Antonello da Messina

Background

Antonello da Messina was born around 1429 –1431 in Messina, Italy. He was a son of Garita (Margherita) and Giovanni de Antonio Mazonus, a sculptor who trained him early on.

Education

Antonello is thought to have apprenticed in Rome before going to Naples, where Netherlandish painting was then fashionable. According to a letter written in 1524 by the Neapolitan humanist Pietro Summonte, in about 1450 he was a pupil of the painter Niccolò Colantonio at Naples, where Netherlandish painting was then fashionable. This account of his training is accepted by most art historians.

Career

Antonello returned to Messina from Naples during the 1450s. In around 1455, he painted the so-called Sibiu Crucifixion, inspired by Flemish treatments of the subject, which is now in the Muzeul de Artǎ in Bucharest. By 1456 Antonello was established as an independent master in Messina. In the same year his name appeared on the payroll of Duke Galeazzo Maria Sforza in Milan along with the name of Christus. In 1460 Antonello traveled abroad, though where is not known. Historians believe that Antonello painted his first portraits in the late 1460s.Antonello went to Venice in 1475 and remained there until the fall of 1476. His works of this period begin to show a greater attention to the human figure, regarding both anatomy and expressivity, indicating the influence of Piero della Francesca and Giovanni Bellini.While in Venice he was offered, but did not accept, the opportunity to become the court portrait painter to the Duke of Milan.Antonello had returned to Sicily by September 1476. Works from near the end of his life include the famous Virgin Annunciate, now in the Palazzo Abatellis in Palermo, and the San Gregorio Polyptych.

Achievements

• Antonello da Messina was one of the first Italian painters to master the oil-paint technique. His style is remarkable for its union of Italian simplicity with Flemish concern for detail. He exercised an enormous influence on Italian painting, not only by the introduction of the Flemish invention, but also by the transmission of Flemish tendencies.

Works

More photos

• painting

  • Madonna and Child with a Praying Franciscan Donor

    1455

  • Portrait of a Man

    1460

  • San Cassiano Altarpiece

    1476

  • Portrait of a Man (Trivulzio portrait)

    1476

  • Madonna and Child

    1475

  • Portrait of a Man

    1474

  • St. Jerome

    1472

  • Portrait of an Unknown Man

    1470

  • Christ Blessing

    1465

  • Ecce Homo

    1474

  • Crucifixion

    1475

  • Portrait of a Man

    1475

  • Virgin of the Annunciation

    1473

  • Portrait of a Young Man

    1475

  • Ecce Homo

    1470

  • The Dead Christ Supported by an Angel

    1478

  • Portrait of a Man (The Condottiero)

    1475

  • Portrait of a Man

    1475

  • St. Sebastian

    1477

  • St. Gregory

    1472

  • Portrait of a Man

    1470

  • St. Jerome Penitent

    1455

  • Pieta

    1475

  • St. Jerome in His Study

    1475

  • Christ

  • Polyptych with St. Gregory

    1473

  • Portrait of a Man

    1470

  • Portrait of a Man

    1475

  • Portrait of a Young Man

    1478

  • Abraham Served by Three Angels

    1455

  • Portrait of a Man

    1475

  • Annunciation

    1474

  • Crucifixion

    1455

  • St. Augustine

    1472

  • Madonna and Child (Madonna Benson)

    1470

  • Ecce Homo

    1473

  • Self-portrait

  • Portrait of a Man

    1475

  • Crucifixion

    1475

  • Virgin Annunciate

    1475

  • Madonna and Child (Salting Madonna)

    1460

Connections

Antonello da Messina was married, and had a son, Jacobello.

Father:

Giovanni de Antonio Mazonus

Mother:

Garita (Margherita)

Son:

Jacobello da Messina

teacher:

Niccolo Colantonio

He was a major native figure in the art of Naples in the Early Renaissance.

References

• Antonello Da Messina
  1957
• Antonello da Messina: Sicily's Renaissance Master Antonello da Messina (ca. 1430 – 1479) was one of the most groundbreaking and influential painters of the quattrocento. No other Italian artist of the fifteenth-century responded in such a direct fashion to the great masters of Bruges and Brussels (including use of their oil technique), to the brilliant Provencal painters, and to the established giants of Italian art, such as Piero della Francesca and Mantegna.
  2006
• Antonello da Messina Italian Edition
  2011
• Antonello da Messina tra i misteri (Italian Edition)
  2016