Returned to lender The Met accepts temporary loans of art both for short-term exhibitions and for long-term display in its galleries.
Vittorino da Feltre
Pisanello (Antonio Pisano) Italian
Not on view
Pisanello’s portrait of the leading humanities teacher of his day was praised for capturing the seriousness of his countenance. Made probably just after Vittorino’s death in 1446, and cast in fairly large numbers, the medal was made to preserve his memory eternally. Pisanello balances the elegant shape of the scholar’s profile with the immaculate lettering, but also included highly specific details like the stubbly chin.
reverse:
The unusually long Latin inscription contains Pisanello’s signature and proclaims Vittorino ‘mathematician and father of all the humanities’. Astonishingly, Pisanello turns a well-known symbol of Christ’s sacrifice – the pelican piercing her breast to feed her young with her blood – into an emblem of Vittorino’s selfless teaching.
