Copies after the Antique: Head of a Wind God, a Lion's Head and Studies of Feet

Author: Rosie Razzall

This double-sided parchment sheet is one of five sheets in Rotterdam that once belonged to the taccuino di viaggio (traveller’s notebook), a drawing book that passed from Gentile da Fabriano (c.1375-1427) to Pisanello and was added to by various students in his workshop, largely during and after Pisanello’s time in Rome in 1431/32, when he was working on a sequence of frescoes at the Basilica of St John Lateran.^[1] Initially believing it to be by Pisanello himself, Degenhart/Schmitt eventually came to agree with Fossi Todorow’s assessment,^[2] changing the attribution of this sheet to Pisanello’s workshop in their comprehensive re-examination of the taccuino in 2004.^[3]

The sheet exemplifies the educational practices that Pisanello’s students were encouraged to undertake. The drawing is one of a number of sheets from the book that are among the earliest instances that survive of artists making close study of antique examples.^[4] On the recto are four studies of a foot from several angles, including one in an antique sandal, and another resting on the sole of a sandal. These studies belong to the practice of drawing individual body parts, especially hands and feet, that became widespread in the Renaissance workshop and can be seen for example in a drawing book page by Benozzo Gozzoli (c.1420-1497), also in Rotterdam.^[5] In Gozzoli’s album the studies were likely to have been made from plaster casts kept in the workshop. While other studies in the taccuino can be connected with specific sculptures and sarcophagi that Pisanello’s students would have been able to access in Rome, in this drawing the original fragments cannot be identified, and the studies may have been copied from other drawings.^[6] The artist has focused on the outlines of the foot and the decorative construction of the sandal rather than the muscular modelling of the foot itself.

In the lower part of the sheet is a copy after a lion’s head that may have come from a sarcophagus. The back of the head is repeated nearby, but unlike elsewhere on the sheet, the metalpoint outlines have not been reinforced with pen and ink or wash, leading Fossi Todorow to remark that that part of the sheet is of a higher quality than the rest,^[7] though in this author’s opinion it is impossible to make such a judgement given the differing levels of finish. At the centre of the sheet is a wind god, depicted with wings on his temples, probably also copied from a Bacchic sarcophagus.^[8] Luke Syson has made a compelling comparison between the studies on this sheet and a painting of St Jerome with a lion in London,^[9] by Bono da Ferrara (active 1442-61), one of Pisanello’s students. However, he believes that the similarity of several elements, including the saint’s bare foot and facial features, are consistent with the practice of reworking and passing on models in Pisanello’s workshop rather than evidence that the Rotterdam drawing might be attributed to Bono da Ferrara.^[10]

In the taccuino di viaggio, religious subjects, copies after the antique or other sources, and studies from life were readily combined. This took place either on the same page, as in the case of I 520 where an Annunciation appears alongside four nude studies, or on the reverse of the page. The composition on the verso of this sheet is divided into quarters with a single figure occupying each segment, recalling the format of a typical model book. In the upper half, a grieving Madonna stands next to a figure of Christ displaying his wounded hands, though the two figures may be read together, blending a Pietà with a Christ as the Man of Sorrows. Degenhart/Schmitt have compared the Christ to examples such as a painting by Michele Giambono (active 1420-62) in New York,^[11] though they believe the Rotterdam example is probably based on a repeated type rather than a specific model.^[12] In the lower half of the sheet are two popes, identifiable by their papal tiaras and sets of keys. The pope on the left holding an anchor may be St Clement, the first successor of St Peter, but Degenhart/Schmitt have rejected the pope on the right as St Peter, given the absence of a beard.^[13] The faces of all four figures are full of expression and individual character, especially in the Virgin who screws up her eyes and reveals her teeth.^[14] Like other sheets from the taccuino di viaggio, this page has been trimmed and no trace remains of any stitching holes.