Antonello da Messina (Antonello di Giovanni d'Antonio)

(Italian, Sicilian, born about 1430, died 1479)

      Antonello da Messina is considered one of the greatest Renaissance painters namely for his development of character and psychology in portraiture. From his native city of Messina in Sicily, the master traveled the commercial and artistic routes of Italy and perhaps even those of Northern Europe. On his way, he absorbed the new developments in painting of the time and translated them into his own unique and personal style.

      In Naples, he encountered the Flemish style, in Rome and Florence he was influenced by the developing Renaissance techniques - especially those by Piero della Francesca - and, during a prolonged working period in Venice, he contributed extensively to the birth of the Venetian school.
      It is not surprising that a Sicilian painter would synthesize such a variety of influences in his artworks. During Antonello's time, Sicily was a truly cosmopolitan island as it had been for centuries at the crossroads of civilizations. Sicilian artists and intellectuals looked towards foreign influences with a worldly attitude interested only in acquiring the best of them.
      Antonello is most notably recognized for revolutionizing the style of portraiture. In a sense, he was the first modern portrait painter. He combined great attention to detail and precision with psychological insight. Before Antonello, Italian portraits only depicted the frontal or side view of an individual. Antonello created the three-quarter portrait that shows more of a subject's face and allows greater insight in their personality. Although this style is generally attributed to Leonardo da Vinci, it was invented by Antonello.

The famous Portrait of Unknown Man, from the Mandralisca museum in the small and beautiful Sicilian town of Cefalu’, depicts a man described as “typically Sicilian,” with his “ammiccante” (devious, snitching, betraying) gaze. A leading scholar of Italian painting, Federico Zeri, wrote that the Unknown Man represents and universalizes the wily, devious, scheming and yet clever intelligent, nature of the Sicilian and Mediterrenean male.

Another major painting by Antonello which has remained in Sicily is the Annunciate Madonna from the Palazzo Abatellis Museum in Palermo. As one of his most famous paintings, it is religious in subject and provides a graceful combination of both Italian and Northern European influences.

In December 2005, FIAC sponsored an exhibition of these two works at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. The exhibition provided a unique opportunity to view the two splendid works alongside another of Antonello's exquisite paintings Christ crowned with Thorns which is part of the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Permanent Collection. While working on this project, FIAC was pleased to learn that Antonello da Messina is the favorite painter of Dr. Philip de Montebello, the director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

In March 2006, a major exhibition of Antonello, with loans from all over the world, was held at the Scuderie del Quirinale in Rome.

Countless participants allowed for the organization of this exhibition. FIAC would like to extend special thanks to the On. Alessandro Pagano, Assessore Regionale ai Beni Culturali, Ambientali e alla Publica Istruzione.