Emperor John VIII Palaiologos Clothing Study (Patreon)

When I started this drawing, I expected this to be a simple portrait. So, I drew him as a furry like usual. However, the research went down much deeper than I expected. I realized that to reach a wider audience, I really should make this a proper infographic with human character, like my previous infographs. The furry version that I posted as WIP will only be accessible to Patreon supporters at or above the Tolteca tier.

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Bibliography

◉ Artworks

Antonio Filarete or Donatello, Portrait Bust of John VIII Palaiologos, 1439, Bronze, Vatican Museums, Vatican City.

Antonio Filarete, Porta del Filarete, 1445, Cast bronze, St. Peter's Basilica, Vatican City.

Attributed to Gentile Bellini’s workshop, The Reception of the Venetian Ambassadors in Damascus, 1511, Oil on canvus, Musée du Louvre, Paris.

Byzantine altar Cloth or Podea, late 14th century, Silk, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

Fragment of a Mamluk jacket with inscription of Sultan al-Muayyad Abu al-Nasr Shaykh, 1412~1421, Silk, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

Fragment of a Mamluk textile with inscription and a rosette medallion pattern, 14th century, Silk, Museum of Islamic Art, Cairo.

Funerary Portrait of Manuel Laskaris Chatzikes, ca. 1445, Fresco, Pantanassa Monastery, Mystras.

Funerary portraits of parekklesion tombs, 14th century, fresco, Chora Church, Istanbul.

Gentile Bellini, A Seated Scribe, 1479~81, Pen in brown ink with watercolor and gold on paper, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston.

Italian Green Damask Textile, ca. 1450, Silk, The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland.

Persian Style Dagger, late 15th century, Steel, gold, chalcedony, paste, bitumen, The Wallace Collection, London.

Piero della Francesca, The Legend of the True Cross, ca. 1452~1466, Fresco, Basilica of San Francesco, Arezzo.

Pisanello, Medal of Emperor John VIII Palaiologos, ca. 1438~39, Cast bronze, Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris.

Pisanello, Portrait of Emperor John VIII Palaiologos, ca. 1440s, Black chalk on paper, Musée du Louvre, Paris.

Pisanello, Studies of Emperor John VIII Palaiologos and His Retinue, 1438~39, Pen and dark brown ink on paper, Musée du Louvre, Paris.

Pisanello, Studies of Emperor John VIII Palaiologos and His Retinue, 1438~39, Pen and dark brown ink on paper, The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago.

◉ Illuminated Manuscripts

Bible by Manuel Tzycandyles, Mystras, 1362, Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris, Grec 135.

Bologna, Biblioteca Universitaria di Bologna, MS 3632. 15th century.

Bustan of Sa'di, Herat, 1488, National Library of Egypt, Cairo, Adab Farisi 908.

Eisitêrioi for Agnes of France, Constantinopolis, 1179, Vatican Apostolic Library, Vatican, Gr. Ms. 1851

Iskendar-name by Ahmedi, Istanbul, late 15th century, National Library of Russia, Moscow, C133.

Jāmiʿ al-Tawārikh by Rashid al-Din, Tabriz, 1317, Topkapı Sarayı Library, Istanbul, H.1654.

Khamsah of Khwājū Kirmānī, Baghdad, 1396, British Library, London, Add 18113.

Le Chevalier Errant by Thomas de Saluces, 1403, Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris, Français 12559.

Riccardiana Virgil, Florence, ca. 1460, Biblioteca Riccardiana, Florence, MS Ricc. 492.

Shah-nameh, Tabriz, 1470~80, Topkapı Sarayı Library, Istanbul, H.2153.

Sinai, Library of the Holy Monastery of Saint Catherine, Cod. 2123. ca. 1440s

Synopsis of Histories by John Skylitzes (“Madrid Skylitzes”), Palermo, 12th century, Biblioteca Nacional de España, Madrid, Vitr. 26-2

Trebizond Alexander Romance, Trebizond, 1349~90, Library of San Giorgio dei Greci, Venice, Codex Greacus 5.

Très Riches Heures de Duc de Berry, Paris, 1413~16, Musée Condé, Paris, MS 65.

Vatican, Vatican Apostolic Library, Gr. Ms. 752.

Zafarnama of Sharaf al-Din 'Ali Yazdi, Shiraz, 1436, Harvard University Art Museums, Cambridge, inv. no. 1960. 198.

◉ Print Sources

Adam of Usk. The Chronicle of Adam Usk, 1377-1421. Edited by Chris Given-Wilson. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1997.

Alexander, David. “Pisanello’s Hat: The costume and weapons depicted in Pisanello’s medal for John VIII Palaeologus. A discussion of the saber and related weapons.” Gladius XXIV, 2004, 135-186.

Bartolomeo del Corazza, Diario fiorentino (1405–1439), Edited by Roberta Gentile. Rome: De Rubeis, 1991.

Campana, Lilia. “Sailing into Union: The Byzantine Naval Convoy for the Council of Ferrara-Florence (1438-1439).” Dumbarton Oaks Papers, No. 73, 2019, 103-125

D’Amato, Raffaele. “The War-mace of Byzantium 9th~15th century AD: New Evidence from the Balkans in the Collection of the World Museum of Man, Florida.” Acta Militaria Mediaevalia VII, 2011

D’Amato, Raffaele. Byzantine Naval Forces 1261-1461: The Roman Empire’s Last Marines. Oxford: Osprey Publishing Ltd, 2016.

Dawson, Timothy. By The Emperor’s Hand: Military Dress and Court Regalia in the later Roman-Byzantine Empire. Barnsley: Frontline Books, 2015.

Evans, Helen C. Byzantium: Faith and Power (1261-1557). New York: Metropolitan museum of art, Yale University Press, 2004.

Harpur, Alison Catherine. Studies in Visual Culture and the Council of Ferrara-Florence (1438-1445). London: University College London, 2023.

Heath, Ian. Byzantine Armies 1118-1461 AD. Oxford: Osprey Publishing Ltd, 1995.

Kaldellis, Anthony. The New Roman Empire: A History of Byzantium. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2024.

Kiousopoulou, Tonia. Emperor or Manager: Power and Political Ideology in Byzantium before 1453. Geneva: La Pomme d’or, 2011.

Macrides, Ruth, J.A.Munitiz, and Dimiter Angelov. Pseudo-Kodinos and the Constantinopolitan Court: Offices and Ceremonies. Birmingham: Birmingham Byzantine and Ottoman studies, 2013.

Nicolle, David. Mamluk ‘Asakari 1250-1517. Oxford: Osprey Publishing Ltd, 2014.

Pintoin, Michel. Chronique du religieux de Saint-Denys, contenant le régne de Charles VI, de 1380 à 1422. Translated by Louis-François Bellaguet. Paris: L'Imprimerie de Crapelet, 1839.

Setton, Kenneth M. “The Emperor John VIII Slept Here...” Speculum, Vol. 33, No. 2 (April 1958), 222-228.

Tafur, Pero. Pero Tafur: Travels and Adventures (1435-1439), Translated by Malcolm Letts. New York, London: Harper & brothers, 1926.

Vespasiano, da Bisticci. Renaissance Princes, Popes, And Prelates: The Vespasiano Memoirs—Lives of Illustrious Men of the XVth Century. Translated by Myron P. Gilmore. New York: Harper & Row, 1963.

Vickers, Michael. “Some Preparatory Drawings for Pisanello’s Medallion of John VIII Palaeologus”. The Art Bulletin, Vol. 60, No.3 (September 1978), 417-424.