Portrait of a Princess of the House of Este

To categorize as Gothic or Renaissance certain Italian painters active at the beginning of the 15th century is rather difficult. Pisanello used medival patterns in a ‘modern’ way, through the composition, the ‘pictorial architecture’ of Masolino or Masaccio, though without being familiar with their mathematical model of perspective. As a consequence, he sometimes fell back on medieval techniques. This portrait of a young woman (assumed to be Ginevra d’Este) is flat, and its flowers and butterflies, though drawn from nature, seem like ornamental patterns from French or Flemish tapestries.