to me to be by a
pupil.

3. (1895. 9. 15. 441.) Paper, 19.5x28.5 cm. Lawrence,
Lagoy and Malcolm Collections. Eight pen studies. (1-6.)
Hanging corpses, of which two were utilised for the
S. Anastasia fresco. (7) Three-quarter-figure of lady to 1.
wearing wreath of flowers and dress with high collar and long
full sleeves. (8) Bust of boy facing, with curly hair, wearing
tunic with high collar and girdle below the arms. See
Dodgson, Berl. Jahrh. xv. (1894), pp. 259 f., with Plate.
(Above, p. 94.)

4. (46. 5. 9. 143O Vellum 34 x25 cm. Three pen studies.
(i) Courtier, clean-shaven, standing r., wearing broad-
brimmed hat, short cloak trimmed with fur ; thumb of r. hand
stuck in girdle. (2) Courtier, with moustache, standing to
front, wearing tall berretto, short fur-trimmed tunic and cloak,
broad girdle round waist. (3) Courtier standing to 1., clean-
shaven, wearing ivy-wreath on head, fur-trimmed cloak.
Signed pisanvs f in good lettering. Ground rendered with
hooked strokes. Central figure, in spite of the moustache, is
probably from same model as served for the St. George of
Anastasia. The third figure has a general resemblance to the
man seen from behind in the Berlin tondo. The whole
drawing has some points of weakness, but much that is

APPENDIX II 241

characteristic. See Gaz. d. Beaux Arts, 1881, t. 24, p. 172 ;
Phot. Braurij 287. (Above^ pp. 94, 217).

Together with the above, there are placed the sheet
(Sloane 5226-57) discussed above (pp. 32 ff.) in connexion
with the Ducal Palace, and two small sheets of vellum
(1895. ^2. 14. 94 and 95) with water-colour sketches of foxes,
dogs, hunting leopards, etc., which do not seem to me
to belong to Pisanello. On the other hand, the only
drawing mentioned by Venturi (p. 123) as being in the
British Museum is not there, but apparently at Chantilly
(see above, p. 94). I have not identified the drawing of
a young man seated, with two figures of saints, mentioned
by Ephrussi in Gaz. d. Beaux irts, ser. ii., t. 20, p. 315.

APPENDIX III

BIBLIOGRAPHY

From this list (which may be supplemented by reference to
the footnotes in the body of the volume) the larger general
works on Italian painting, which only deal incidentally with
Pisanello, are omitted. The Jahrhuch der Preussischen Kunst-
sainmlungen and the Jahrhuch der Kunsthistorischen SammJungen
des Allerhochsten Kaiserhauses are cited as the Berlin Jahrhuch
and Vienna Jahrhuch respectively.

Anonimo Morelliano

Notizia d'opere di disegno, etc. Ed. G. Frizzoni.

1884.
Argnani (F.).

Sul pittore Giovanni da Oriolo. 1899.
Arm AND (A.).

Les Medailleurs Italiens des quinzieme et seizieme siecles.
3 vols. 1883-1887.
Beltrami (L.).

Vecchi altari nel Duomo di Milano. Rassegna d'Arle, ii.
1902.
Berenson (B.).

The Morelli Collection at Bergamo. The Connoisseur, iv.
November 1902.

APPENDIX III 243

Berlin Museum. See Lippmann.
Bernasconi (C).

II Pisano. Verona, 1862.

Studj sopra la Storia della Pittura Italiana, etc. Verona,
1865.
Bernich (E.).

Leon Battista Alberti e I'Arco Trionfale di Alfonso
d'Aragona in Napoli. Napoli Nobilissima, xii. 1 903.
BlANCOLINI (G. B. G.).

Notizie Storiche delle Chiese di Verona. 9 parts. Verona,
1749-71.

BlERMANN (G.).

Verona. Leipzig, 1904.
Bode (VV.).

Zur neuesten Forschung auf dem Gebiete der italien-
ischen Medaillenkunde. Zeitschr. fur bildende Kunst,
N. F. XV. November 1903.
Bode (W.) and Tschudi (H, von).

Anbetung der Konige von Vittore Pisano. Berlin
Jahrhuchy vi. 1885.
British Museum.

Department of Coins and Medals. Guide to the
Exhibition of Italian Medals. By C. F. Keary.
2nd ed. 1893.
Department of Prints and Drawings. Guide to the
Exhibition of Drawings and Sketches. 1891.
Campori (G.).

Raccolta di cataloghi ed inventarii inediti. Modena,

1870.
I miniatori degli Estensi. Atii d. RR. Deput. di Storia
patria per le Prov. Modenesi e Parmensi, vi. 1872.
Carli (A.).

Istoria della Citta di Verona. 7 vols. Verona, 1796.

244 PISANELI.O

Cavattoni (C.).

Tre carmi latini composti a mezzo il secolo XV. in lode
di Vittor Pisaiio. Verona, 1861.

Chennevieres (H. de).

Les Dessins du Louvre. 1 882-1 883.

COURAJOD (L.).

L' Imitation et la Contrefa^on des Objets d'Art antiques

au XV^ et au XVP siecles. 1887.
La Part de la France du Nord dans I'CEuvre de la
Renaissance. Gas. d. Beaux Arts, 1890^ t. 3, p. 74.

DODGSON (C).

Ein Studienblatt des Vittore Pisano zu dem Fresko in
S. Anastasia zu Verona. Berlin Jahrhuch, xv. 1894.
E. A.

Riparazioni all' afFresco di Vittore Pisano in Sant'
Anastasia a Verona. Arcliivio Stoiico dell' Arte, iii.
1890.

Ephrussi (Ch.).

Vittore Pisano. Par M. Alois Heiss. Gaz.d. Beaux Arts,

1881, t. 24. .
Les Dessins de la Collection His de la Salle. Gaz. d.
Beaux Arts, 1882, t. 25.

Fabriczy (C. von).

Italian Medals. Translated by Mrs. Hamilton. 1904.

FiLLON (B.).

Inventaire des Autographes, etc., composant la Collec-
tion de M. B. Fillon. 1879.
Les Medailleurs Italiens des XV^ et XVP siecles. Gaz. d.
Beaux Arts, 1879, t. 19.
Friedlander (J.).

Die italienischen Schaumiinzen des fiinfzehnten Jahr-
hunderts. 1882.

APPENDIX III 245

FuizzoNi (G.).

L'Arte italiana del Rinascimento. 1891.
La Galleria Morelli in Bergamo. 1892.
Gnoli (D.).

Passaporto di Pisanello. Archivio Storico dell' A tie, iii.
1890.
Gruyer (G.).

Vittore Pisano appele aussi le Pisanello. Gas. d. Beaux

ArtSf 1893-1894, t. 10-12.
L'Art Ferrarais a I'epoque des Princes d'Este. 2 vols.
1897.

GuiFFREY (J.).

Medailles de Constantin et d'Heraclius acquises par
Jean, due de Berry, en 1402. Revue Niimismatique.
1890.
Inventaires de Jean Due de Berry. 2 vols. 1894-
1896.
Heiss (A.).

Les Medailleurs de la Renaissance. Vittore Pisano.

1881.
Niccol6 — Amadio da Milano — Marescotti, etc. 1883.
Leon-Baptiste Alberti — Matteo de' Pasti. 1883.
Hermann (H. J.).

Zur Geschichte der Miniaturmalerei am Hofe der Este
in Ferrara. Vienna Jahrbuch, xxi. 1900.
Jacobsen (E.).

Das Museo Civico zii Venedig. Repertorium fur Kunst-

wissenschaft, xxii. 1899.
Italienische Gemalde im Louvre. Ibid. xxv. 1902.
Keary (C. F.). See British Museum.
Kenner (F.).

Die Portratsammlung des Erzherzogs Ferdinand von
Tyrol. Vienna /rt/«7'/;7/c7z, xvii.,xviii. 1896,1897.

246 PI5ANELLO

LiPPiMANN (F.).

Aratliche Berichte aus den Koniglichen Kunstsamm-
lungen. Berlin Jahrhuch, ii. 1881.
LoESER (C).

La Collection Beckerath au Cabinet des Estampes de

Berlin. Gaz. d. Beaux Arts, 1902, t. 28.
Intorno ad alcuni disegni italiani del Gab. delle Starape
di Berlino. Bepertomim fur Kimstwissenschaftf xxv.
1902.
LoRENZI (G. B.).

Monumenti per servire alia storia del Palazzo Diicale di
Venezia. 1868.
Louvre. See Tauzia, B. de.
Maffei (F. Sc).

Verona Illustrata. 2 vols. 1825, 1826.
MiLANI (L. A.).

Vittore Pisano. G. Sartori's Protomoteca Vei'onese.
Verona, 1881.
Malaguzzi (F.).

Matteo Pasti. Capitulo de uno Littera de Antonio
Guidobono. UArte, iii. 1900.
MtNTZ (E.).

Les Arts a la Cour des Papes. 3 vols. (Bibl. des Ecoles

fran9aises d'Athenes et de Rome.) 1878-1882.
Vittore Pisanello. Revue de I'Art ancie?i et moderiie, i.

1897.
An Italian Realist of the Fifteenth Century. Art Journal

1898.
Le "Triomphe de la Mort " a I'Hospice de Palerme.
Gaz. d. Beaux Arts, 1901, t. 26.
Nanin (P.).

Disegni di varie Dipinture a Fresco die sono in Verona.
1864.

APPENDIX III 247

Ottenthal (E. von).

Kunsthistorische Notizen aus den pjipstlichen Regis-
tern. Mittheilungen des Instituts fur Oeslerreichischen
Geschichtsforschung {Innsbruck), v. 1884.

Pozzo (B. Co. dal).

Le Vite de' Pittori, etc., Veronesi. 17 18.

Ravaisson (F.).

Une Oeuvre de Pisanello. Revue Archeologique, ser. in.,
t. 22. 1893.

Reiset (F).

Une Visite aux Musees de Londres en 1876. Gaz. d.

Beaux Arts, 1877, t. 15.
Une Visite a la Galerie Nationale de Londres. 1887.

Ricci (C).

Altri due Dipinti di lacopo Bellini. Rassegna d'Arte, iii.
1903.

RiCHTER (J. P.).

II Pisanello graziato. Archivio Storico dell' Arte, ii.

1889.
The Pictures of the Veronese School. Ari JournaL

1895.

Rossi (U.).

II Pisanello e i Gonzaga. Archivio Storico dell' Arte,
1888.

SCHLOSSER (J. von).

Ein Veronesisches Bilderbuch und die hofische Kunst
des xiv. Jahrhunderts. Vienna Jahrbuch, xvi. 1895.

Die altesten Medaillen und die Antike. Vienna Jahrbuch,
xviii. 1897.

SCHUBRING (P.).

Altichiero und seine Schule. 1898.

248 PISANELLO

SCHULZ (H. W.).

Denkmiiler der Kunst des Mittel alters in Uiiteritalien.

Ed. F. von Quast. Vol. iv. i860.
Siren (O.).

Dessins et Tableaux de la Renaissance italienne dans les

Collections de Suede. 1902.

Spaventi (S. M.).

Vittor Pisano detto Pisanello. 1892.

Stevenson (H.).

Note sur les Tuiles de plomb de la Basilique de S. Marc
ornees des armoiries de Paul II. ft de medaillons
de la Renaissance. Melanges d'archeologie ct d'histoire
puhl. par rEc.fr., viii. 1888.
Topografia e Monumenti di Roma nelle pitture a fresco
di Sisto V. della Biblioteca Vaticana. 1887.

Strong (S. A.).

Reproductions of Drawings by Old Masters in the Duke
of Devonshire's Collection. 1902.

Tauzia (B. de).

M usees Nationaux. Notice des Dessins de la Collection

His de la Salle exposes au Louvre. 1881.
Vittore Pisano. L'Ari, viii., i. 1882.
Musee National du Louvre. Dessins, Cartons, Pastels et

Miniatures des diverses Ecoles. Deuxieme Notice

Supplementaire. 1888.

Thode (H.).

Pisanello's Todesjahr. Zeitschr. fi'ir hildende Kwist., xix.
1883.

UziELLI (G.).

Sui ritratti di Paolo dal Pozzo Toscanelli fatti da Alessio
Baldovinetti e da Vittore Pisano. BoUctt'mo della
Societa Geogr. Ital. 1890.

APPENDIX III 249

Vasari (G.).

Le Vite. I. Gentile da Fabriano e il Pisanello. Ed. A.
Venturi. 1896.
Venturi (A.).

La R. Galleria Estense in Modena. 1883.
La data della morte di Vittor Pisano. Albo nuziale
Rovighi-Falcavi. Modena, 1883- [Not accessible to
the author.]

I primordi del Rinascimento artistico a Ferrara. Rivista

storica italiana, i. 1884.

II Pisanello a Ferrara. Archivio Veneto, ser. ii., t. 30.
1885.

Jacopo Bellini, Pisanello und Mantegna in den Sonetten

des Dichters Ulisse. Kunstfreund. 1885.
Documento sul Pisanello. Archivio Storico dell' Arte, i.

1888.
La scoperta di un ritratto estense del Pisanello. Ibid.

ii. 1889.
Gentile da Fabriano und Vittore Pisano. Berlin

Jahrbuch. xvi, 1895.
Vasari. Le Vite. See Vasari.
La miniatura ferrarese nel secolo xv. e il '^ Decretum

Gratiani." Le Gallerie lialiani Na2io?iali, iv. 1S98.
Weizsacker (H.).

Das Pferd in der Kunst des Quattrocento. Berlin

Jahrbuch, vii. 1886.
WiCKHOFF (F.).

Der Saal des Grossen Rathes in seinem alten Schmucke.

Repeiiojium JYir Kunstwissenschaft, vi. 1883.
Die Fresken der Katharinenkapelle in S. Clemente zu

Rom. Zeitschr. fur bildende KimsL, xxiv. 1889.
Dieitalienischen Handzeichnungen der Albertina. Vienna

Jahrbuch J xiii.^ Teil 2. 1892.

2^0 PISANELLO

Yriarte (Ch.).

Un condottiere au quinzieme siecle : Rimini. Lettres et
arts, etc. 1882.

Zannandreis (D.).

Le Vite dei Pittori, etc., Veronesi. Ed. G, Biadego.
1891.

INDEX

Achilles, shield of, suggests reverse
of d'Avalos medal, 209

Adoration of the Magi: Gentile da
Fabriano (Florence), 37ff., 85 ; attr.
to Pisanello (Berlin), 88, 214 ff.; Vero-
nese School (S. Fermo, Verona), 220 ;
Ant. Vivarini (Berlin), 38f. ; Ste-
fano da Zevio (Brera), IS/i., 37».,
220

Adoration of the Shepherds, by Pisa-
nello, formerly at Ferrara, 159

Age and Youth, on medal, 146

Agrigentum, coin of, compared with
medal of Alfonso, 198

Alberti, L. B. : plaques of, 192 f . ; rela-
tions with Pasti, 226 ; medal by
Fasti, 226, 230

Albertina (Vienna), see Drawings

Alemagna, Zorzo de, 160

Aleotti, see Ulisse

Alfonso V. of Aragon (I. of Naples) :
painted portraits of, 153, 205f. ; me-
dals of, 196ff. ; medal ment, by Gio-
vio, 191??.; impression of medal on
tiles of St. Mark's at Rome, 182 ;
medals copied in MSS., 161, 198;
studies for portraits, &c., 158n., 199ff.,
204f. ; plaquettes, 203 ; coins and
medals in his collection, 170/?., 199h. ;
triple-faced head as badge, 146 ; bis
triumphal arch, 207, 234 ; relations
with Leonello d'Este, 149f.

Allegories : on medals, 149 ; studies for,
240 ; see also Imprese

Altichiero da Zevio and Avanzo : influ-
ence on illumination, 8h. ; work in
Verona, 9f . ; in palace of Cansig-
uorio, 9 ; in palace of Counts Sere-

ghi, 10 ; Presentation of Cavalli
Knights (S. Anastasia), 10 ; Cruci-
fixion (S. Giorgio, Padua), 12 ; Cruci-
fixion (S. Felice, Padua), 13 ; school
picture. Crucifixion (S. Fermo, Ve-
rona), 11

Amadeo da Milano, medallist and jewel-
ler, 144, 148,152, 231

Ambrose, St., miracle of (Masolino), 55

Ambrosiana (Milan), see Drawings

Anchors attached to vase (Este im-
presa), 71f., 74, 147f.

Angelico, Fra, copy of figures from
his Crucifixion, 25

Animals: painting of, by Gentile da
Fabriano, 371; by Pisanello {St.
Eustace), 66; (S. Anastasia fresco),
80, 82, 94 ; (Pavia), 129 ; (praised by
contemporaries) 115, 134f., 187 ; by
Zavattari at Monza, 131f.; in Pisa-
nellesque miniatui'es, 124 ; studies
of, 241 ; see ateo Deer; Dogs; Horses,
&c.

Anjou, Ken^ of, his medallists, 234

Annunciation, by Pisanello (S. Fermo,
Verona), 4, 6w., 12, 37, 40ff., 89, 156

Anthony (St.) and St. George with
Virgin, by Pisanello (Nat. Gallery),
53, 62, 89, 94, 153fl.

Antico, 1', medallist, 233

Antique : influence on early Veronese,
12 ; on Pisanello, 20ff. ; studies from,
20ff., 51, 61, 238 ; "medals," 96 ; see
also Coins

Aragon, see Alfonso V. ; Maria

Architecture : in early A'eronese fres-
coes, 10, 12, 84 ; in Pisanello, 17, 18«.,
34 ; (S. Anastasia fresco), 84, 89f.,

252

INDEX

95; (S. Fermo fresco), 41, 431, 46f.,

89 ; iu Fasti's medals, 229
Armour : hanging from olive-branches,

symbol of peace, 145; worn by St.

George, 7 7, 155
Artillery, drawinys of, 206
Atlas bearing the world, sketch for

medal, 211
Atti, Isotta, 93, 163f. ; medal of, with

forged signature, 164, 191h.; Fasti's

medals, 164, 226,2291
Audience scene, sketches of, 3 Iff.
Augustus, Due de Berry's medal of,

lul
Aurelian, sketch of, from coin, 23n.
Aurispa, Giov., 51 ; portrait ment. by

Basinio, 187, 189
Austria-Este, Archduke of, ilium. Bible

belonging to, 161n.
Avalos, Don Inigo d', 196 ; medal of,

39, 68, 104, 207f. ; sketch for, 208 ;

badge of, 21 Of.
Avalos, Tommaso d', 209
Avanzo, see Altichiero

Bacchanals, drawing of, 22

Back views of subjects : in early Vero-
nese school, 12f. ; in Fisanello, 67;
see also Foreshortening

Barbaro, Francesco, 36?;.

Barbarossa, Frederick, 29f,

Barbo, Fier, see Faul II.

Barker Collection, pictures from, 151,
215f.

Baroncelli, Niccold, medallist and
sculptor, 144, 148, 152, 231

Bartolo, Giov. di, 40

Bartolommeo, Maso di, contract with
Fasti, 226«.

Basinio of Farma : poem in honour of
Fisanello, 186 ; his career, 186/;. ;
supposed medal of, 188 ; on the medal
of Belloto Cumano, 177

Bat, badge of Alfonso V., 200, 204

Battle-scenes : Sloane drawing, 33 ;
ment. by Guariuo, 115, 118

Bayonne, see Drawings

Bear: in St. Eustace, 67 ; drawing of,
69

Bellini, Gian, 33

Bellini, Jacopo : contest with Fisanello,
116, 138fE. ; portrait of Leonello
d'Este, 138f. ; influenced by Fisa-
nello, 140 ; Firffin with Sig. Mala-

tr.ifa (Louvre), attr. to, 39h.. 1391;
drawings attr. to, 22h., 140/j.
Belriguardo, Fisanello works for, 141
Bentivogli, Falace of, see Bologna
Beutivoglio, Giov., II., medal of, 172
Bergamo :

Carrara Gallery : Foppa, Cruci-
fixion, 117, 132
Lochis Gallery : picture attr. to

Fisanello, 220
Morelli Gallery : Fisanello, Leo-
nello d'Este, 139, 150ff.
Berlin :

Coin Cabinet : Medals of Can-ara
family, Fl. 26; of Fr. Sforza,
Fl. 32 ; of Leonello d'Este, Fl.
39 ; of Sigism. Malatesta, Fl. 47;
of Vitt. da Feltre, Fl. 54 ; of
Belloto Cumano, Fl. 55 ; of
Decembrio, Fl. 56 ; of Inigo
d' Avalos, Fl. 63 ; of S. Bernar-
dino and Federigo I. Gonzaga,
Fl. 69 ; of Bartoiomeo Colleoni,
Fl. 71 ; of Mahomet II. PI. 72 ;
of Fr. Sforza, Fl. 73
Ficture Gallery : Gentile da Fab-
riano, Madonna icith Saints, 45 ;
Fisanello (attr.), Adoration of
Magi, 88, 214fif.; Squarcionesque,
Virgin icith St. Catherine of
Alexandria, tj-c, in. ; Ant. Yi-
varini. Adoration of Magi, 38f.
Friut Room, see Drawings
Bernardino of Siena, S., medal of, 231
Bernasconi Madonna (Verona), 219
Berry, Jean Due de : his !ZVes Riches
Heures, 16/t., 18h., 19 ; his medals,
20, 97, 99ff.
Bertoldo, medal of Fil. de' Medici,

191H.

Besozzo, Michelino da, frescoes in Casa
Borromeo, 129h., 131

Bible: ilium., of Borso d'Este, 160ft.,
161 ; on Decembrio's medal, 179

Biondo, Flavio : on Fisanello, 211 ; on
his medals, 143h.

Birds : in S. Fermo fresco, 42 ; in St.
Eustace, 64 ; in Berlin Adoration of
the Magi, 2161 ; see also Eagle

Boar-hunt : sketch from sarcophagus,
21 ; on medal of Alfonso V., 201

Boldu, Giov., medallist, 234

Bologna : medallion of Lud. Gonzaga
for Bentivogli Falace at, 172 ; minia-
ture in Franciscan breviary at, 6?i.

INDEX

253

Bonacolsi, Pier Jacopo Ilario, medal-
list, 233

Bonnat Collection, see Drawiugs

Bono da Ferrara : pupil of Pisanello,
91, 159f. ; his St. Jerome, 91, 117,
132, 156, 159; his St. Christopher,
169f.

Book : open, badge of Alfonso V., 196,
205f. ; tyije of Decembrio's medal,
179 ; books on Sforza medal, 127

Branch, dead, as motif, 149h.

Breuzoui monument, see Verona, S.
Fermo

Brescia, Fra Antonio da, medallist, 234

Buttertiies : in Venetian drawing, 36 ;
in portrait of Ginevra d'Este, 71

C^SAR, Julius : portrait by Pisanello,

59f. ; room at Ferrara named after,

60
Callimachus and the Corinthian capi-
tal, 36
Camel, drawing- of, 217
Canonici Collection, picture once in,

159
Cansignorio della Scala, Palace of, 9
Cappelli, P. P. de', fresco-painter, 12
Caracciolo, Giov., medal meut. by

Vasari, 192».
Carbone, Lud., medal by Sperandio,

233
Carrara, Francesco I. and II., medals

of, 981, 100?i.
Castaglione, Gins., poem on the

d'Avalos medal, 209
Castagno, Andrea del, 6, 59
Castelli, Girol., portrait ment. by

Basinio, 189h.
Catherine of Alexandria, St. : mocking

the idol (Masolino), 55 ; with the

Virgin, &c. (Squarcionesque), 4n. ;

with the Virgin in a Garden

(Veronese), 6, 16, 45, 219
Catherine of Siena, St. : fresco in S.

Eustorgio, Milan, and drawing, 130
Cavalli Knights presented to the Virgin

(Altichiero), 10
Cerruti book, 8».
Ceseua : Hospital of S. Croce founded

by Dom. Malatesta, 166h. ; medal of

Sig. Malatesta and Isotta in Library,

IGltt.
Chautilly, Musee Coude, see Drawings ;

Miniatures

Chatsworth, see Drawings

Christ, medal by Pasti, 226, 231

Coins, ancient : Pisanello not inspired
by, 221, 199; drawings from, 23;
early collectors of, 5 9»., 60, 199 ;
imitated in ilium. MSS., 124

Colleoni, Bartolomeo, medal of, 232

Cologne ; school of, 6 ; drawing of bear
at, 69h.

Colouring : of Brenzoni fresco, 45 ;
ultramarine, 49; of St. Eustace, 67 ;
of Louvre porti'ait, 71 ; of S. Anas-
tasia fresco, 83 ; of Bergamo portrait,
151 ; of .S'<S'. Anthomj and Georgeivith
Viryin, 153

Compagnia del Tempio at Florence,
571

Composition : in early Veronese school,
lOfl. ; in Pisanello's pictures, 7, 42,
65, 83, 154 ; on his medals, 149, 174,
200

Constantine, medal of, 20, lOOff., 108

Constantius, medal of Mahomet II.,
149/?., 191»., 232

Contrarius, Andr., ilium. MS. of his
Defence of Plato, 198

Coradini, medallist, 232

Corinthian capital, story of invention
of, 36

Corua, Franc, da Soncino, 9r?.

Corpses on gallows : in S. Anastasia
fresco, 82, 83, 88 ; studies for, 94,
240; in Berlin Adoration of the
Magi, 88, 217

Costabili Collection, pictures from, 150,
153

Costanza, S., drawing after sarco-
phagus of, 2271.

Costume : in early Veronese school,
llff. ; of Don liiigo d'Avalos, 207 ;
of Ginevra d'Este, 71 ; of Leonello
d'Este, 151 ; of Horsemen of S. Anas-
tasia, 87 ; of Princess of S. Anastasia,
93 ; of St. Eustace, 63 ; of St. George
(Nat. Gallery), 155 ; in Berlin JfZora-
tion of the Magi, 217 ; in Pisanel-
lesque ilium. MS., 124; in Zavattari
frescoes at Monza, 131f. ; studies of,
93, 158, 240
Courtiers, sketches of, 22«., 1581, 240
Crivelli, Carlo, painter, 149h.
CriveIli,Taddeo, miniator, 161
Cross : Heracliiis bringing back, 101 ;
supported by two hands (lost
medal?), 1061

254

INDEX

Crucifix : stag' bearing, 64 ; studies of,

69n., 166/!. ; on medal of Dom. Mala-

testa, 167
Cruciflxion : early Veronese, in S.

Giorgio, Padua, 12; in S. Felice,

Padua, 13; in S. Fermo, Verona, 1 1 ;

by Masolino, S. Clemente, Rome, 55 ;

Pisanellesque, Ravenna, 220n. ; by

Foppa, Bergamo, 117, 132
Ciimano, Belloto : medal of, 104, 177 ;

ment. by Basinio, 187ff.

Dante, medal of, 192
Dati, Leonardo, poem on Pisanello, 223
Decembrio, Pier Candido ; account of
F. M. Visconti, 125; medal of, 104,
178fE.
Deer : in St. Eustace, 64 ; drawings of,

69w.
Delli, Dello, Adoration of the Magi,

attr. to, 216
Devonsliire, Duke of, see Drawings,

Chatsworth
Dioscurus of the Quirinal, drawing of

22
Discorso della Nobilt^, author of, men-
tions Pisanello, 225
Dogs : in drawings, 3l7i., 32f., 69?«., 205 ;

in paintings, 43, 64, 66, 82, 95
Donatello, copy of figure from his Prato

pulpit, 25, 57
Door-knocker, on medal of Gianfr.

Gonzaga, 169
Dragon : awaiting S. George (S. Anas-
tasia), 80 ; at feet of St. George (Nat.
Gallery), 154 ; study of, 159 ; vessels
borne by dragons, 206
Drawings, collections of :
Bayonne, 93, 159h.
Berlin, 21w., 22n., 25, 36, 57
Chantilly, 35, 93
Chatsworth, 174
Cologne, 697t.
Florence (Ufflzi), 174n.
London (British Museum), 32ff.

94, 217, 238ff.
Milan, 22n., 24, 47w., 94n., 95«., 1 58,

170, 207n., 217«.
Munich, 166n.
Oxford, 22w.,93, 170
Padua (formerly). In.
Paris (Coll. Bonnat), 22n., 159n.
Paris (Louvre, General Collection),
7n., llln., 140n.

Paris (Louvre, His de la Salle),
23n., 60, 5lM., 1307?., 146»., 170H.
Paris (Louvre, Vallardi), 1, 18/?.,
34n., 69n., 94n., 95;?., 1571,1 66n.,
171n., 175n., 176n., 199ff.,204ff.,
208n., 211,217, 238f.
Stockholm, 69n.

Vienna (Albertlna), 7/?., 93f, 159
Drawings : from the antique, 20flf.; from
Italian originals, 24fE. ; showing nor-
thern influence, 171, 221 ; of artil-
lery, 206 ; of badges, 2101 ; of fan-
tastic vessels, 206
Drawings relating to medals of : Al-
fonso v., 199flE., 2041; d'Avalos, 208 ;
Gianfr. Gonzaga, 170 ; Malatesta
Novello, 166??.; Nicholas V., 211 ; Pal-
aeologus, 111??. ; Piccinino, 127/?., F.
M. Visconti, 126
Drawings relating to paintings :

Adoration of the Magi (Berlin),

217, 240
Ducal Palace fresco, 31fC., 34??.,

241
Eremus, 68
Ginevra d'Este, 70n.
S. Auastasia fresco, 92lf., 158/?.,

240
SS. Anthony and George loith

Virgin, 1571
St. Eustace, 68fE.
S. Fermo fresco, 46f.
St. John Lateran frescoes, 5 On.
Torriani Chapel frescoes, 130
Dreyfus Collection : plaque of Alberti,

1921; plaquette of Alfonso V., 203
Duccio, Agostino di, 85??., 228

Eagles : drawings of, 33, 201??., 205,
239; on mednls, 149, 197 ; with de;id
fawn, in ilium. MS., 161; vomiting,
caiTied by man, 239

Elephant: on Malatesta medals, 163,
228, 230 ; head of, on helmet, 163

Embossed work, use ol in painting, 63,
15 7

Emperors : heads copied from coins in
MSS., 99??., 124; half-figure ol 239 ;
see also Augustus, Aureliau, Con-
stantine, Hadrian, Heraclius, Palaeo-
logus, Philippus, Tiberius

Empresses : see Faustina I., Severina

"Enea Pisano," 195??.

Enzola, medallist, 234

INDEX

255

Ermine or weast-l on medal of Belloto

Cilmano, 177
Este: arms of, 103, 104

Borso d' : medals and drawings of,
192n. ; plaquettes of, 203; his
illuminated Bible, 1601
Ercole I. d', medals of, 192 n.
Ginevra d', portrait of, 731, 153 ;

imaginary miniature of. Tin.
Leonello d' : relations with Pisa-
nello, 511, 59ff., 71ff., 102,
13811. ; marriage with Maria of
Aragon, 141, 143 ; decorates
Belriguardo, 141 ; corresponds
with Decembrio, 142, 178 ; per-
sonal appearance, 144 ; titles,
1421; medals ol 142ff.; por-
trait by Jacopo Bellini, 1381 ;
by Oriolo, 144, 152; by Pisa-
nello, 70, 74, 139, 150ff.; sup-
posed representation as St.
George, 155; breviary illumi-
nated for, 160, 225
Meliaduse d', 5]

Niccol(S III. d' : medals of, 102ff.,

183; miniature of, 103; sketch

of, 1051, 1 70».; prefers Jacopo

Bellini to Pisanello, 139

Niccol6 di Leonello d', his badge,

146n.
Ugo Aldrovandino d', imag-iuary
portrait of, 104n.
Eugenius IV. : grants passport to
Pisanello, 56 ; makes Sig. Mala-
testa commander of troops of the
Church, 162 ; medal of, 192
Eustace, St., by Pisanello : in Nat.
Gallery, 7, 19, 62fl, 153, 156; later
copy of, at Marseilles, 65 ; lost fresco
(S. Anastasia), 77f.
Evangelists, symbols of, in S.Eustorgio,

Milan, 130*
Eye, winged, badge of Alberti, 192«.

Fabriano, Gentile da : relations with
Pisanello, 26, 28, 37ff., 45; work at
Venice, 281; at Rome, 48ff. ; in-
fluence on Venetian art, 37ff. ; on
Jacopo Bellini, 39/i.,140 ; on Stefano
da Zevio, 220 ; Adoration of the Magi
(Florence), 37ff., 85, 216 ; Corona-
tion of the Virgin (BreTo,), 45 ; Ducal
Palace fresco, 28f. ; St. John Lateran
frescoes, 48fE. ; Virgin with Saints

(Berlin), 45 ; Virgin u-ith Sigismondo
Malatesta (Louvre, attr.), 89h., 1391

Face, modelling of, 45, 85, 151

Facio, Bart, : pictures meut. by, 29«.
68 ; on Pisauello's work at Mantua,
119, 122 ; on Pisauello's death, 212

Falcon, youth holding (drawing), 35

Fano, Pietro da, medal of Lud. Gon-
zaga, 232

Faustina I., drawing of, 23, 99

Feltre, Vittorino da : medal of, 104,
1751, 233 ; portrait ment. by Basinio,
187, 189 ; anon, portrait in Louvre,
176

Ferdinand, son of Alfonso V., medal of,
203?i.

Ferrara : Council of, 76, 106; Pisa-
uello's relations with, 52, 59flf., 102,
120ff., 138ff. ; liis influence on school
of, 15 91; Schifanoia frescoes, 218;
medallists working at, 2 3 Off.

Ferrara, Bono da, see Bono

Fillon Collection, lost letter from, 531,

lllH.

Fiore, Jacobello del, 367*.
Flemish : artists in Italy, 15 ; alleged
influence on Pisanello, 6,89; copies
of medals in Due de Berry's collec-
tion, 102
Florence: Council of (1439), 1061;
Pisauello's work in the Tempio, 56fl
Florence :

Accademia : Gentile da Fabriano,

Adoration of the Magi, 37ff., 86
Pal. Kiccardi : Benozzo Gozzoli,

Journey of the Magi, 82
Uttizi : medal of Palaeologus,
111;;. ; furniture with Triumphs
of Petrarch, 228 ; see also
Drawings
Flowers : as background to portraits,
71, 151 ; study of, 70/i.; four-petalled,
Malatesta badge, 163, 165
Foppa, Vinceuzo, his Crucifixion (Ber-
gamo), 117, 132
Foreshortening of animals : in early
Veronese school, 121 ; in B.M. draw-
ing (battle-scene), 821; by Gentile
da Fabriano, 37 ; in art of 14th and
15th cent., 85 ; in St. Eustace, 67 ;
in S. Anastasia fresco, 78, 82, 85 ; on
medals, 108, 126, 165, 167, 169; in
frescoes at Monza, 131 ; in Berlin
Adoration of the Magi, 218 ; in Turin
MS., 123

256

INDEX

Fountaiu of Life on Const antiue medal,

luo
Frederick Barbarossa aud Alexander

Iir., legend of, 2 9f.
Frederick II., Empex'or, his head on

gold coins, 239
French : artists in Italy, 1 5 ; miniatures

in Due (le Berry's I'rts Riches

Heiires, 16/?.

Gabriel : in S. Fermo Annunciation,

411, 441 ; sketch of, 46
Galli, Angiolo, 133w.
Gallows : in S. Anastasia fresco, 82,

88 ; in Berlin Adoration oj the Magi,

88, 217
Gambello, medallist, 234
Garland-holders, drawing of, 22
Gauricus, Pompon., on medals with

Pisanello's portrait, 182, 185
Gentile da Fabriano, see Fabriano
George, St. : in Brenzoni Annunciation,

41, 43fE., 155 ; with the Princess (S.

Anastasia), 12, 45, 62, 75fl., 155;

sheathing- his sword (S. Anastasia,

lost), 77fE. ; with St. Anthony and

Virgin (Nat. Gallery), 53, 62, 86, 94,

153fE.
German : artists in Italy, 1 5 ; types in

Pisanello's fresco at Venice, 16
Giorgio Tedesco, illuminator, 160
Giotto : his iufiuence on Padua and

Verona, 14 ; copy of his Navicella,

24, 51
Giovanni di Bartolo, 40
Giovio, Paolo : on the Palaeologus

medal, 59, 1061; on other medals,

191
Goat, studies of, 174
God the Father : painting by Pisanello,

117, 1211, 136 ; in S. Fermo Annun-
ciation, 42
Gold: used in panels, 63, 157 ; in

fresco work, 41, 45 ; medals, 1U9,

111«.
Gonzaga, Carlo, portrait ment. by
Basinio, 186, 188
Cecilia: medal ol 691 172ff. ;

supposed panel portrait of, 72
Federigo I., medal of, 232
Gianfrancesco : sides with Milan
against Venice, 61 ; supposed
representation in S. Anastasia,
Verona, 155; relations with

Pisanello, llOff.; medal aud
studies of, 1C811 ; medal copied
by Sperandio, 172/J.
Guglielmo, 120

Ludovico : correspondence with
Pisanello, 120 ; medal by Pisa-
nello, 170fE.; medallion at Bo-
logna, 172; medal by Pietro da
Fano, 172, 232
Mirgherita, 72
Gozzoli, BenozzOjhis fresco in Eiccardi

Palace, 82,218
Grati, Carlo, medal of, 172n.
Greek : coins of raedallic character, 96 ;
coins collected in early Renaissance,
22. 98, 199 ; inscriptions on medals,
101,108
Guariento, 9h., 27

Guarino of Verona : tutor of Leonello
d'Este, 51, 60 ; funeral oration on
Leouello, 150 ; poem on Pisiuello,
113ft"., 212 ; mentions Pisanello in
letter, 212 ; portrait of , by Pisanello,
187, 189, 230 ; medal of, by Pasti,
226, 230
Guaseo, Bartol.,51
Guazzalotti, medallist, 102«., 177
Guidizani, Marco, medallist, 232

Hadrian, portrait of (drawing), 23w.

Hair, dressing of : in Pisanello's por-
traits, 71, 144 ; of Princess of S.
Anastasia, 82, 93 ; of Emperor Pal-
aeologus, 107 ; on medal of Cecilia
Gonzaga, 173; on medals of Isotta
Atti, 230

Headdress: of St. Eustace, 63; of
Horsemen of S. Anastasia, 87; of
Palaeologus, 107 ; of St. George
(Nat. Gallery), 155 ; of Gianfranc.
Gonzaga, 169 ; of d'Avalos, 207

Helmeted figures, drawings of, 35, 238

Heraclius, medal of, 20, lOOff., 203

" Hercules" from Orestes sarcophagus
(drawing), 20f.

Herons, drawings of, 69h.

Hieronymus, see Castelli

Horsemen : groups of, in early Vero-
nese art, 11, 13 ; in S. Anastasia
fresco, 82, 86ff. ; studies of, 95; on
Visconti medal, 126

Horses : in early Veronese frescoes, 11,
12 ; group of two, foreshortened, in
art of the Primitives, 85f . ; in St.

INDEX

257

Eustace, 63, 66; in S. Anastasia
resco, 84ff. ; on medal of Palaeolo-
i^ns, 108 ; on medal of F. M.Viscouti,
126 ; on medal of Sigism. Malatesta,
165 ; studies of,69«., 9if. ; in Brit.
-Mns. d a^ving of battle, 33 ; in
Jacopo Bellini's sketches, 140; in
Tasolino's frescoes, 55 ; in Monza
irescofs, 131 ; in Turin MS., 123 ; in.
Berlin Adoration of the Magi, 218

Horses' lieads : in S. Anastasia fresco,
86 ; in ,iS. AntJioii)/ and George-' with
Virgin, 154 ; on Sforza medal, 127

Hyeres, the Monk of, illuminator, 17

Ilario, Pier Jacopo, medallist, 233
Ilhiminations, see Miniatures
Iinpiccati, the, 88
Imprese : of Alfonso Y., 196, 200, 2u4ff. ;

of the Este, 71f., 145fe,
Individualism : in early Veronese art,

14 ; its expression in the medal,

97f.
Infant's head, triple-faced, 145, 199
Innocence, symbolised on medal of

Cecilia Gonzaga, 173f.
Inscriptions, see Lettering-
Interiors : Veronese, 65 ; S. Fermo

fresco, 43 ; Masolino (3. Clemente),

55
Is.ua da Pisa, 195;?.

Jacobello del Fiore, 36n.

James of Compostella, St., and the inno-
cent pilgrim, 5 7f .

Jerome, St., by Pisanello, painted for
Guarino, 68, 115, 117; by Bono da
Ferrara (Nat. Gallery), 91, 117, 132,
156, 159

Jesus Christ, medal of, byr;isti, 226
231

Jewellery, designs for, 206, 210

John Baptist, St.: history of, by Gen-
tile da Fabriano, fluished by Pisa-
nello, 49f.; study for decollation, 50/?.;
in the Wilderness (drawing), 68

Juniper worn by Ginevra d'Este, 73

Justina, St., and the unicorn, 174??.

Kalmuck, in S. Anastasia fresco, 87,

92
Landscape: of S. Fermo fresco, 4 2.

46; of St. Eustace, 64, 217; of S,

Anastasia fresco, 81, 83f.; of medals,
197,208, 217h.; contemporary eulo-
gies of Pisauello's, 115, 118, 135,
187; in Virgin with Sigism. Mala-
testa, 140 ; in Bono of Ferrara and
Vine. Foppa, 117, 132, 160 ; in Ber-
lin Adoration of the Magi, 216
Laurana, Francesco, sculptor and

medallist, 234
Laurel-sprays and wreath on medals of

Pisanello, 182
Leaden proofs of medals, 99, 109
Lettering and inscriptions : in paint-
ings, 90, 154 ; in medals, 90, 104, 145,
148, 167, 179f.
Liberalitas Augusta medal of Alfonso

V^, 196f.
Limbom-g, Pol de, 16, 221
Lion taught to sing by Cupid, on medal,

149
Lippi, Filippo, Adoration qf the Magi,

attr. to, 216
Livy, ilium. MS. of, 99??.
Lixiguolo, medallist, 232
London :

British Museum : MS. of Strozzi's
Poems, 134)?. ; Medals of Al-
fpnso v., PI. 59, 60; of Isotta
Atti, 164??., PI. 67 ; of Leonello
d'Este, PI. 36, 38 ; of Xiccol6
d'Este, PI. 27 ; of Cecilia Gon-
zaga, PI. 52 ; of Gianfr. Gon-
zaga, PI 49; of Lud. Gonzaga,
170??., PI. 51; of Guarino, PI.
68 ; of Sig. Malatesta, 164??.,
PI. 46, 66; of Ant. Marescotti,
185??.; of Palaeologus, PI. 29;
of Picciniuo, PI. 33; of Pisa-
nello, PI. 57 ; see also Drawings ;
Miniatures
Nation;'.! Gallery : Bono da Fer-
rara, St. Jerome (PI. 19), 91, 117,
132, 156, 159; Oriolo, Leonello
d'Este (PI. 41), 144, 152; Pisa-
nello, Vision of St. Eustace (PI.
11), 7, 19, 62ff., 153, 156; St.
Anthony and St. George icith the
Virgin (PI. 42), 53, 62, 86, 94,
153fE.
Victoria and Albert Museum : Vir-
gin enthroned, by Peregrinus,
219 ; relief with triple-faced
head of Prudence, 145 ; medal of
Malatesta Xovello, PI. 48
See also Kosenheim

258

INDEX

Lorenzo, Fioreuzo di, panels at Perugia,

220
Love teaching- lion to sing, on medal,

149
Luke, St., symbol of, 130
Lynx : blindfolded, on medsils of

Lionello d'Este, 148 ; drawing of,

148n.
Lysippus, liis medal of Muriniis Phile-

tliicus, 177

Madonna, see Virgin
Madrid, Nat. Library, relief of Al-
fonso v., 200«.
Maifei, Timoteo, medal of, 231
Magi, journey of, by Ben. Gozzoli, 82,
218 ; see also Adoration of the Mat/i
Magnanimity symbolised by eagle,

197
Mahomet II. : medal of, by Constan-
tius, 149/i., 191»., 232; represented
by risanello's Palaeologus, 111 ; rela-
tions with Sig. Malatesta, 226f.
Malatesta, Carlo, medal ment. by Vasari,
192/?.
Domenico (Novello), Lord of Cese-
na: painted portrait of, 166//. ;
medal of, 149«., 165fE. ; stxidies
for medal, 95, 166/i ; medal
copied by Sperandio, 172h.
Paola, Marchesa of Mantua, 118
Sigismondo Pandolfo : marries
Ginevra d'Este, 73 ; as adorant
in Louvre picture, 139f. : medals
of, 162ff., 226, 228f. ; false medal
with Isotta Atti, 164, 191». ;
medallion portrait in Tempio
Malatestiano, 228 ; portrait ment.
byBasinio, 186, 188 ; his relations
with Pasti, 226ff, ; with Venice
and the Turks, 226f.
Mantua: Pisanello working at, 119flf.,
122 ; Sala del Pisanello in Palace,
123; medallists of, 2321Y. ; see also
Gonz iga ; Feltre (Vittorino da)
Marcscotti, Ant., medallist, 183f.,185».,

231f.
Maria of Aragon marries Leonello

d'Este, 150
Marseilles, co])y of St. Eustace in pri-
vate collection at, 65
Martin V. : employs Gentile da Fabriano
and Pisinello, 481; medal of, meat,
by Giovio, 191/?.

Martini, Veronese fresco-painter, 12

Masaccio, 222

Masolino, frescoes in S. Clemeute,

Rome, 55
Mast and sail impresa, 146, 150
Medals : recent study of, 3 ; in an-
tiquity and middle ages, 96fl. ; cha-
racteristic of Renaissance, 97 ; early
collectors of, 97, 213; rise of, 98ff. ;
technique (casting and striking) of,
99, 101, 109, 182/?.; treatment of
borders (linear), 108, 165, 197, 202;
dotted, 147, 181 ; (floral), 145 ; pri-
vate nature of, 143 ; relation to
painted portraits, 188 ; used decora-
tively in paintings, 132 ; as source of
later portraits, 128??., 200«. ; develop-
ment of, after Pisanello, 225ff.
Medici, Carlo de', letter to Giov. de,
Medici mentioning Pisanello,
212fE.
Cosimo de', the Elder, 192
Filippo de', medal of, 191/?.
Giovanni de', Pisanello ment. in

letter to, 212ff.
Fra Marco, Vasari's informant, 41,

77
Piero di Cosimo de', Pasti working
for, 226, 228
Michael, St. : on column, drawing at
Berlin, 36; in Brenzoni fresco, 41,
43, 45 ; giving banner to Alfonso V.
(sketch for medal), 204
Milan : at war with Venice, 61 ; Pisa-
nello working for, 124ff. ; traces of
his influence at, 129ff. ; see also
Decembrio, Visconti
Milan :

Ambrosiana : see Drawings

(Milan)

Brera : Gentile da Fabriauo,

Coronation of the Virgin, 45 ;

Bart. Montagna, Virgin icith

four Saints, 231/?.; Stefano da

Zevio, Adoration of the JM((gi,

18/*., 37/1., 220 ; medal of Sig.

Malatesta and Isotta, 164??.

Casa Borromeo : Micheliuo ila

Besozzo, frescoes, 129/?., 131
S. Eustorgio : Moretti's (?) fres-
coes in Torriani Chapel, 129ff. ;
Portinari before St. Peter,
220/?.
S. Maria sopra S. Culso : see
Drawings (Milan)

INDEX

259

Ciistc'llo : relief from Eiiniui

(Aqostino (li Diiccio), 8011.
Ciustello (Taverna Collectiou) :
medal of Sig. Malatesta aiui
Isotta, 1G4/;. ; loedal of Decem-
brio, 179

Milano, Amadeo da, Pietro da, see
Auiadc'o; Pietro

Miniatures (illuminations) : influence
on Pisancllo, 6f. ; early Veronese and
Paduau schools, 8 ; Cerruti Book,
8)). ; Genesis at Rovigo, 8». ; Trcs
Jiic/u'S Heures of Due de Berry
(Chantilly), 16»., 18//., 19, 101/;. ;
by Zorzo de Alemagna and Matteo
de' Pasti, for Leoncllo d'Este,
160 ; Ferrarese Imprese di Carlo
Mayno, 112, 161; Bibl. Nationale
Livy, 99//., 112; Museo Correr,
Leg-end of Pope Alex. III., 35 ;
Turin and Vatican, Vitae principum,
123 ; Rome, Bibl.Naz.,Este portraits,
103//., 14i//.; Bologna, Franciscan
Breviary, 6//.; Brit. Museum, ^fZt>/*fi-
tiou of Magi, 37; Bible of Borso
d'Este, 160//., 161 ; Acdr. Contrarius,
Defence of Plato (Bibl, Nat.\ 198

Mirandola, Gianfr. Pico della, medal
of, 184//.

Modena, Este Gallery, scenes from life
of St. Patrick, 220//.

Modena, Tommaso of, 9//.

Monaco, Lorenzo, 6//.

Montagna, Bart., medallion of Clarist
in Brera altarpiece, 231//.

Montepulciano, Pietro da, 6//.

Montolmo, battle of, 166

Montone, Braccio da, 128 ; supposed
medal of, 128//., 191//.

Monza, frescoes in chapel of Queen
Theodolinda, 131

Jklorelli Collection, see Bergamo

Morctti, Cristoforo, 131, 132//.

Mule : in S. Anastasia fresco, 87 ; study
for, 95

Munich, German drawing after medal
of Dom. Malatesta at, 166//.

Music at court of Leoncllo d'Este, 150

Naples : Pisanello proposes to visit,
123 ; his work at, 194ff. ; triumphal
arch, 207, 234

Naturalism : in early xv. cent., 16f. ; in
Gentile da Fabriano and Pisanello,

37 ; in drawing at Berlin, 36 ; in
S. Fermo fresco, 46 ; in St. Eustace,
65 ; in Milanese scliool,132
Niccol6, medallist, see Baroncelli
Nicholas V., sketch for medal of, 211
Xicholaus, medallist, see Baroncelli
Northern influence on Pisanello, IGf.
Nude fig-ures by Pisanello, 146f., 239
Nuzi, Allegretto, 133

Olive-branches : symbol of peace,
145 ; men carrying- baskets of, 146

Oriental types : in S. Anastasia fresco,
76, 87, 92 ; studies for, 92

Oriolo, Giov., portrait of Leoncllo
d'Este (Nat. Gallery), 144, 152

Otto, sou of Barbarossa, 29f.

Ox of St. Luke, frescoand drawing, 130

Oxford, see Drawings.

Padua : water-colour drawing for-
merly at, 7 ; school of illuminators,
8//. ; early Veronese frescoes in
S. Felice and S. Giorgio, 9, 12f.; rise
of the medal in, 98 ; Bono da Fcr-
rara's St. Christopher in the Eremi-
tani, 159f.
Palaeologus, John, Emperor of Byz^m-
tium : at Verona and Pavia (1424),
76; at Ferrara and Florence (1438-
9), 76, 106 ; medal of, 107ff., 191 ;
medal copied in woodcuts and minia-
tures, 100//., lllf. ; portrait or medal
ment. by Guarino, 116
Palermo, Hospice, Triumph of Death,

219
Pandoni, Giannautonio de', see Por-

cellio
Paris :

Bibliotheque Nationale : medals :
of Palaeologus, 111//. ; of F. M.
Visconti, 125 ; of Federigo of
Urbino, PI. 73 ; see also Minia-
tures
Louvre : Jacopo Bellini or Gentile
da Fabriano, Virgin icith Sigis-
viondo Malatesta, 39//., 1391;
anon, portrait of Vittorino da
Feltre, 176; Pisanello, portrait
of Ginevra d^Este, 70ff. ; mednl
of Palaeologus, 111//.; pla<iuc of
Alberti, 192 ; see oZso Drawings,
Miniatures
See also Bounat, Dreyfus, Valtou

26o

INDEX

Fasti, Benedetto do', medal of, by

Matteo de' Pasti, 231
Tasti, Matteo do' ; his career, 225ff. ;
, miniaturc-paiutiny, 8, 160; medals

of Sig. Malatesta, 163, 228f. ; of

Isotta Atti, 2291; other medals,

2 3 Of.
Tatrick, St., scenes from life of, at Mo-

dcna, 220
Paul II. (Pier Barbo) and Pisfircllo's

medals, 1821, 213
Pavia : Palaeoloj^us at, 76 ; Pinauello's

work at, 128ft.
Peace, symbols of, on medals, 145flE.
Peacocks, drawing's of, 217
Pelican feeding young : type of medals,

1761 ; sketch of, 176«.
Pellegrini family of Verona : connected

with S. Anastasia, 7-4 ; their arms,

91
Peregrinns, Virgin and Child by, in

Victoria and Albert Museum, 219
Perspective : in early Veronese paint-
ing, 13 ; in S. Fermo fresco, 43 ; in

S. Anastasia fresco, 84, 89 ; in ^S"^.

Euiftncc, 67
Perugia, Pal. del Commune, paintings

by Fiorenzo di Lorenzo, 220
Peruzzi, Baldassare, 50«.
Pesellino, school of. Adoration of the

Magi, attr. to, 216
Peter the Cruel, doubloon of, 97
Petrarch : MS. of Epitome Vir. llliistr.,

85 ; illustrations of his Triumphs,

225, 228
Petrecini, medallist, 184»., 232
Philethicus, Marinus, medal of, 177
Philippus Arabs, lost ornament repre-
senting, 101
Picciuino, Niccol6 : medalof,121, 127f.,

191/?.; studies for, 127n. ; portrait

ment. by Basiiiio, 186, 188
Pietro da F.iuo, medal of Lud. Gon-

zaga, 172, 232
Pietro daMilano, sculp'or and medal-
list, 2;34
Pigeons in S. Fca-mo fresco, 42, 46
Pilgrim : legend of the innocent, 57,

88; in Pellegrini arms, 91
Pisa : sarcophagus in Campo Santo, 5,

21n. ; supposed coimcxiou of Pisa-

nello with, 51, 15, 195, 211
Pisa, Isaia da, 195n,
"Pisauello da I'isa," 195?i.
Pisauello of Verona (Vittorc Pisauo) :

the name, 3, 5,77 ; portraits of, 1161,

184f. ; on medals, 103, 1811T.
Pisanello, Kcrvant of Duke of Milan

(1456), 212H.
Pisani, Venetian family, 5
"I'i.^auo, Euea," 19.'».'
Pius II., medal by Guazzalotti, 177
Pleydenwtirff, Hans, Adoration of the

Magi, din,
Poggio discovers Vitruvius, 36
Pol de Limbourg, 16, 221
Porcellio, portrait ment. by Basiuio,

187, 189 ; poem on Pisanello, 1901
Porta S. Angelo, battle of, 33
Portinari before St. Peter (S. Eus-

torgio, Milan), 220».
Portraits in early Veronese frescoes, 9,

14
Pozzo, B. dal, picture once belonging

to, in., lln.
Princess in S. Anastasia fresco, 82, 85 ;

studies for, 931
Profile, development of silhouette, 72,

74, 1511
Prudence symbolised by triple face, 1 45>

199

Ram : in S. Anastasia fresco, 8S ;
drawing of head of, 175».

Eavenua, Museo Civico, Pisanellesquc
Crucifxion in, 220n.

Relief, treatment of : in medals, 103,
183 ; in paintings, 22 2

Religious feeling : in earl}' Veronese
school, 13 ; in Pisanello, 44, 156, 167

Rembrandt, figure in his TJiree Crosses
copied from medal of Gianfr. Gon-
zaga, 170

Rene of Aujou, his medallists, 234

Rimini : Pisanello's connexion with,
73, 162, 186??.; Pasti at, 225fif. ;
Tempio Malatestiano, 226, 228f. ;
Rocca Malatestiana, 229; relief by
Agostinodi Ducciofrom, 85

Ring and cross badge, 34??., 166??.

Rocca Contrada captured by Sig. Mala-
testa, 165

Rocca Malatestiana on medal by Pasti
2281

Roman: coins collected in early Re-
naissance , 22, 98, 199 ; contorniates,
9 7 ; medallions, 96

Romano, Gian Cristoforo, medallist,

INDEX

261

Home : G entile da Fabriauo aud Pisa-
ncUo at, 48-55 ; antiques at,
copied, 2ufT., 51 ; supposed last
visit of risanello to, 21 Iff.
Komc :

Uiblioteca Xaziouale, see Minia-
tures
Colonua Gallery : Stefano da
Zcvio, Jf(fdomia and Angels, 240
Museo Borgiauo : medal and bust

of Palaeologfus, 111/?.
San Clemente : Masolino, frescoes,

55
St. John Lateran : Gentile da
Fabriauo and Pisanello, frescoes,
ISff.
St. Mark's, reproductions of

medals on tileg of, 182
St. Peter's : Giotto, Navicella, 21,

51
Vatican Library ; MS. of Galli's
poems, 133«. ; see also Minia-
tures
Kobc : (so-called) Blalatesta badge,
1G3/^ ; roses in ijortrait of Leonello
d'Este, 151f. ; study of, 151?/.
Itosenlieim Collection, medal of F. M.

Viscouti, PI. 30
Kosso, Giov. di Bartolo il, Brcuzoui

monument by, -40
Kovlg-o, ilium. MS. at, 8«.

Sadionetta, Ducal Palace, relief of

Gianfr. Gonzaga, 170
Sail, see Mast and Sail
Saint Anthony, Saint George, &c,, see

under Antbonj-, George, &c.
San Micliele, M., architect, 78
Sanuto, Marin, 9
San Vigilio (L. di Garda), 4, 5//.
San Vito (Gardesana), 4, bn.
Sanzio, Giov., mentions Pisanello, 224
Sarcophagi, drawings from, 2 Off.
Scala, Causignorio della, employs Alti-

chiero, 9
Schedel's Chronicle, 111
Schiavone, 5n.

Sereghi, Palace of, at Verona, 10, 15
Sesto family of medallists, 98
Severina, drawing from coin of, 23«.
Sforza, Francesco : captures Verona,

Gl ; Pisauello's medal of, 124, 127f. ;

portrait ment. by Basinio, 186ff. ;

Spcraudio's medal of, 233

Siena, Augelo da, 212/?.

Signature of Pisanello, forms of, 41,

145, 147, 154, 202,240
Silver, use of : for armour, 45. 77 ; for

medals, 109, 125/;., 213
Sperandio, medals by, 137/?., 172, 232f.
Squarcione, 5//.
Squarcioncsque, Mrgin and Saints

(Berlin), 4«.
Stags: in .SY. Eustace, 64; studies of, 69//.
Stefano da Zevio, see Zevio, Stefano da
Stockholm, see Drawings
Strength with broken column, design by

Pasti, 228
Strozzi, T. Vesp. : his poem 'on Pisa-
nello, 116, 134ff. ; medal and plaque

of, 135ff.
Sun on medal and coins of Lud. Gon-

zaga, 171
Sunflower on medal of Lud. Gouzaga

171
Sword on Sforza medal, 127

Talpa, Bart., medallist, 232

Tedesco, Giorgio, illuminator, 160

Tiber-statue of the Capitol, drawing of,
21

Tiberius, lost medal of, 101

Titles on medals ; of Fr. Sforza and X.
Piccinino, 124 ; of Leonello d'Este,
142, 148n.; of Sig'. Malatesta, 162

Tommaso of Modena, 9n.

Toscanella, see Tuscanella

Toscanelli, Paolo dal Pozzo, 189/i.

Tossignano, B. Giov. da, medal of, 231

Traversari, Ambrogio, 54

Trees : in SS. Anthony and George
loitli Virgin, 154, 156 ; in St. Eustace,
156; in work of Bono and Foppa, 1 32
156; dead or leafless, 149//., 167

Triple-faced head, symbol of Prudence
145,199

Triumph medals of Alfonso V., 202

Triumph of Death (Hospice, Palermo),
219

Trivulzi, arms of, 145n.

Turin Library, Pisanellesquc ilium.
MS. 123

Tuscanella, portrait of, ment. by Ba-
sinio, 187, 189

Ubaldim della Carda, OU., sonnets
by 133f.

262

INDEX

Ulissc dc' Alcotti (?), sonnet by, 138f.
Ultramarino used by IMsfinello, 19
Unicorn : Innocence and tlic, 174 ; St.

Justina and, 174«.
Urbino, Fedcrigo of, medal by Speran-

dio, 233

V'allakdi, Rccueil, history oi:, 11. ; set-
also Drawings

Valtou Collection, medal of Pisancllo,
PI. 5 7

Valturio : relations with Pasti, 226;
his (It re milituri, 226f., 227n.

Vasari : chief source for Pisanello's
biography, 2 ; on his S. Fermo
fi'csco, 41 ; on his work at Florence,
58f. ; on his S. Anastasiafresco,77f. ;
on his medals, 191 ; on his connexion
with Pisa, 211

Vase with branches, roots and anchors
(Este impresa), 71f., 74, 147f.

Vela, see Mast and Sail

Venator Intrepidus medal of Al-
fonso v., 201

Vendramin, Andrea, SU

Veneziano, Antonio, 14, lo«., 26

Venice: at war with Milan, 611;
offended by Sig. Malatesta, 227 ; in-
fluence of Gentile da Fabriano and
Pisanello on, 37ft"., 140: its coin-
engravers in the early Renaissance,
98 ; medallists of, 232

Venice :

Ducal Palace : Gentile da Fabri-
ano's work, 281; Guariento's
Paradiso, 9«., 27 ; Pisanello's
work, 4, 16, 27ff. ; Ant. Venezi-
ano's work, Ibn.
Museo Correr : Pisanellesque cas-
sone, 220«. ; see also Miniatures

Venus from Adonis-sarcophagus (draw-
ing), 20

Verona: political conditions at, 14;
predecessors of Pisanello at, 8 ft. ;
Palaeologus visits (1424), 76«. ; Pisa-
nello works in fresco at, 401, 75f. ;
he goes there from Home (1431), 511 ;
its sufferings from plague and war
(1438-41), 61 ; Pisanello absent from,
(1438-42 or later), 62

Verona :

Museo Civico : Veronese school,
Viryin and St. Catherine in a

Garden, 6, 16,4-3, 219; Leruas-
coni Madonna, 219

S. Anastasia : architectural work
in XV. cent., 75; Altichiero,
Cavalli Knif/hts, 10 ; Pisanello,
St. Eustace (lost),77f. ; >S7. Georf/e
and the Priiicess, 12, 45, 62, 75ff'.,
155 ; St. Georye sheathing his
sword (lost), 77ff.

S. Fermo Maggiore : Early Vero-
nese school, Crueijijcion, 11 ;
Giov, di Bartolo, Brcnzoni
monument, 40 ; Pisanello, Brcn-
zoni Annunciation, 4, 6h., 12,
37, 40ff., 89, 156; Veronese
School, Adoration of the Macji,
220

S. Maria della Scala : Pisanelleeque
frescoes, 55, 220».
Vessels borne by dragons, drawings of

206
Vienna :

Albcrtina : see Drawings

Coin Cabinet : Plaquettc of Al-
fonso v., 203?/.
Vinci, Leonardo da : drawings attr. to,
In., 24 ; on the exemplum of the
eagle, 197
Virgin :

Altichiero, Cavalli Knights pre-
sented to the Virgin, 10

Jacopo Bellini, Virgin icith Sig.
Malatesta, attr. to, 39»., 1391

Gentile da Fabriano, Virgin ivith
Saints (.Berlin), 45

Pisanello: t3'pe of, 37, 441; in
S. Fermo Annunciation, 43 ;
sketches of, 47/?.; lost pictui'c
(1432), 52 ; with SS. Anthony
and George, 53, 62, 86, 94, 153

Stef ano da Zevio (Colonna Gallery),
240

Pcrcgrinus (Vict, and Alb. Mus.),
219

Squarcionesquc (Berlin), in.

Veronese School : with St. Cathe-
rine in GarJeu, 6, 16, 4."), 219;
from Bernascoui Collection, 219
^'irgin, study of head of, 240
Virtues, initials of the seven, on rev

of medal, 182
Visconti : biscione of the, 126, 130

Bianca Maria, 124, 130

Filippo Maria : letter from Pisa-
nello to, 53f. ; relations with

INDEX

263

Sforza and Picciuino, 124 ; his
medal and personal appearance,
125ff., 134; sketches of, 1261;
other portraits, 125«. ; portrait
nient. by Basinio, 186
Giaugaleazzo, medal ment. by
Vasari, and drawing of, 191 h.
Yitruvius, discovery of, 36
Vittoriuo da Felti-e, see Feltre
Vivarini, Ant., Adoration qf the Magi

(Berlin), 38f.
Vivarini, Luigi, 33

Watermarks of drawings : pincers,
34 ; five-petalled rosette, 206 ; shears
211

Weasel, see Ermine

Wilderness, by Pisanello, 68

World as represented on d'Av.ilos
medal, 208f.

Wreath on medals : of Pisanello, 182,

184 ; of Gianlr, Pico della Minm-
dola, 184w.

Youth and Age on medal of Loouello
d'Este, 146

Zavattari, Franceschino, frescoes at

3Ionza, 131
Zevio, Altichiero da, see Altichiero
Zevio, Stefano da : Virgin and St.
Catherine in a Garden^ attr. to, Qn. ;
his debt to Pisanello and Gentile da
Fabriano, 220 ; Adoration of the
Magi (Brera), 18?*., 37/^, 220 ; Ma-
donna and angels (Colonua Gallery),
240 ; drawinys, 18??., 146??., 221 ;
School of. Adoration of the Magi,
attr. to, 216
Zorzo de Alemagna, miniator, 160
Zixcco, Accio, his J^'sop, ?.28n.

Printed by Ballantynk, Hanson »2h Co
London «5r» Kdiiiburgb,

THE LIBRARY OF ART

PLANNED AND EDITED BY THE LATE

S, ARTHUR STRONG

LIBRARIAN OF THE HOUSE OF LORDS, OF

CHATSWORTH, AND OF WELBECK

NOW EDITED BY

MRS. ARTHUR STRONG (EUGENIE SELLERS)

'' I ''HE Publishers have arranged to issue a New
^ Library of Art, in which all Schools and
Periods will be represented, but only the Greatest
Masters will emerge as Biographies. The rest will
be treated in relation to their fellows and forerunners
as incidents of a development.

The Series will, it is hoped, reflect the subject in
its true proportions more closely than has been at-
tempted hitherto. At the same time, the scope of
the Series will admit of occasional monographs on
little-known artists, when some specialist has been
able to throw light by new researches on an obscure
period. The aesthetic side will not be neglected, but
the aim will be to make the Series a storehouse of
that positive knowledge which must form the basis of
all opinion.

There will be about thirty -eight Crown %vo Volumes
of about 300 pages^ and about fifty illustrations. Each
Volume sold separately y cloth^ gilt tops.

The following Volumes are already puhlished

in this Series :

MICHAEL ANGELO BUONARROTI. By Sir

Charles Holeoyd, Curator of the National Gallery of British
Art. With Fifty-two Illustrations. 7s. 6d. net.

" Sir Charles Holroyd has done excellent service. This story of a marvellons
career is full of human charm. A valuable book." — Standard.

"A very welcome and acceptable contribution to the literature of Michael
Angelo and of art-history generally. Full of valuable detail and illustrated by
a large number of pictures." — Globe.

"A valuable contribution to the story of this giant's personality." — Speaker.

"This excellent book is as suited to the general reader as to the artist." —
Spectator.

" The volume gives in a convenient form almost everything that the student
for whom it is intended will need to know about Michael Angelo, and will prove
a safe guide to his works. The illustrations are well chosen, . . . We are
especially grateful for the engravings of those frescoes in the Pauline Chapel
which every one writes about and no one publishes." — New York Evening Post.

DONATELLO. By Lord Balcarres. With Fifty-eight

Illustrations. 6s. net.

" It is what the majority are not — a valuable addition to the literature of the
arts. A fascinating book." — Glasgow Herald.

" A model of what this kind of book should be. No Ijetter glimpse of the
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for presenting Donatello in a style so convincing and attractive." — Morning Post.

" The tendency to isolate each particular artist from the main cuiTent of art
has been conspicuous in many recently published lives of artists. We are pleased
to find that Lord Balcarres does not take such a view. . . . We have nothing but
admiration for the industry and wide knowledge implied in this volume. . . .
Always readable and interesting. His book is admirably illustrated, and he has
given us by far the best account of Donatello's work that has been published.
The ' Library of Art ' is likely to prove of permanent value." — Manchester
Guardian.

FRENCH PAINTING IN THE XVIth CENTURY.

By Louis Dimier. With Fifty Illustrations. 7s. 6d. net.

"Of particular interest. M. Dimier speaks with authority, and he has bi'ought
together all the important facts that are now known as to the painters and their
assistants at Fontaineblcau." — Times.

" It would be hardly possible to produce illustrations of greater beauty." —
Gtiardian.

TITIAN. By Dr. Georg Gronau. With Fifty-four

Illustrations. 7s. 6d. net.

Very thorough and very sound. Dr. Grouau is an independent authority
A remarkable example of good historical and aesthetic criticism." — Times.
" The best handbook to Titian's art that exists. It is marked throughout by
that cautious accuracy, that scholarly restraint and disinterested love of truth
which we associate with all Dr. Gronau's work. No less remarkable are the
accui'acy and completeness of his knowledge. He has condensed into this book a
greater amount of positive information about Titian than has ever before been
accumulated." — Athenceum.

MEDIEVAL ART: from the Peace of the Church to the

Eve of the Eenaissance. A.D. 312-1350. By W. R. Lethaby.
With Sixty-six Full-page Illustrations and upwards of One
Hundred and Twenty Diagrams, Plans, and Drawings. 8s. 6d. net.

CONTENTS.

Introduction.

The Age of Constantine : Rome

and the East.
Constantinople, Ravenna, and the

Age of Justinian.
Later Byzantine and Romanesque

Origins.
Romanesque Art in Italy.
Romanesque Art in Germany,

France and England.

Of Romance Art.

Gothic Characteristics.

French Cathedrals.

French Sculpture and Painting.

French Masons.

Gothic Art in England, Spain,

Switzerland, Belgium, and

Germany.
Gothic Art in Italy.
Appendix.

The book illustrates the art and architecture of Damascus, Constanti-
nople, Rome, Ravenna, Florence, Paris, Rouen, Chartres, Amiens, Reims,
Strasbourg, Bruges, &c. The diagrams, plans and drawings help the
reader to follow the main currents of Mediaeval Art from the time of
Constantine to the eve of the Italian Renaissance.

" We know of uo book in which the development of Gothic architecture is
better treated. The passages on French sculpture and tracery are equally valuable,
and most excellently illustrated. Faces a whole series of difficult problems, and
solves them with an amount of common sense that is rarely found in combination
with so much eriidition aud entliusiasm." — Burlington Magazine.

ALBERT DURER. By T. Sturge Moore. With Four

Copperplates and Fifty Half-tone Engravings. 7s. 6d. net.

CONTENTS.

Part I.

CONCERNING GENERAL IDEAS IM-
PORTANT TO THE COMPREHENSION
OF DURER'S life and ART

The Idea of Proportion.
The Influence of Religion on the
Creative Impulse.

Part II.

DUEER'S life in relation TO
THE TIMES IN "WHICH HE LIVED

Durer's Origin, Youth, and Edu-
cation.
The World in which he Lived.
Durer at Venice.
His Patrons and Friends.
Luther and the Humanists.
Journey to the Netherlands,
Last Years.

PART III.

DURER AS A CREATOR.

Durer's Pictures.

Durer's Portraits.

Durer's Drawings.

Durer's Metal Engravings.

Durer's Woodcuts.

Durer's Influences and Verses.

Part IV.

durer's ideas.

The Idea of a Canon of Proportion

for the Human Figure.
The Importance of Docility.
The Last Tradition.
Beauty.
Nature.

The Choice of an Artist.
Technical Precepts.
In Conclusion.

" The style of the book is individual and enlivened by unexpected turns of
fancy. In addition to four photogTavui'e plates lent by the Durer Society, it
contains numerous illustrations, well selected and excellently rendered." — Times.

" A fine exposition. Delightful and suggestive. Aud it is especially because
it never fails us as a criticism of Durer's art that this study stands out so
distinguished." — Daily Chronicle.

" Qualities of imagination and intellect distinguish the writer whose book on
the greatest of the artists of Germany is before us. "With vivid interests, and a
sense not only of aesthetics but of etliics besides, lie lias thought, imagination,
feeling. . . . This survey of Durtr's art is systematic and excellent." — Standard .

VERROCCHIO. By Maud Cruttwell. With Forty-
eight Illustrations. 7s. 6d. net.

CONTENTS.

VeiTOCchio and his Place in Quat-
trocento Art.

Biographical. \

Earliest Works.

Early Sculpture.

S. Lorenzo.

Work for the Medici, and Male
Busts.

Work for the Medici — Death-
Masks, kc.

Female Portraits.

The Madonna.

The Forteguerri Tomb.

The Tornabuoni Relief.

Or S. Michele and the Silver Eelief.

The Pistoia Altar-Piece.

The Colleoni Statue.

The Sketch-Book — Pupils and

Assistants.
Lost and Attributed Works.

Genealogy, Chronology, Bibliography, Documents, Appendix, &c.

" A serious study of Verroccliio has long been wanted. Miss Cnittwell's book
shows a thoroughness and care whicli are admirable. There is no information
about Verroccliio which does not find a place in her book. Miss Cruttwell's study
is the most accurate, impartial and complete." — Atkemeum.

" No moi'e useful guide to the Florentine Art of the Fifteenth Century has
come under our notice." — Morning Post.

"Based on competent knowledge and study, this volume, for the value of its
contents and the interest of its style, takes a worthy place in this excellent and
most serviceable series." — Lifernri/ World.

" An admii'able piece of work, scholarly and enthusiastic." — Speaker.

The folloxving is a List of the Volumes now arranged for :

GIOTTO. By Basil de Selincourt.

PISANELLO. By G. F. Hill, of the Department of

Coins and Medals in the British Museum.

ANTONIO POLLAIUOLO. By Maud Cruttwell.

CONSTABLE. By M. Sturge Henderson.

ROMAN ART : from Augustus to Constantine. By Mrs.
Arthur Strong (Eugenie Sellers), LL.D.

THE CRITICISM OF ART. By A. J. Finberg.

SIX GREEK SCULPTORS : Myron ,Pheidias,Polykleitos,
Skopas, Praxiteles, and Lysippos.* By Ernest Gardner, Pro-
fessor of Greek Archfeology at University College, London.

LEONARDO DA VINCI. By Charles Ricketts.

CORREGGIO. By T. Sturge Moore.

TURNER. By A. J. Finberg.

THE THREE BELLINI AND THE EARLIER

VENETIANS. By G. McNeil Euskforth, late Director of the
British School at Rome.

THE FERRARESE SCHOOL OF PAINTERS. By

Edmund G. Gardner.

GHIRLANDAJO AND THE EARLIER FLORExN-

TINES. By Beckwith Spencer, Professor at the South Ken-
sington School of Art.

DUCCIO, AND THE BEGINNING OF ITALIAN

PAINTING. By Professor Langton Douglas.

DUCKWORTH & CO.,

3 HENRIETTA STREET, COVENT GARDEN

DATE DUE

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NK
6598

P6H6

_ AUTHOR

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Hill, George Francis
Pisanello; by G.F. Hill ...

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