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Hill-Stone, Inc.
Georg Pencz
Portrait of Pisanello. Portrait of Pier Candido.
Drawings with watercolor
German
c. 1540
Georg Pencz watercolor Portrait of Pisanello. Portrait of Pier Candido.
Sheet: 214 x 154 mm 8 7/16 x 6 1/16 inches Sheet: 215 x 157 mm 8 ½ x 6 ¼ inches
description
GEORG PENCZ Nuremberg 1500 – 1550 Leipzig or Wroclaw
Portrait of Pisanello and Portrait of Pier Candido.
Pair of drawings with watercolor. In fine, fresh condition, mounted on larger sheets. We are grateful to Stijn Alsteens, Director of the Fondation Custodia, Paris who has kindly informed us that the attribution of our drawings has been confirmed. The Fondation Custodia recently acquired two other drawings from the same group, Portrait of Isabella Michiel Sesso, after a medal by Giovanni Maria Pomedelli (inventory number 2025-T.26) and Portrait of ‘Maddalena Mantuana’, after an anonymous medal (inventory number 2025-T.27).
Our two drawings relate directly to medals produced by Pisanello and his studio. The Portrait of Pisanello comes directly from the recto of a medal, earlier attributed to Marescotti, and now given to Pisanello himself or his shop[1]. The Portrait of Pier Candido is related to Pisanello’s medal of Pier Candido. The two other drawings by Pencz in the collection of the Fondation Custodia are also related to medals.[2]
Active as painter, draftsman and engraver in Germany and Italy, Pencz entered Albrecht Dürer’s studio in 1523 and soon after went to northern Italy and almost surely Venice before returning to Germany around 1529. Pencz executed a considerable number of pictorial cycles in Nuremberg, and Krakow, and, as well, made a number of portraits.
The second trip to Italy between 1540 and 1541 brought Pencz again into fruitful contact with Italian art, and in particular Giulio Romano. It was at this time that he engraved his monumental engraving of the Capture of Carthage; it may well be that our drawings were executed at this time.
The medallic format of our drawings pays tribute to the commemorative medal as an art form. Less than a century old when Pencz designed his medals, the medal had become a form which satisfied a passion for portraiture. The intimacy and directness of the commemorative medal captured the imagination of artists and their clients with notable rapidity, and also created a new passion for collectors.
It is notable that Pencz chose Pisanello and his medals as subjects for our portraits. It is tempting to suggest that these four portrait drawings may have formed a part of a larger series. While Pencz clearly used the medallic portraits as models, he enhanced each portrait with delicate color details transforming the plastic medal format into a painterly image.
Sheet: 214 x 154 mm 8 7/16 x 6 1/16 inches
Sheet: 215 x 157 mm 8 ½ x 6 ¼ inches
[1] Alan N. Stone, in The Medal, 25, 1994, p.3-5; Cordellier and Martini, Pisanello, exhibition catalogue, Musée du Louvre, 1996, cat. no 1; Syson, Pisanello, 1994, exhibition catalogue, The National Gallery, London, p. 51. p.53, note 43, p.481-482 no 84.
[2] The Portrait of Maddalena of Mantua is related to a medal of the School of Antico, Hill, Corpus 1411, 597-99, and The Portrait of Isabella Michiel Sesso is related to a medal by Giovanni Maria Pomedelli, Hill 597.
Portrait of Pisanello and Portrait of Pier Candido.
Pair of drawings with watercolor. In fine, fresh condition, mounted on larger sheets. We are grateful to Stijn Alsteens, Director of the Fondation Custodia, Paris who has kindly informed us that the attribution of our drawings has been confirmed. The Fondation Custodia recently acquired two other drawings from the same group, Portrait of Isabella Michiel Sesso, after a medal by Giovanni Maria Pomedelli (inventory number 2025-T.26) and Portrait of ‘Maddalena Mantuana’, after an anonymous medal (inventory number 2025-T.27).
Our two drawings relate directly to medals produced by Pisanello and his studio. The Portrait of Pisanello comes directly from the recto of a medal, earlier attributed to Marescotti, and now given to Pisanello himself or his shop[1]. The Portrait of Pier Candido is related to Pisanello’s medal of Pier Candido. The two other drawings by Pencz in the collection of the Fondation Custodia are also related to medals.[2]
Active as painter, draftsman and engraver in Germany and Italy, Pencz entered Albrecht Dürer’s studio in 1523 and soon after went to northern Italy and almost surely Venice before returning to Germany around 1529. Pencz executed a considerable number of pictorial cycles in Nuremberg, and Krakow, and, as well, made a number of portraits.
The second trip to Italy between 1540 and 1541 brought Pencz again into fruitful contact with Italian art, and in particular Giulio Romano. It was at this time that he engraved his monumental engraving of the Capture of Carthage; it may well be that our drawings were executed at this time.
The medallic format of our drawings pays tribute to the commemorative medal as an art form. Less than a century old when Pencz designed his medals, the medal had become a form which satisfied a passion for portraiture. The intimacy and directness of the commemorative medal captured the imagination of artists and their clients with notable rapidity, and also created a new passion for collectors.
It is notable that Pencz chose Pisanello and his medals as subjects for our portraits. It is tempting to suggest that these four portrait drawings may have formed a part of a larger series. While Pencz clearly used the medallic portraits as models, he enhanced each portrait with delicate color details transforming the plastic medal format into a painterly image.
Sheet: 214 x 154 mm 8 7/16 x 6 1/16 inches
Sheet: 215 x 157 mm 8 ½ x 6 ¼ inches
[1] Alan N. Stone, in The Medal, 25, 1994, p.3-5; Cordellier and Martini, Pisanello, exhibition catalogue, Musée du Louvre, 1996, cat. no 1; Syson, Pisanello, 1994, exhibition catalogue, The National Gallery, London, p. 51. p.53, note 43, p.481-482 no 84.
[2] The Portrait of Maddalena of Mantua is related to a medal of the School of Antico, Hill, Corpus 1411, 597-99, and The Portrait of Isabella Michiel Sesso is related to a medal by Giovanni Maria Pomedelli, Hill 597.
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