Portrait of a Young Princess

A young woman is shown in strict profile against a dense hedge of carnations and columbines, butterflies hovering - the courtly portrait format favored at the princely courts of northern Italy, derived from the heads on ancient coins and medals. The sitter is probably Ginevra d'Este, of the ruling family of Ferrara; the sprig of juniper on her sleeve (ginepro in Italian) puns on her name. Pisanello was the supreme Italian master of the ornate International Gothic and a celebrated medallist, and here he lavishes a jeweller's attention on brocade, blossom, and the pale curve of a profile - aristocratic elegance worlds away from the weighty realism of his Florentine contemporaries.