Giovanni da Oriolo, 'Leonello d'Este', probably about 1447
About the work
Overview
The inscription at the top of this picture tells us this is a portrait of Leonello d’Este, Marquis of Ferrara. Leonello succeeded his father in 1441 and this picture was painted six years later. It shows him in profile, drawing attention to his sloping forehead and distinctive long nose – according to Leonardo da Vinci, the profile view was the most easily remembered. It was first fashionable in the courts of France and Burgundy and became popular in Italy until about 1470.
Leonello may have asked to be painted in profile in order to associate himself with Roman coins stamped with the heads of emperors. Like any educated nobleman of his day, Leonello was particularly interested in the art and literature of antiquity and so this connection would have pleased him. Oriolo has signed the picture along the bottom edge but he has had to squeeze in the ’s' of his first name, Giovanni, signed here in Latin: IOHANNIS.
Key facts
Details
- Full title
- Leonello d'Este
- Artist
- Giovanni da Oriolo
- Artist dates
- active 1439; died by 1474
- Date made
- probably about 1447
- Medium and support
- egg tempera on wood
- Dimensions
- 57.6 × 39.5 cm
- Inscription summary
- Signed; Inscribed
- Acquisition credit
- Bought, 1867
- Inventory number
- NG770
- Location
- Not on display
- Collection
- Main Collection
- Previous owners
Provenance
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.
Exhibition history
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2023Painted Love: Renaissance Marriage PortraitsHolburne Museum of Art26 May 2023 - 1 October 2023
Bibliography
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1892J. Destrée, 'Notes sur les primitifs italiens', L'Art moderne, 1892
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1899F. Argnani, Sul pittore Giovanni da Oriolo, Faenza 1899
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1905G.F. Hill, Pisanello, London 1905
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1911G. Ballardini, Giovanni da Oriolo: Pittore faentino del quattrocento, Florence 1911
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1923R. van Marle, The Development of the Italian Schools of Painting, 19 vols, The Hague 1923
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1929A. Venturi, 'Das Bildnis des Lionello d'Este von Jacopo Bellini', Pantheon, 1929, pp. 201-4
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1931R. Buscaroli, La pittura romagnola del Quattrocento, Faenza 1931
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1951Davies, Martin, National Gallery Catalogues: The Earlier Italian Schools, London 1951
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1961M. Davies, The Earlier Italian Schools, 2nd edn, London 1961
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1966J. Pope-Hennessy, The Portrait in the Renaissance, New York 1966
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1979A. Braham, The National Gallery Lends: Italian Renaissance Portraits (exh. cat. York City Art Gallery, 3 March - 16 April 1979; Nottingham Castle Museum, 21 April - 3 June 1979), York 1979
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1979A. Conti, 'Una miniatura e altre considerazioni sul Pisanello', in Itinerari: Contributi alla storia dell'arte in memoria di Maria Luisa Ferrari, Florence 1979, vol. 1
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1986Davies, Martin, National Gallery Catalogues: The Earlier Italian Schools, revised edn, London 1986
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1986F. Zeri and F. Rossi, La raccolta Morelli nell'accademia Carrara, Milan 1986
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1986A. Corbara, 'Possibili pitture di Giovanni da Oriolo, 1938', in A. Corbara, Gli artisti. La città. Studi sull'arte faentina di A. Corbara, Bologna 1986, pp. 42-45
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1987K. Christiansen, 'La pittura a Venezia e in Veneto nel primo Quattrocento', in F. Zeri, La pittura in Italia. Il Quattrocento, Milan 1987, pp. 119-46
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1991J. Dunkerton et al., Giotto to Dürer: Early Renaissance Painting in the National Gallery, New Haven 1991
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1991Mottola Molfino and M. Natale (eds), Le muse e il principe: Arte di corte nel Rinascimento padano (exh. cat. Palazzo Poldo-Pezzoli, 20 September - 1 December 1991), Modena 1991
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1992A. de Marchi, Gentile da Fabriano, Milan 1992
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1995D. Cordellier, 'Documenti e fonti su Pisanello', Verona illustrata, VIII, 1995
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1996D. Cordellier et al., Pisanello: Le peintre aux sept vertus (exh. cat. Musée du Louvre, 6 May - 5 August 1996), Paris 1996
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2001
C. Baker and T. Henry, The National Gallery: Complete Illustrated Catalogue, London 2001
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2003Gordon, Dillian, National Gallery Catalogues: The Fifteenth Century Italian Paintings, 1, London 2003
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.