Drawing a Crowd

The Art Institute's astounding collection of prints and drawings deserves a closer look.

(page 5 of 10)

4. PISANELLO
Sketches of the Emperor John VIII Palaeologus, a Monk, and a Scabbard (1438)
This pen-and-brown-ink work came from a sketchbook, most of which now sits in the Louvre. A closer look also reveals a distinctive bull's-head watermark that helped date the work.

McCULLAGH SAYS: "Pisanello drew this for a visit by the emperor. . . . Because [the emperor] was short, he was often depicted on his horse."

This article appears in the November 2007 issue of Chicago Magazine.

Did you like what you read here? Subscribe to Chicago Magazine »