Gopnik's Daily Pic: The first commemorative medal
By Blake Gopnik
The latest feed from my morning musings about art and objects at www.blakegopnik.com.
(The National Gallery of Art)
Daily Pic: A commemorative medal from 1438, by the great Italian artist Pisanello, celebrates the arrival of the Byzantine emperor John VIII Palaeologus in Italy, to discuss collective war against the Turks and the healing of the schism in the church. This is the first commemorative medal ever made, which means Pisanello is at the root of a tradition that leads squarely to the Franklin Mint. (But don't blame him.) It is yet another treasure of the National Gallery that visitors risk missing, as they rush to Leonardo and Monet.
As art historians Alex Nagel and Chris Woods have argued, by faithfully depicting a Greek from the east, Pisanello may have felt he was also looking back in time at the Greece of Socrates and Praxiteles.
By
Blake Gopnik
| October 14, 2010; 12:39 PM ET
Categories:
Blake Gopnik, Museums
| Tags:
Daily Pic
Save & Share:
Previous: Georgetown Library to reopen
Next: On the good side of the law: the National Law Enforcement Museum takes shape
No comments have been posted to this entry.
We encourage users to analyze, comment on and even challenge washingtonpost.com's articles, blogs, reviews and multimedia features.
User reviews and comments that include profanity or personal attacks or other inappropriate comments or material will be removed from the site. Additionally, entries that are unsigned or contain "signatures" by someone other than the actual author will be removed. Finally, we will take steps to block users who violate any of our posting standards, terms of use or privacy policies or any other policies governing this site. Please review the full rules governing commentaries and discussions.