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Lot Essay
Although previously attributed by scholars to Gentile Bellini, the present portrait of the Byzantine emperor John VIII Palaeologus (1392-1448) was probably based on Pisanello's medal commemorating the emperor's visit to Ferrara in 1438 to attend the ecumenical congress of the Greek and Latin churches (C. Campbell and A. Chong, Bellini and the East, exhibition catalogue, 2005, fig. 26, p. 66). Possibly the first medal produced by Pisanello and generally considered to be the first portrait medal of the Renaissance, its design set a standard format for many future commemorative medals.
One of John VIII's chief motivations for his visit to Italy was to secure help from the western powers in order to meet the constant threat to his crumbling empire from the Turks. Pisanello made sketches of the emperor whilst in Ferrara; one sheet that survives in Paris bears an inscription in Pisanello's hand that suggests the artist intended to do a painting of the emperor (Louvre, inv. no. MI 1062).
The Venetian painter Gentile Bellini travelled to Constantinople in 1479 following the request of Emperor Mehmet II to the Venetian authorities for a portraitist. Gentile’s stay in Istanbul lasted about a year and a half, and was a diplomatic as well as artistic mission – both sides were keen to develop a good political and trading relationship. During his stay he painted the portrait of Mehmet II today in London (National Gallery; ibid., no. 23, pp. 78-9).
When sold in 1932, the present painting was accompanied by a certificate by Dr. Alfred M. Frankfurter dated 10 March 1931 confirming an earlier attribution by Dr. Gustav Gronau to Gentile Bellini. In 1957, Berenson published the painting as by a close follower of Bellini (loc. cit.). Heinemann was the first to make the connection with Pisanello's medal and compared it in design to Pisanello's portrait of Lionello d'Este in Bergamo, and suggested the present portrait may be after a lost copy of a portrait by Pisanello (loc. cit.). The fluid brushstrokes of the present portrait suggest a dating at the turn of the sixteenth century.
One of John VIII's chief motivations for his visit to Italy was to secure help from the western powers in order to meet the constant threat to his crumbling empire from the Turks. Pisanello made sketches of the emperor whilst in Ferrara; one sheet that survives in Paris bears an inscription in Pisanello's hand that suggests the artist intended to do a painting of the emperor (Louvre, inv. no. MI 1062).
The Venetian painter Gentile Bellini travelled to Constantinople in 1479 following the request of Emperor Mehmet II to the Venetian authorities for a portraitist. Gentile’s stay in Istanbul lasted about a year and a half, and was a diplomatic as well as artistic mission – both sides were keen to develop a good political and trading relationship. During his stay he painted the portrait of Mehmet II today in London (National Gallery; ibid., no. 23, pp. 78-9).
When sold in 1932, the present painting was accompanied by a certificate by Dr. Alfred M. Frankfurter dated 10 March 1931 confirming an earlier attribution by Dr. Gustav Gronau to Gentile Bellini. In 1957, Berenson published the painting as by a close follower of Bellini (loc. cit.). Heinemann was the first to make the connection with Pisanello's medal and compared it in design to Pisanello's portrait of Lionello d'Este in Bergamo, and suggested the present portrait may be after a lost copy of a portrait by Pisanello (loc. cit.). The fluid brushstrokes of the present portrait suggest a dating at the turn of the sixteenth century.