He has been a bridge between south and north in Italian painting: Who is Antonello da Messina?

(1430-1479) Italian painter. Influenced by the meticulous oil painting technique of Flemish art, he made a synthesis of North and South painting in the Renaissance. He was born in Messina, Sicily. His father, Giovanni d'Antonio, was a stonemason. Vasari writes that Messina died at the age of forty-nine. Based on this information, it is accepted that he was born in 1430. He apprenticed with the Neapolitan painter Colantonio in the mid-15th century. The artistic climate of Naples during this period was strongly influenced by Flemish art.

Antonello da Messina (1430 – February 1479), properly Antonello di Giovanni di Antonio, but also called Antonello degli Antoni and Anglicized as Anthony of Messina, was an Italian painter from Messina, active during the Early Italian Renaissance. His work shows strong influences from Early Netherlandish painting, although there is no documentary evidence that he ever travelled beyond Italy.

In 1456 he established his own workshop in Messina and hired an apprentice. It is understood from the records that he lived in Messina for ten years, was in Rome from 1465 to 1473, and saw and recognized the paintings of the Umbrian master Piero della Francesca at this time. He spent the years 1473-1474 again in Messina and produced some of his most famous works during this period. In 1475-1476 he made the famous Cassiano Altar Painting in Venice. Duke Galeazzo Maria Sforza summoned Antonello to Milan to replace the deceased portrait painter Zanetto Bugatti. The artist stayed in Milan for a short time. Then he returned to Messina. He worked hard until his death. He died on February 25, 1479.

The most important feature of Antonello is that he made a synthesis of North and South paintings during the Renaissance Period. It has combined the meticulous technique and richness of detail of Flemish art with the relaxed understanding of the form of the Italians.

It has been confirmed by archival information that the artist did not see Northern Europe. For this reason, it has been an important research topic to explain the strong Flemish influences observed especially in his early works. As a result, when all the features of Sicilian art are taken into account, it is understood that these effects are based on local sources.

The artist has a rich array of portraits in line with the Ecce Homo theme. These portraits, which are a triumph of pure forms such as cylinders and spheres in space, show that Antonello was greatly influenced by Piero della Francesca. The Portrait of a Man at the Staatliches Museum in Berlin is the only portrait with a landscape in the background.

Another interesting aspect of Antonello da Messina's art is that he played a helpful and decisive role in the development of Venetian painting, and in the formation of the colorist styles of Venetian painters. Venetian painting was able to overcome Mantegna's strict linear heritage and sculptural seriousness with the influence of Antonello and turned to search for new values in the field of color and atmosphere. The geometric structure and the perspective of the backgrounds in Antonello da Messina's paintings are illuminated by a light that softens the lines (contours) surrounding the forms. This light also allows the colors to fuse with each other.

Antonello da Messina's influence on Venetian painting was twofold. He brought a new taste to it with his own understanding of color and conveyed the experience of Piero della Francesca.

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https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/mess/hd_mess.htm