Pisanello (ca. 1395-1455), painter and medalist, was a leading master of the International Gothic style of painting in Italy and created the first example of the Renaissance medal.

Probably born in Pisa, Antonio Pisano, called Pisanello was raised in Verona by his mother, Isabetta, a native of that city, after the death of his father, Pucio di Giovanni, a Pisan. Nothing is known of Pisanello's early years. He may have been a pupil of Stefano da Verona, whose influence is seen in Pisanello's early Madonna of the Quails (ca. 1415).

Between 1419 and 1422 Pisanello was in Venice collaborating with Gentile da Fabriano on the frescoes for the Great Council Hall of the Ducal Palace (repainted 1479). From 1422 to 1426 Pisanello was in Mantua and Verona. The frescoed Annunciation above the Brenzoni tomb in the church of St. Fermo, Verona, is signed and dated (1424-1426). He journeyed to Rome after the death of...