"Maria Annuziata" is one of the most famous paintings the great Italian painter Antonello da Messina (1429/31 - 1479). famous painter Early Restoration painted the picture in 1475. Wood, oil.

Dimensions: 45 x 34.5 cm. this moment located in the National Museum of Palermo.

"Mary Annuciata" has character traits painting Da Messina. The painters of the Early Recovery era are said to have only just mastered the art of painting.

It was a time when great painters discovered new forms, invented new stylistic solutions and techniques, became known for their own experiments with painting. The work of the painters of the Restoration directly affected the skill of all subsequent worship of painters and is still an example for novice artists.

Antonello da Messina is no exception to the rule.

For the brush of this artist, portraits of people, stunning in realism and depth, and paintings on religious themes are especially characteristic. In the painting "Mary Annunciata", and the painting "Annunciation", the painter depicted a bust portrait of a lady.

Here we can see that Antonello da Messina tries to express the inexpressible through symbolic things. Most of the painters depicted the Annunciation just as genre scenes, but Antonello departs from this practice and expresses a sense of spiritual connection with the highest, as the inner state of Maria Annuziata.

Her gaze, posture of hands and head, facial expression - everything shows that now Mary is at a great distance from the temporary world.

Maria Annuziata is on dark background, as if emphasizing by this both his detachment and his appearance from the world. But in his own painting, Antonello da Messina was able to highlight the depth of the picture, pushing the figure of the lady into the background with the book and the help of the music stand, which is in front of Mary.

Painting "Maria Annuziata" by Antonello da Messina

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Antonello da Messina (1429/30-1479) (Antonello da Messina) paintings of great painters

Antonello da Messina (1430-1479)

Madonna and Child

Born in Messina, Sicily, in the family of a sculptor. Approximately between 1450-55 he studied in Naples in the workshop of the painter Colantonio. The author of the artist's biography, Giorgio Vasari, reports on his trip to the Netherlands, where Antonello got acquainted with the technique oil painting- this message, previously considered fiction, seems quite plausible. In 1456 he already has his own workshop in Messina. In 1457 the brotherhood of St. Michael in Reggio di Calabria ordered Antonello to paint the banner. He probably had many similar orders, his trips to southern Italy are associated with them.

Maria Annunziata

Until 1465, his name is mentioned in various Sicilian documents, at which time he paints altarpieces and paints banners. In the late 1460s, the artist apparently visited Rome, where he became acquainted with the works of Piero della Francesca. In 1473, his name is again mentioned in Messinian documents in connection with orders for altarpieces and banners. In 1475 he appears in Venice, and in September 1476 he is again in Messina. His activities are interrupted at the beginning of 1479: on February 14, 1479, he makes a will and soon dies.

Portrait of a man

Early period

A native of Southern Italy, Antonello da Messina combined in his work two different artistic traditions - Italian and Dutch, since Naples, Palermo and Messina were closely connected with the Iberian Peninsula, France, Provence and the Netherlands.

Maria Annunziata

Netherlandish painting enjoyed great success at the Aragonese court; during his apprenticeship in Naples, the artist had the opportunity to get acquainted with the works of Van Eyck and Petrus Christus stored there. Already in the earliest reliable works that have come down to us by Antonello (Crucifixion, c. 1455, Museum of Art, Bucharest; Saint Jerome, c. 1460, and the image of Christ the Savior, 1465, both - National Gallery, London) the influence of the Dutch is noticeable not only in the borrowing of iconography, but also in the interpretation of the surrounding world - in the landscape background of the "Crucifixion" (the Bay of Messina is depicted), which is replete with many details and details, recreated with a purely "Dutch" scrupulousness and thoroughness, in complex spatial and light effects of the image of "Saint Jerome". However, Antonello's paintings differ from the Dutch samples in their typically Italian, plastic modeling of forms and clarity in the construction of space.

Saint Gerolamo

No less important for the addition of Antonello's manner was the assimilation of the lessons of painting of the Early Renaissance. The Italian craving for ideal typification, for plastic generalization, in combination with the "Dutch" naturalization, is transformed into a special style in Antonello's painting after 1470.

Saint Gregorio

His altarpieces (for example, the Annunciation, 1474, which have come down to us in poor condition, National Museum, Syracuse; "Polyptych of St. George", 1473, National Museum, Messina), images of the Madonna and Christ ("Behold the Man") are characterized by a complex interpenetration of Dutch and Italian forms and iconography.

Saint Agostino

portraits

The most striking part of Antonello's heritage are his portraits (all date from the period between 1465-76). Here, the influence of Netherlandish painting and, above all, the portraits of Jan van Eyck, from whom the master borrows the composition of the portrait image and the very technique of oil painting, was decisive: the portrait is depicted bust in a three-quarter turn on a dark neutral background, the gaze is fixed on the viewer.

Portrait of an unknown

Another source for Antonello is the portrait sculpture of the Early Renaissance sculptors Domenico Gagini and Francesco Laurana who came to Sicily. Hence the plasticity and stereometry, the craving for revealing the plastic principle, which distinguish the artist's works from the Dutch samples.

Portrait of a young man

In Antonello's portraits, the interpretation of the personality of the person portrayed becomes more open than in his Dutch prototypes - the Dutch impersonality is replaced by the activity of the model, her desire for self-affirmation. The depicted people look at the viewer so intently, as if they are waiting for some question, their faces are often enlivened by a smile.

Portrait of an unknown

Antonello's masterpieces of portrait art are: “Portrait of an Unknown Man” (1465-70, Mandralisk Museum, Cefalu), the so-called “Condottiere” (1475, Louvre), where the plastic modeling of the face of the depicted emphasizes his inner energy; the so-called "Self-Portrait" (1474-75, National Gallery, London) and "Portrait of a Young Man" (1476?, State museums, Berlin-Dahlem).

Portrait of a young man

Venetian period

The final stage of Antonello's work dates back to 1475-76, to the years of his Venetian travel (possibly he also visited Milan). Soon after his arrival in Venice, his work began to attract enthusiastic attention. The Venetian authorities make him a number of orders, his painting and, above all, the technique of oil painting known to him had a significant impact on Venetian artists. Antonello's method of constructing form with color rather than line and chiaroscuro had a huge impact on further development Venetian painting.

Saint Sebastian

At the same time, the acquaintance of Antonello da Messina himself with the works of the early Renaissance masters, primarily Piero della Francesca and Andrea Mantegna, was reflected in the change in the figurative structure of his paintings: they became lighter, the space freer, the composition more balanced and structured, the images of architecture more classical and harmonious.

Crucifixion with Mary and John

Antonello da Messina (ital. Antonello da Messina c. 1429 (1429) / 1431 - 1479) - Italian artist, a prominent representative of the southern Italian school of painting of the Early Renaissance.

Teacher of Girolamo Alibrandi, nicknamed the "Messinian Raphael".

Antonello was born in the city of Messina in Sicily between 1429 and 1431. Primary education took place in a provincial school, far from the artistic centers of Italy, where the main reference points were the masters of Southern France, Catalonia and the Netherlands. Around 1450 he moved to Naples. In the early 1450s he studied with Colantonio, a painter associated with the Dutch tradition. In 1475-1476. yes Messina visited Venice, where he received and fulfilled orders, made friends with artists, especially with Giovanni Bellini, who adopted his painting technique to a certain extent.

The mature work of Antonello da Messina is a fusion of Italian and Dutch elements. He was one of the first in Italy to work in the technique of pure oil painting, largely borrowing it from Van Eyck.

The artist's style is characterized by a high level of technical virtuosity, meticulous attention to detail, and an interest in the monumental forms and depth of the background, characteristic of the Italian school.

In the painting “The Dead Christ Supported by Angels”, the figures clearly emerge against an illuminated light background, where Messina, the artist’s hometown, is vaguely distinguished. Iconography and emotional treatment of the theme are associated with the work of Giovanni Bellini.

The paintings he painted in Venice are among the best. "Crucifixion" (1475, Antwerp) speaks of the artist's Dutch training.

In the 1470s, portraits began to occupy a significant place in the work (“Young Man”, c. 1470; “Self-Portrait”, c. 1473; “Portrait of a Man”, 1475, etc.), marked by features of Dutch art: a dark neutral background, accurate transmission model facial expressions. His portrait art left a deep mark on Venetian painting at the end of the 15th century. - early 16th century

He died in Messina in 1479.

The work of Antonello da Messina is an example of how in Italian painting, since about 1470, new forms of portraiture have spread in different centers almost simultaneously, sometimes independently of each other, and often due to the establishment of contacts between art schools and the defining role of several leading masters. So, simultaneously with Mantegna in the 1470s, on the distant outskirts - in Sicily, another major portrait master, Antonello da Messina, came to the fore, who created a number of works that are an example of a three-quarter bust portrait, which for decades determined the main path for the development of the Venetian portrait (in addition, he conquered the Venetians by teaching them to paint with oil paints). He is in the strict sense of the word the first Italian master of the easel portrait. He never painted frescoes with hidden portraits and donators in altarpieces. About 10 authentic portraits of him have survived, but in the development of easel portraiture early renaissance he occupies a very important place.

All of his surviving works belong to his mature period (Sicily and Venice, 1465-76). He uses one developed formula of portrait composition, without changing it in the future, moreover, without changing the ideal with which the living model is compared. This was because he relied on the long established tradition of the Netherlandish portrait, which he directly applied to the Italian understanding of the human image. Most likely, the appearance of the easel portrait in his work is directly related to his ardent passion for Netherlandish painting. The birth of the portrait genre in his work also directly coincided with a period of active familiarization with the forms and ideals of the Renaissance. Antonello focuses on the most advanced direction of this period - the work of Jan van Eyck, borrowing composition, technique and color from him. He may have traveled to the Netherlands.

From Eik's work, he chooses the most concise and plastic solution to the composition - at the same time, the most emotional. Antonello always paints a model bust-length, with a parapet, always wearing a headdress and looking directly at the viewer. He does not paint hands and does not depict accessories. Thanks to the parapet foreground and a perspective frame, the portrait bust, slightly pushed back in depth, acquires spatiality. The point of view from below gives the image a touch of monumentality. On the “stone” parapet there is always a crumpled piece of paper, “attached” with a drop of sealing wax, with the inscription “Antonello Messinets wrote me” and the date. The illusion of three-dimensionality is enhanced by a soft light-air environment. The face is turned towards the light falling from the left, it is subtly modeled by transparent shadows, which gradually thicken towards the edges of the picture and become completely impenetrable in the background. The closest analogy in the Netherlands to his portraits is the portrait of an unknown person in a red turban. Antonello and van Eyck are similar not only in composition, but also in painting, deep and colorful tones, which are obtained by thin transparent layers of oil; x-rays show that their work is identical in technique. But the method of constructing a pictorial form used by Antonello has its own characteristics. His drawing is deliberately rounded and simplified, unlike the Dutch, he does not study the differences, but generalizes. The details are few, the portraits resemble a round sculpture, which seems to have been painted - the shapes of the face are stereometrized.

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"Madonna and Child". About 1475. Canvas, oil, tempera. National Gallery Arts, Washington.

Antonello da Messina was born around 1430 and died a relatively young man in 1479. Vasari, in his collection of biographies, also illuminates his life. I remembered Vasari not by chance, he wrote about almost everyone and told a romantic, almost adventurous, but completely unreliable story about Antonello. According to Vasari, Antonello da Messina went to the Netherlands as a teenager and was apprenticed to Jan van Eyck, who was then believed to have invented oil painting. Van Eyck, or rather, the van Eyck brothers: Jan and Hubert did not invent, but improved oil painting. And so, Jan van Eyck allegedly kept the recipe in the strictest confidence even from his closest brothers, but the young Italian was so charming, so much trusted that Jan van Eyck revealed to Antonello da Messina the secrets of oil painting. And having found out everything from the master, Antonello left and brought the Dutch recipe to Italy.

Let's start with the fact that he could not study with Jan van Eyck, because van Eyck died when Antonello was only eleven years old. But he really knew the technique of oil painting very well, he worked in it and obviously learned it from his homeland, in the South of Italy, from those Netherlanders who could be somehow, at least indirectly, connected with the circle of Jan van Eyck and other artists. who worked in the first half of the 15th century. in Flanders.

"Salvator Mundi (Savior of the World)". 1465. Oil on wood. National Gallery, London.

The wide connections of the Italian city of Messina with the Netherlands are rooted in the Middle Ages. This is primarily trade relations, but also cultural ones. It cannot be said that a whole colony of Netherlandish artists was formed in Messina, but since the reign of Frederick II, one of the most brilliant emperors of the Holy Roman Empire, who died in 1250, northerners - French, Flemings, Dutch - have not been translated here. And Antonello da Messina, according to his training, is clearly connected with them.
And Tuscany, let me remind you, at this time is entirely working in tempera. Oil painting in the middle and third quarter of the 15th century. for the Italians still a perfect novelty. Separate experiments were made, but sporadically and were, so to speak, experimental in nature. And Antonello da Messina is experiencing his finest hour - this is a year and a half: 1475 and part of 1476, when he, probably, lives in Venice at the invitation. At this time, he creates many works and writes his best things. It is very possible that in Venice he was appreciated, higher, in any case, than at home. It is possible that in 1476 Antonello ended up in Milan for a relatively short time, to the Duke of Sforza. We know that he received such an invitation, and then returned to his homeland, to Messina, where, as I have already said, he died in 1479.
The mere fact that Antonello da Messina spread and introduced not only into Italian, but also into german art a new, much richer, flexible, mobile, artistic technique was enough for his name to remain in the history of art. But in addition, he is remarkable as a first-class master, one of the largest artists of Quattrocento, a master who distinguished himself in different areas easel painting. And in the image of a naked body (his famous Dresden "St. Sebastian"), and in the formation of a purely Venetian type of altar "Santa Conversazione" ("Holy Conversation") in his "Altar of St. Cassian", which unfortunately has come down to us in a fragmented form .

"Christ at the Column". About 1476. Wood, oil. Louvre Museum, Paris.

And finally, perhaps the most important, is the huge contribution of Antonello da Messina to the development of Italian portraiture. We talked about Botticelli, who in a certain sense was an innovator of portraiture, but in stages the works of Antonello da Messina precede Botticelli and in many ways, despite their outward modesty, surpass him.
Most of his works from the Venetian period have survived. But not only. There are also known things that are defined as the early works of the master. Among these is his famous "St. Jerome in the cell." A small board dated around 1460 and made long before the appearance of the artist in the city on the Adriatic. In this work, his closest connection with Netherlandish painting is especially noticeable. We have repeatedly convinced ourselves, and I spoke, and you yourself could feel that the interior as a specific problem, the interior as a theme embodied in its, so to speak, portrait concreteness, did not attract Italian artists. Interiors of Tuscan masters of the middle of the 15th century. and the interiors of Ghirlandaio, if we talk about the artists of the end of the century, are always somewhat fantastic, intricate, decorative, monumental, illogical and somehow little correlated with man. A completely different attitude to the interior manifested itself in Antonello da Messina in this small, but very important, landmark painting for Italian painting.

St. Jerome in the cell. About 1475. Wood, oil. National Gallery, London.

Huge powerful stone portals open into a slightly gloomy, but not at all gloomy room, which also has an element of some architectural fantasy. Something like a hall, if you try to perceive the entire opening architectural space as the integrity of a certain hall, the functions of which are not indicated. Another micro-interior appears in the interior - a workplace or a semi-closed office where St. Jerome, the patron of humanists, a master scribe, works. If you look at the branches of space, which bifurcate into the depths, then this space, as it were, goes around the skeleton of the cabinet, leaving in two currents into the picture. On the left - something like a residential peace, light falling from the window onto the floor, stools standing near the window, a rectangular window in the depths, and on the right - Gothic columns, a vault, almost a church nave, suddenly appear. Gothic lancet arches also appear at the top, the height is not defined, it goes beyond the limits of the image, where impenetrable darkness thickens. There is some almost romantic uncertainty here, especially since the interior ends, the floor approaches the wall, closer to the viewer, they are not on the same level, so it is difficult to imagine the wall as a single and monolithic one. This abundance of interior details, among which St. Jerome lives and works, clearly comes from the Dutch love for objectivity. Here are various vessels - ceramic, glass, metal, and books, and manuscripts, and some kind of wooden boxes, crackling varnish, and hanging towels. All this is very lovingly and subtly written, the way the Dutch wrote, and only from the Dutch masters could one learn such close attention to a thing and get an idea of ​​its charm.

In the Early Renaissance, he represented the southern school of painting. He was the teacher of Girolamo Alibrandi, who was nicknamed the Messinian Raphael. To achieve the depth of color in sharp portraits and poetic paintings, he used the technique of oil painting. In the article, we will pay attention short biography artist and let's take a closer look at his work.

Representative of the new direction

Much information about the life of Antonello da Messina is controversial, doubtful or lost. But it is quite obvious that it was he who demonstrated to the Venetian artists the luminous possibilities of oil painting. 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 rendering of image details with the pictorial innovations of the 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 studied the technique of oil painting from him.

portrait master

By birth, Antonello da Messina was Italian, but by art education he essentially belonged to the pictorial traditions of northern Europe. He painted superb portraits, which make up almost thirty percent of his surviving works. Usually Antonello depicted the model bust and close-up. At the same time, 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). Illusory precision and graphic rendering of these details indicate that they are of Dutch origin.

"Portrait of a Man"

This painting, painted by Antonello da Messina in 1474-1475. is one of his most the best works. The master's palette is limited to rich brown, black and individual strokes of flesh and white flowers. The exception is the red hat, complemented by a peeking dark red stripe of the lower dress. Inner world the drawn model is practically not disclosed. But the face radiates intelligence and energy. Antonello very subtly modeled it with chiaroscuro. The sharp drawing of facial features, combined with the play of light, gives Antonello's work an almost sculptural expressiveness.

"It's a man"

Portraits of an Italian attract the viewer with a glossy, shiny surface and a chamber format. And when Messina transfers these qualities into religious painting (the painting “This is a Man”), then the sight of human suffering becomes terribly painful.

With tears on his face and a rope around his neck, the naked Christ gazes 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 convey the psychological and physical image of Christ as realistically as possible. This is what forces the viewer to focus on the meaning of Jesus' suffering.

Maria Annunziata by Antonello da Messina

This work, unlike the picture "This is a man", is completely different in mood. But from the viewer, it also requires an inner experience and emotional participation. As for "Maria Annunziata", Antonello seems to place the viewer in the place of the archangel in space. This gives a sense of mental complicity. The Virgin Mary, seated at the music stand, holds the blue veil thrown over her with her left hand, and raises her other hand. The woman is completely calm and thoughtful, her evenly lit, sculpturally sculpted head seems to radiate 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 painting by the painter, which depicts the same Virgin Mary, only in a different position: she holds the blue veil with both hands.

In both, he tried to express the feeling of a woman's spiritual connection with higher powers. Her facial expression, the posture of her hands and head, as well as her gaze tell the viewer that Mary is now far from the mortal world. And the black background of the canvases only emphasizes the detachment of the Virgin.

"St. Jerome in the cell"

In the paintings discussed above, there is not even a minimal interest in the problem of transferring the surrounding space. But in other works, the painter in this respect was significantly ahead of his time. In the painting "St. Jerome in a Cell” depicts a saint reading at a music stand. His study is located inside a Gothic hall, on the back wall of which windows are cut in two floors. In the foreground, the image is framed by a border and an arch. They are perceived as proskenium (a technique common in the art of countries north of the Alps). The mustard color of the stone emphasizes the contrast of shadow and light inside the cave-like space. The details of the picture (landscape in the distance, birds, objects on the shelves) are conveyed with a very high degree of accuracy. This effect can only be achieved by applying oil paint pretty small strokes. But the most important advantage of painting yes Messina is still not in the reliable transfer of details, but in the stylistic unity of the air and light.

monumental altar

In 1475-1476. the artist lived in Venice. There he painted a magnificent altarpiece for the church of San Cassiano. Unfortunately up to today only its central part has been preserved, where the Madonna with the Child is depicted towering on the throne. On either side of it are saints. This altar belongs to the sacra conversione type. That is, the saints are in the same space. And this is opposite in form to a polyptych divided into parts. The reconstruction of the monumental altar was based on the later works of Giovanni Bellini.

"Pieta" and "Crucifixion"

Antonello's oil painting, or rather, the ability to convey lighting with this technique, was very much appreciated by his fellow artists. Since that time, Venetian colorism has been 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 trend as his early work. The heavily worn painting "Pieta", even in such a damaged state, fills the audience with a tense feeling of compassion. On the lid of the tomb, the dead body of Christ is held by three angels with pointed wings cutting through the air. The artist depicted the central figure in close-up.

It is as if pressed to the surface of the canvas. Empathy with the depicted suffering - that's what, using the above technique, Antonello da Messina achieved. "Crucifixion" is another painting by the painter. It is similar in theme to Pieta. The canvas depicts Jesus crucified on the cross. To his right sits Mary, and to his left is the apostle John. As well as "Pieta", the canvas is aimed at arousing empathy in the viewer.

"Saint Sebastian"

This painting is an example of how Antonello competed in the depiction of heroic nudity and the skill of transferring linear perspective with their northern Italian counterparts. Against the background of the stone-paved square, the body of the saint pierced by arrows acquires enormous dimensions. The space rushing into the depths, a fragment of a column in the foreground and a perspective with a very low vanishing point confirm that the painter used the principles of Euclidean geometry in building the composition.

• Antonello da Messina, whose paintings were described above, usually depicted his heroes bust-length, close-up and against a dark background.
• According to G. Vasari, the Italian traveled to the Netherlands to learn the secret of a new painting technique. However, this fact has not been proven.
• Until now, it has not been reliably established who taught the hero of this article oil painting. According to rumors, it was Van Eyck.