A Gazelle in Profile, Moving Toward the Right 1400 - 1435

Michelino da Besozzo made this image of a gazelle in profile with pen and brown ink with watercolor on parchment. The image is a sophisticated naturalistic study of an animal, but what was its purpose? Michelino was from Lombardy, in Northern Italy, where powerful families like the Visconti were patrons of the arts. This drawing may have been made for an illuminated manuscript of a hunting manual or a bestiary; books of animals, both real and imaginary, were very popular at the time. It is also possible that it was part of a series of model book images which would have been kept in the artist's workshop as inspiration for other art works. The image speaks to the elite culture of courtly life in fifteenth century Italy where falconry and hunting were popular pastimes. Only by understanding the social and institutional context of the art can we understand its production and purpose. To discover more, examine surviving manuscripts, court inventories, and artists’ workshop practices.