Antonello da Messina is a famous Italian artist. In the Early Renaissance, he represented the southern school of painting. He was a teacher of Girolamo Alibrandi, who was called the Messinian Raphael. To achieve color depth in sharp portraits and poetic paintings, he applied the technique of oil painting. In the article we will pay attention to a brief biography of the artist and dwell on his works in more detail.
Representative of the new direction
Many information about the life of Antonello da Messina is controversial, doubtful or lost. But it is clear that it was he who demonstrated the luminiferous possibilities of oil painting to Venetian artists. Thus, the Italian laid the foundation for one of the key areas of Western European art. Following the example of many other artists of that time, Antonello combined the Dutch tradition of optically accurate transmission of image details with the picturesque innovations of Italians.
Historians have found a record that in 1456 the hero of this article had a student. That is, most likely, the painter was born before 1430. The Neopolitan Colantonio was the first teacher of Antonello da Messina, whose works will be described below. This fact confirms the message of J. Vasari. Just at that time, Naples was under the cultural influence of the Iberian Peninsula, the Netherlands and France, rather than Northern Italy and Tuscany. Under the influence of the work of Van Eyck and his supporters, interest in painting increased every day. It was rumored that the hero of this article learned the technique of oil painting from him.
Portrait master
By birth, Antonello da Messina was Italian, but according to his artistic education, he was largely a part of the picturesque traditions of northern Europe. He beautifully painted portraits, which amounted to almost thirty percent of his surviving works. Usually Antonello portrayed the model chest and close-up. In this case, the shoulders and head were placed against a dark background. Sometimes in the foreground the artist painted a parapet with a cartellino attached to it (a small piece of paper with an inscription). The illusionistic accuracy and graphicness in the transmission of these details indicate that they are of Dutch origin.
"Male portrait"
This painting was painted by Antonello da Messina in 1474-1475. is one of his best works. The master’s palette is limited to saturated brown, black and individual strokes of flesh and white. The exception is the red hat, complemented by a peeling dark red stripe of the lower dress. The inner world of the painted model is practically not disclosed. But the face radiates intelligence and energy. Antonello very finely modeled his chiaroscuro. The sharp facial features combined with the play of light gives Antonello's work an almost sculptural expression.
"This is a man."
Portraits of the Italian attract the viewer with a glossy, shiny surface and camera format. And when da Messina transfers these qualities to religious painting (the painting “This is a man”), then the sight of human suffering becomes terribly excruciating.
With tears on his face and a rope around his neck, the nude Christ gazes intently at the viewer. His figure fills almost the entire field of the canvas. The interpretation of the plot is slightly different from the icon painting theme. The Italian sought to really convey the psychological and physical image of Christ. This is what makes the viewer focus on the meaning of Jesus' suffering.
“Maria Annunziata” by Antonello da Messina
This work, in contrast to the picture "This is a man", is completely different in mood. But from the viewer, she also requires inner experience and emotional participation. As for the Maria Annunziata, Antonello as if puts the viewer in the place of the archangel in space. This gives a sense of mental complicity. The Virgin Mary, sitting at the music stand, with her left hand holds the blue cover thrown over her, and she raises the other hand. The woman is completely calm and thoughtful, her evenly lit, sculpturally sculpted head as if radiates light against the dark background of the picture.
“Maria Annunziata” is not the only bust portrait of a woman painted by Antonello da Messina. “The Annunciation” is the name of another similar canvas by the painter, which depicts the same Virgin Mary, only in a different position: she holds the blue veil with two hands.
In both paintings, the artist tried to express a feeling of a woman’s spiritual connection with higher powers. Her facial expression, the pose of her hands and head, as well as her gaze, tell the viewer that Mary is now far from the mortal world. A black background of paintings only emphasizes the detachment of the Virgin.
"St. Jerome in the cell "
In the above pictures, there is not even a minimal interest in the problem of transfer of the surrounding space. But in other works, the painter in this respect significantly ahead of his time. In the painting "St. Jerome in the cell ”depicts a saint reading at a music stand. His office is located inside the Gothic hall, on the back wall of which windows on two floors are cut. In the foreground, the image is framed by a border and an arch. They are perceived as a proskenium (a technique common in the art of countries located north of the Alps). The mustard color of the stone emphasizes the contrast of shadow and light inside a cave-like room. The details of the picture (landscape in the distance, birds, objects on the shelves) are transmitted with a very high degree of accuracy. This effect can only be achieved by applying oil paint with rather small strokes. But the most important advantage of painting da Messina is still not in the reliable transfer of details, but in the stylistic unity of the air environment and light.
Monumental altar
In the years 1475-1476. the artist lived in Venice. There he painted a magnificent altar for the church of San Cassiano. Unfortunately, to this day only its central part has been preserved, which depicts the Madonna and Child rising on the throne. On both sides of it are the saints. This altar belongs to the type of sacra conversion. That is, the Madonna and Child and the saints are in the same space. And this is the opposite in form of a divided into parts polyptych. The reconstruction of the monumental altar was based on the later works of Giovanni Bellini.
Pieta and the Crucifixion
Antonello oil painting, or rather, the ability to transmit lighting with this technique, was very highly appreciated by his fellow artists. Since that time, Venetian colorism was based solely on the development of the great potential of a new direction. The works of da Messina of the Venetian period have the same conceptual tendency as his earlier works. The heavily erased painting “Pieta”, even in such a damaged state, fills the audience with an intense sense of compassion. On the lid of the tomb are three angels holding Christ’s dead body with spiky pointed wings. The artist depicted a central figure close-up.
It is as if pressed to the surface of the canvas. Empathy with the depicted suffering - that is what, using the above technique, sought Antonello da Messina. “Crucifixion” is another picture of the painter. It is similar in theme to Pieta. The canvas depicts Jesus crucified on the cross. Mary sits to his right and the apostle John to his left. Like Pieta, the canvas aims to evoke empathy with the viewer.
"Saint Sebastian"
This picture is an example of how Antonello competed in the portrayal of heroic nudity and the skill of conveying a linear perspective with his North Italian colleagues. Against the background of a stone-paved square, the body of a saint pierced by arrows takes on enormous dimensions. The deep-seated space, the fragment of the column in the foreground and the perspective with a very low vanishing point claim that the painter used the principles of Euclidean geometry in the construction of the composition.
