Studio of Pisanello

In the early Renaissance, modelbooks served as a pictorial archive for a painter's workshop. They typically included drawings depicting male and female figures, and animals of all varieties. Few modelbooks survive intact. Often, because a master's drawings would be copied by his assistants as a training exercise, related studies can be found on multiple sheets. In this case, the head studies relate to others identified as the work of Pisanello, the most important artist in northern Italy in the early fifteenth century. -- Exhibition Label, from "Drawn to Greatness: Master Drawings from the Thaw Collection"