Pisanello: Painter to the Renaissance Court

- The first major publication in English to focus on Pisanello's work as a painter and medallist - Essential reading for specialists, students and general readers interested in early Renaissance art and the chivalric values and humanist culture of fifteenth-century Italian court life - Lavishly illustrated with paintings, drawings, medals, tapestries and manuscripts from international collections - Published to accompany a major exhibition at the National Gallery, London (24 October - 13 January 2002), the highlight of 'Renaissance Autumn' season at the Gallery Pisanello (c.1394-1455) was the most famous artist of his time, an outstanding figure of the early Italian Renaissance, celebrated as both painter and medallist. He was regularly employed by two of Italy's ruling houses, the Gonzaga in Mantua and the d'Este in Ferrara, and worked all over the peninsula to celebrate the virtues of popes, princes and kings. His work is both exquisitely beautiful and rare - only four undisputed panel paintings by him still survive - and little has been published about him in English. This book provides a unique insight into the life and work of this extraordinary artist. Pisanello's art is exceptional for both its elegance and its naturalism. While he treats subjects from legend and the Christian iconography, he transposes them to his own time, offering us a vivid picture of life in Italy in the fifteenth century. He studied from nature in finely rendered drawings of wildlife, often coloured, incorporating into his paintings many lively and astonishingly naturalistic details of animals and birds. Taking two of his famous panel paintings in London's National Gallery as a starting point, the authors examine their subject matter, how they were made and their place in the courtly culture of the fifteenth century. The Vision of Saint Eustace shows the richly clad saint, on horseback, in a woodland abounding with such details - deer, hounds, hare, bear and various birds. The Virgin and Child with Saint George and Saint Anthony Abbot depicts the two saints in a landscape with, above them, a vision of the Virgin and Child. In both pictures Pisanello lovingly describes the costumes and their details. Those worn by Saints Eustace and George both reflect the courtly fashions of the period. These paintings are examined in the context of related paintings, preparatory drawings, medals, manuscript illuminations and tapestries. The book explores the associated themes of chivalric values and humanist study at court. Pisanello was also in great demand as a medallist, extending his skills as a draughtsman to this medium and transforming the art of the portrait medal.

About the Author :
Luke Syson is Curator of Medals at the British Museum. He has written a series of articles on fifteenth-century Italian portraiture and co-edited The Image of the Individual: Portraits in the Renaissance. He is co-author of Objects of Virtue: Art in Renaissance Italy, to be published in Autumn 2001. Dillian Gordon is Curator of Italian Paintings before 1500 at the National Gallery, London. Her previous publications include Making and Meaning: The Wilton Diptych, and as co-author, Giotto to Durer: Early Renaissance Painting in the National Gallery. She is author of the National Gallery Catalogue The Italian Paintings 1400-1460, to be published in Autumn 2001. Susanna Avery-Quash is Assistant Curator of Italian Renaissance Paintings at the National Gallery, London.