Art Institute of ChicagoPublic domain

Sketches of the Emperor John VIII Palaeologus, a Monk, and a Scabbard

Pisanello · 1438

Analyst brief

What the record supports

The artwork is titled "Sketches of the Emperor John VIII Palaeologus, a Monk, and a Scabbard," created by the artist Pisanello in 1438. It is a pen and brown ink drawing on ivory laid paper, measuring 18.9 × 26.5 cm. The piece is classified as pen and ink drawings within the Prints and Drawings department and is of Italian culture.

The provenance indicates the drawing was in a private collection in Rome by 1939, as noted by Venturi. It was subsequently sold by Wildenstein and Company, New York, to the Art Institute in 1961 and is part of the Margaret Day Blake Collection. Details regarding its acquisition by the Roman private collection are not provided in the catalogue record.

This drawing has been featured in several exhibitions, including "Master Drawings from The Art Institute of Chicago" (1963) and "Pisanello" (1996) at Réunion des Musées Nationaux in Paris. It has also been discussed in multiple scholarly publications, such as Adolfo Venturi's "Pisanello" (1939) and Maria Fossi Todorow's "I Disegni del Pisanello" (1966).

Generated from the catalogue fields shown on this page. Nartmad does not assert attributions, valuations or prices that no cited source supports.

Provenance

Ownership history

Private collection, Rome, by 1939 [Venturi 1939]. Sold by Wildenstein and Company, New York, to the Art Institute, 1961.

Recorded by Art Institute of Chicago.

Exhibitions

Exhibition history

New York, Wildenstein and Company, "Master Drawings from The Art Institute of Chicago," October 17-November 30, 1963, n.p., cat. 2, pl. 3.
The Art Institute of Chicago, "A Quarter Century of Collecting: Drawings Given to The Art Institute of Chicago 1944-1970 by Margaret Day Blake," April 28-June 7, 1970, n.p., cat. 1 (ill.).
The Art Institute of Chicago, "Italian Drawings in The Art Institute," 1979, pp. 20-21, cat. 2, by Harold Joachim and Suzanne Folds McCullagh; traveled to the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C..
The Art Institute of Chicago, "Great Drawings from The Art Institute of Chicago: The Harold Joachim Years 1958-1983," July 24-September 30, 1985, pp. 24-25, cat. 1 (ill.), cat. by Martha Tedeschi.
Paris, Réunion des Musées Nationaux, "Pisanello," May 6-December 8, 1996, p. 206, cat. 113.
The Art Institute of Chicago, "Drawings Rediscovered: Italian Drawings before 1600 in The Art Institute of Chicago," April 10-July 22, 1997.
Galleria di Palazzo Mozzi Bardini, "Islam, Specchio d'Oriente" (2002).
New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, "Byzantium: Faith and Power," March 15–July 4, 2004.

Literature

Published references

Adolfo Venturi, Pisanello (Rome, 1939), p. 37, figs. 32 and 33.
Bernhard Degenhart, Antonio Pisanello (Vienna, 1942), p. 6
Bernhard Degenhart, Pisanello (Turin, 1945), pp. 44 and 65.
Raffaello Brenzoni, Pisanello (Florence, 1952), pp. 210 and 216, pl. 84.
Bernhard Degenhart, "Di una publicazione su Pisanello e di altri fatti (I)," Arte Veneta 7 (1953), p. 182.
Maria Fossi Todorow, "The Exhibition 'Da Altichiero a Pisanello' in Verona," The Burlington Magazine 101 (1959), p. 14.
Art Quarterly 24 (Autumn, 1961), p. 304 (ill.).
"La Chronique des Arts," Gazette des Beaux-Arts, supplement 59 (February 1962), p. 23, nos. 94 and 95.
John Maxon, Master Drawings from The Art Institute of Chicago (Chicago, 1963).
James A. Fasanelli, "Some Notes on Pisanello and the Council of Florence," Master Drawings 3 (1965), pp. 36-47, pl. 30 and 31.
Maria Fossi Todorow, I Disegni del Pisanello (Florence, 1966), pp. 30-31, 81, no. 58, pl. 69 and 71 (ill.).
George Francis Hill and Graham Pollard, Renaissance Medals from the Samuela H. Kress Collection at the National Gallery of Art (London, 1967), p. 97, fig. 4 and 5.

Comparables