Antonello da Messina (äntōnĕl`lō dä mās–sē`nä), c.1430–79, Sicilian painter, b. Messina. Antonello appears to have had early contact with Flemish art. In his deft handling of the oil medium—his rendering of transparent surfaces and minute landscape details—a strong Northern influence can be seen. About 1475 he went to Venice. There in 1476 he painted the San Cassiano Altarpiece (Kunsthistorisches Mus., Vienna), of which only fragments now exist (Vienna). Created in this period is the work generally regarded as his signature painting, the vibrantly alive yet mysterious Virgin of the Annunciation (c.1475–76, National Gallery of Sicily, Palermo). Antonello's style affected the art of Bellini and other Venetians. He was also an excellent portrait painter, his subjects, often in three-quarters view, reflecting a broad range of emotional expressions, e.g. the roguish gentleman depicted in Portrait of a Man (1460s, Mus. della Fondazione Culturale Mandralisca, Cefalù). Other examples of his portraiture are in such collections as the Metropolitan Museum, Philadelphia Museum, and the Louvre. Other extant paintings include Ecce Homo (c.1470, Metropolitan Mus.); Madonna and Child (National Gall. of Art, Washington, D.C.); Pietà (Venice); and Crucifixion (c.1475–76, Royal Museum, Antwerp).

Bibliography

See G. Barbera, Metropolitan Mus. of Art catalog (2006).

Antonello da Messina

“Portrait of a Man,” panel painting by Antonello da Messina, c. 1472; in the National …

(credit: Courtesy of the trustees of the National Gallery, London)

(born c. 1430, Messina, Sicily—died c. Feb. 19, 1479, Messina) Italian painter. Trained in Naples, then a cosmopolitan art centre, he studied the Flemish artists, notably Jan van Eyck. Based on these experiences, when he returned to Venice he introduced oil painting and Flemish pictorial techniques into mid-15th-century Venetian art. His major works were altarpieces and portraits. In Venice he executed the San Cassiano altarpiece, of which three fragments remain. His portrait busts in three-quarter view, combining Flemish detail with Italian grandeur, became fashionable. Antonello's practice of building form with colour rather than line and shade greatly influenced the subsequent development of Venetian painting. See also Venetian school.

Antonello da Messina

?1430--?79, Italian painter, born in Sicily. His paintings include St Jerome in His Study and Portrait of a Man