Portrait medal of John VIII Palaeologus

This medal, probably the first Renaissance medal featuring a portrait, is now kept in the Cabinet des médailles in Paris. It is the work of Antonio Pisano, better known as Pisanello (c. 1395–1455). The bilingual inscription – in Greek and Latin – on the reverse allows the medal to be attributed to the Italian Renaissance painter, medallist and miniaturist.

The inscription on the obverse, in Greek, identifies the Emperor John VIII Palaeologus (1425–48). During his reign, the empire was at its smallest: all that remained was the capital and a few provinces. Faced with the Ottoman danger, John VIII and his father Manuel II Palaeologus undertook several voyages to Europe to appeal for help, but none of them were successful. In 1437 Emperor John VIII Palaeologus was invited to Italy by Pope Eugenius IV to explore the possible union of the two Churches. The council took place in Ferrara, then in Florence. John VIII Palaeologus arrived accompanied by the patriarch of Constantinople, Joseph II. They both signed the decree unifying the Churches but this decision ended in failure, as the Byzantine clergy refused to acknowledge it.

The medal was probably made during the emperor’s visit to Italy. On the obverse, John VIII, with a moustache, pointed beard and curled hair, presents his right profile. He wears headgear with a high conical crown and whose turned-up brim points forward, a shirt with a collar and a jacket open at the front over it. This representation of the emperor is very common, both in miniature – for example, in Codex 2123 in Saint Catherine’s monastery in Sinai – and in bronze sculpture, as in the Vatican Museums. On the reverse, John VIII is depicted on horseback, accompanied by two other horsemen, and praying in front of Latin cross located in a mountain landscape.

Various objects depicting John VIII Palaeologus from the West were produced when the Byzantine emperor was travelling in Europe and during the Council of Ferrara. They give the impression that the emperor’s headdress and clothing were astonishing. This headgear was worn by Byzantine emperors and high dignitaries. There is an example of it in the portrait of Manuel Laskaris (d 1445) found in the church of the Pantanassa in Mistra, Greece.

Valuable information about the clothing may be found in the sketches of Pisanello in the Musée du Louvre and the Art Institute of Chicago: the artist had drawn and taken notes on John VIII Palaeologus and his entourage during the entire length of their stay in Italy. We can recognise various textiles, such as, for example the Mamluk fabrics that John VIII Palaeologus had received as a gift from the Egyptian sultan.

A parallel with the Islamic world may be pointed out: Mehmed II (1444–81), the conqueror of Constantinople, had medals made in his own image of the same type as that of John VIII, calling on Italian craftsmen whose names are inscribed in Latin.