Pisanello: Painter to the Renaissance Court [Anglais] [Relié]

Pisanello (c.1394-1453) was one of the greatest, but now sadly neglected artists of 15th-century Italy. Luke Syson and Dillian Gordon's lavish book Pisanello: Painter to the Renaissance Court triumphantly re-establishes Pisanello as one of the key figures of the early Italian Renaissance. Published to coincide with a comprehensive exhibition at London's National Gallery, Pisanello explores all of the artist's greatest paintings and drawings, while also examining his portrait medals and "the extraordinarily naturalistic observation" of his exquisite drawings of animals, birds and figures, all of which are beautifully reproduced in their hundreds. Pisanello was "the favourite artist at some of the most sophisticated and self-conscious courts in Italy. He is chiefly documented in the service of the Gonzaga in Mantua and the Este in Ferrara. He also worked for Filippo Maria Visconti, Duke of Milan, for two popes, and at the end of his life as a salaried court artist for Alfonso V of Aragon, king of Naples". The result, as Syson and Gordon point out, is an incredibly rich and varied collection of art objects in various media, from the extraordinary political power and chivalric celebration of the Arthurian frescoes in Mantua to the mysterious, enigmatic panel paintings like The Vision of Saint Eustace. All are carefully analysed and put in the perspective of the politics, patronage, Classical learning, and workshop traditions that Pisanello manipulated so well. The result is a vivid and satisfying portrait of "one of the most sought-after painters of his generation", that will become the definitive study of this extraordinary artist. --Jerry Brotton --Ce texte fait référence à une édition épuisée ou non disponible de ce titre.

While most considerations of early Renaissance art focus on the significance of the Florentine contribution, Pisanello's (c. 1394-1455) contemporary fame and extraordinary achievement makes clear to us the inadequacy and narrowness of that perspective. Although intended to complement an exhibition at the National Gallery of Art, London, this scholarly but nonetheless accessible volume is, in fact, the best and most comprehensive study of the artist that exists in English. Handsomely produced and splendidly illustrated, it grapples insightfully with the full range of the master's activity as painter, draughtsman, and metallurgist. His works are tellingly evoked and iconographically unraveled, and their interconnections and sources are subtly exposed. Of particular import, the authors (both curators, Syson at the British Museum and Gordon at the National Gallery) offer the context for Pisanello's art within the realm of the courtly culture and chivalric values of his aristocratic employers while at the same time charting the humanistic and thus classicizing impulses manifested in works done for those same patrons. Pisanello's significant impact on painters, draughtsmen, illuminators, and metallurgists is also more than ably surveyed. A requisite addition to collections of Renaissance art and culture. Robert Cahn, Fashion Inst. of Technology, NY
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

Pisanello (c. 1394–1455) was the most famous artist of his time, celebrated as both painter and medallist. His work is both exquisitely beautiful and rare-- only four undisputed panel paintings by him 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 its elegance and its naturalism. While he treats subjects from legend and the Bible, he transposes them to his own time, offering a vivid picture of life in Italy in the fifteenth century. This book takes as its starting point two of Pisanello's panel paintings, both found in London's National Gallery--The Vision of Saint Eustace and The Virgin and Child with Saint George and Saint Anthony Abbot. These paintings are examined in the context of related paintings, preparatory drawings, medals, manuscript illuminations, and tapestries. The book also explores Pisanello's work as a medallist, his skills in this medium, and how he transformed the art of the portrait medal.

This book is published to accompany an exhibition at the National Gallery in London from October 24, 2001 to January 13, 2002. Published by National Gallery Company. Distributed by Yale University Press

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 coauthor, Giotto to Dürer: Early Renaissance Painting in the National Gallery. Luke Syson is curator of medals at the British Museum. He is coauthor of Objects of Virtue: Art in Renaissance Italy. Susanna Avery-Quash is assistant curator of Italian Renaissance paintings at the National Gallery, London.