Pisanello, 'The Vision of Saint Eustace', about 1438-42

The Vision of Saint Eustace

Pisanello

Not on display

About the work

Overview

We are looking at a miraculous event. An elegantly dressed huntsman has been stopped in his tracks by an apparition: a large stag with a Crucifix between its antlers. This is Saint Eustace, a Roman soldier who, while out hunting one day, had a vision of a stag with Christ on a shining cross between its antlers. He converted to Christianity at once.

He doesn't look like a Roman soldier here, though. Pisanello has depicted an Italian prince, in a fantastic blue hat, hunting with his hounds. We do not know who this painting was for, but its small size suggests it was for the private enjoyment of an aristocrat.

Pisanello was especially famous for his ability to show animals. The huge number of his surviving drawings include various studies for the creatures in this painting, some apparently taken from model books, some copied from earlier artists and some from live and dead animals.

In-depth

We are looking at a miraculous event. An elegantly dressed huntsman has been stopped in this tracks by an apparition: a large stag with a Crucifix between its antlers. This is Saint Eustace, whose story was told in the Golden Legend, the famous medieval collection of saints‘ lives. A Roman soldier named Placidus was out hunting when he had a vision of a stag with Christ on a shining cross between its antlers. He converted to Christianity at once and changed his name to Eustace.

He doesn’t look like a Roman soldier here, though. Instead Pisanello has depicted an Italian prince, in a fantastic blue hat, out hunting with his hounds. We do not know who this painting was for, but its small size suggests it was for the private enjoyment of an aristocrat. Although he was rarely shown in Italian art, Saint Eustace personified the ideals of the medieval knightly class, for whom hunting was not just a hobby but an enormously important activity. It was seen both as a metaphor for the soul’s search for God and as a virtuous activity which kept men busy – and therefore out of temptation’s way. Most importantly it was the primary training for war, which was aristocracy’s most important function.

Pisanello was especially famous for his ability to show animals. The huge number of his surviving drawings include various studies for the creatures in this painting, some taken from model books, some taken from earlier artists and some from live and dead animals. This painting is full not just of various dogs – some seemingly taken from the lavishly illustrated hunting treatises which were very popular in the fifteenth century – but also birds, a hare and even a bear; all are amazingly lifelike. He paid meticulous attention to detail, comparable to that of contemporary Netherlandish artists such as Jan van Eyck. Look closely and you can see the spiked wheels on the saint’s long rowel spurs and the way the horse’s shoes turn up at the ends to give extra grip on wet ground.

One very strange feature is the blank scroll at the front. There is no sign it ever had any text and its meaning remains mysterious, though a similarly placed scroll on Saint Jerome in a Landscape by Pisanello’s pupil Bono da Ferrara contains the artist’s signature.

Sadly this painting has suffered considerably from deliberate damage, from changes in the glossary:pigments and from restoration. It was once taller and had a less claustrophobic feel: a later copy in the Cini Collection, Venice, shows a landscape with hills and sky at the top. Many of the colours have darkened, obscuring details, and the surface is worn down and has been extensively retouched. The saint’s clothes and many of the animals have been repainted – like the horse, which was originally whitish-grey but has been darkened by retouching. But you can get a sense of the painting’s original quality from the flowers and foliage around horse, which are still in good condition.

Want to find out more?

Delve deeper and explore the catalogue entry for this painting.

Key facts

Details

Full title: The Vision of Saint Eustace
Artist: Pisanello
Artist dates: about 1394? - 1455
Date made: about 1438-42
Medium and support: egg tempera on wood
Dimensions: 54.8 × 65.5 cm
Acquisition credit: Bought, 1895
Inventory number: NG1436
Location: Not on display
Collection: Main Collection
Frame: 15th-century Italian Frame

Provenance

According to the label on the back, in the collection of A. Fincke, Berlin. In the Ashburnham Collection, London, by 1878; purchased from the Earl of Ashburnham, 1895.

Additional information

Text extracted from the ‘Provenance’ section of the catalogue entry in Dillian Gordon, ‘National Gallery Catalogues: The Fifteenth Century Italian Paintings’, vol. 1, London 2003; for further information, see the full catalogue entry.

Bibliography

1885

W. Bode and H. von Tschudi, '"Anbetung der Könige" von Vittore Pisano und die "Madonna mit Heiligen" aus dem Besitz des Cav. dal Pozzo', Jahrbuch der Königlich Preussischen Kunstsammlungen, 1885
1886

H. Weiszäcker, 'Das Pferd in der Kunst des Quattrocento', Jahrbuch der Königlich Preussischen Kunstsammlungen, VII, 1886, pp. 40-72
1894

C. Gruyer, 'Vittore Pisano appelé aussi le Pisanello, 4: S. Eustace', Gazette des beaux-arts, II, 1894, pp. 290-304
1895

J. von Schlosser, 'Ein veronesisches Bilderbuch und die höfische Kunst des XIV. Jahrhunderts', Jahrbuch der Kunsthistorischen Sammlungen des allerhöchsten Kaiserhauses, 1895
1901

E. Müntz, 'Le "Triomphe de la mort" à l'hospice de Palerme', Gazette des beaux-arts, II, 1901, pp. 226-7
1905

G.F. Hill, Pisanello, London 1905
1909

K. Zoege von Manteuffel, Die Gemälde und Zeichnungen der A. Pisano in Verona, Halle 1909
1923

R. van Marle, The Development of the Italian Schools of Painting, 19 vols, The Hague 1923
1929

G.M. Richter, 'Pisanello Studies, II', The Burlington Magazine, LV/318, 1929, pp. 128‑33
1945

B. Degenhart, Pisanello, Turin 1945
1948

A. Hentzen, Die Vision des Heiligen Eustachius von Antonio Pisanello: Der Kunstbrief, Berlin 1948
1951

Davies, Martin, National Gallery Catalogues: The Earlier Italian Schools, London 1951
1953

L. Coletti, Pisanello, Milan 1953
1961

M. Davies, The Earlier Italian Schools, 2nd edn, London 1961
1966

R. Chiarelli, Pisanello, Florence 1966
1966

M.F. Todorow, I disegni del Pisanello e della sua cerchia, Florence 1966
1967

R. Chiarelli, 'Due questioni pisanelliane: Il Pisanello a Firenze e gli affreschi "perduti" della Capella Pellegrini', Atti e memorie dell'Accademia di Scienze e Lettere di Verona, 1967
1972

G.A. Dell'Acqua, L'opera completa del Pisanello, Milan 1972
1972

G. Paccagnini, Pisanello e il ciclo cavalleresco di Mantova, Milan 1972
1972

B. Degenhart, 'Ludovico Gonzaga in einer Miniatur Pisanellos', Pantheon, 1972, pp. 193‑210
1986

Davies, Martin, National Gallery Catalogues: The Earlier Italian Schools, revised edn, London 1986
1991

J. Dunkerton et al., Giotto to Dürer: Early Renaissance Painting in the National Gallery, New Haven 1991
1995

B. Degenhart, Pisanello und Bono da Ferrara, Munich 1995
1995

D. Cordellier, 'Documenti e fonti su Pisanello', Verona illustrata, VIII, 1995
1996

L. Puppi, Pisanello: Una poetica dell'inatteso, Milan 1996
2001

C. Baker and T. Henry, The National Gallery: Complete Illustrated Catalogue, London 2001
2003

Gordon, Dillian, National Gallery Catalogues: The Fifteenth Century Italian Paintings, 1, London 2003

Frame

This is a rare fifteenth-century Italian frame. The narrow moulding features a polychrome back edge. A top fillet leads to a deep reverse ogee moulding and to a small cavetto at the sight edge. The frame has retained its original water gilding.

The frame was purchased in 2010 and fitted to Pisanello’s The Vision of Saint Eustace.

About this record

If you know more about this painting or have spotted an error, please contact us. Please note that exhibition histories are listed from 2009 onwards. Bibliographies may not be complete; more comprehensive information is available in the National Gallery Library.

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Not on display