Antonello da Messina's absolute genius

Momentous Rome exhibition at Quirinale Palace assembles masterpieces of 16th century Sicilian painter

The exhibition devoted to Antonello da Messina now underway in Rome, at the Stables of the Quirinale Palace, is a momentous one, an impossible feat turned reality. It presents, assembled for the first time, 80 percent of the artist's few remaining works; seeing so many masterpieces of this secretive 15th-century painter - ranging from Annunciations to portraits, from Crucifixions to Ecce Homo - gives powerful emotions. This exhibition (opened last Saturday in the presence of President of Italy Carlo Azeglio Ciampi and Rome mayor Walter Veltroni) is unprecedented; the famous 1953 precedent, held in Messina, only managed to bring together a dozen or so of the artist's currently known 45 works. History has destroyed most of Antonello's masterpieces. This Sicilian painter was one of the foremost geniuses of his age, and his peculiar painting style, so different for that of his contemporaries, has given rise to all sorts of legends. Much has been said about his technique and language, bringing the painter from Messina close to his Flemish colleagues. This exhibition, underscored curator Mauro Lucco, aims to propose a new take on Antonello's work, comparing it to Spanish and Provencal art, as well as to the Venetian scene (Antonello stayed in Venice in 1475-76). One of the recurring issues about Antonello concerns his formative years, which he almost certainly spent in his native Messina. The town was then a microcosm of that age, and its location guaranteed fast connections across the Mediterranean Sea and even with Northern Europe. For sure, Antonello knew examples of Flemish painting (such as a triptych by Van Eyck, owned by the King of Naples) and studied their technique in depth, supplementing his initial work with temperas. This led him to unique results, according to Lucco. If we examine Van Eyck's Madonna of Chancellor Rolin under the electron microscope, we notice that the precision of details is amazing. The same exam on Antonello's works, on the other hand, shows that what appears to the eye is an illusion, the skilful result of light brush touches, a sort of impression. Lighting in the Sicilian artist is diffused and warm all over the painting, while in Flemish works it is crystal-like. The wonder of Antonello's art, according to Lucco, lies in his sublime synthesis of the Flemish ideas and Provencal and Spanish art that he was well acquainted with. This has even led to new attributions for works that had been considered early works by Antonello. The studies in preparation for this exhibition have revealed that some of these works would instead be by Catalan painters. This is the case, for instance, of the Reading Virgin and Virgo Advocata, which have been painted over what appears to be an elaborate drawing. Antonello, however, was so great that he needed no sketch for his masterpiece, and never drew. This appears hard to believe when watching St. Jerome in his study, the small painting on loan from London's National Gallery that opens this exhibition and has been given a whole hall to itself. It is followed by Virgins and a first sampling of portraits, with comparisons between Antonello and contemporary painters such as Van Eyck, here represented by his Man in a red turban. What truly leaves visitors stupefied, however, is the extraordinary and unique Salting Madonna, where Antonello's genius is revealed in full. Like in a portrait, the Virgin displays a puzzlingly enigmatic expression, while the famous Virgin Annunciate, wearing a deep blue cape and lifting her eyes from a book, has a mysterious look. An extraordinary series of Ecce Homo and crucifixions, where Antonello shows relations with Giovanni Bellini, is displayed on the second floor. The exhibition closes with Antonello's last work, painted with his son: the recently restored St. Sebastian.

Publication Date: 2006-03-26
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