Bowdoin College Homepage
Bowdoin College Museum of Art Logo and Wordmark

Advanced Search
Preview image of work. bronze,  John VIII Paleologus (1392–1448), Emperor of Constantinople 1425–1448 37460

75.2018.a

Recommend keywords

Help us make our collections more accessible by providing keywords to describe this artwork. The BCMA uses the Getty Art & Architecture Thesaurus to provide consistent keywords. Enter a keyword in the field below and you will be prompted with a list of possible matching AAT preferred terms.

 
 

John VIII Paleologus (1392–1448), Emperor of Constantinople 1425–1448

Export record as: Plain text | JSON | CDWA-Lite | VRA Core 4

Artist

Antonio Di Puccio Pisano (Pisanello) (1395 - 1455)

Title

John VIII Paleologus (1392–1448), Emperor of Constantinople 1425–1448

Creation Date

ca. 1438 (late aftercast)

Century

mid-15th century

Dimensions

3 7/8 in. (9.84 cm)

Classification

Medals/Plaquettes

Creation Place

Europe, Italy

Medium and Support

bronze

Credit Line

Bowdoin College Museum of Art

Copyright

This artwork may be under copyright. For further information, please consult the Museum’s Copyright Terms and Conditions.

Accession Number

75.2018.a

Pisanello, a trained painter, combined his interest in classical coins with portraiture to produce a medium that is durable, portable, and easily reproducible: the portrait medal. As explained in a neighboring label, he cast the first modern portrait medal about 1438 to commemorate Byzantine Emperor John VIII Paleologus’s participation in the Council of Ferrara (later moved to Florence). Pisanello’s highly influential work ignited the fashion for portrait medals, and his masterful portrait of Paleologus influenced future painters, sculptors, and medalists alike. This specimen is a late aftercast with the lowest relief of the three examples (See 04.01 & 04.02). The overall softness of the impression is due to the repetitive mold-transfer process. In fact, the loss of detail spurred the copyist to re-engrave parts of the medal by hand, as seen in Paleologus’s hair.

Object Description

Duplicate of: 1966.106.24