Antonello da Messina

Timeline

1. c. 1450–1456Naples · NaplesAround 1450 he studied in Naples under Nicolò Colantonio, encountering works by Van Eyck and Van der Weyden from the collection of King Alfonso V of Aragon, mastering oil glazing, minute detail, and the dark-ground bust portrait format, laying the foundation for his later oil practice in southern Italy.
2. 1456–1474Messina · MessinaBy 1456–1457 he was established as a master in Messina; in 1457 he received a commission for a banner of the Confraternity of San Michele in Reggio, the earliest surviving commission record. In the 1460s he completed works such as the Sorlini Madonna and developed the Netherlandish bust portrait into an independent genre; Pope-Hennessy called him the first Italian painter to treat the individual portrait as a self-sufficient art form.
3. 1475–1479Venice · VeniceHe lived in Venice from 1475 to autumn 1476, painting the Louvre's Condottiero, the San Cassiano Altarpiece, and Saint Sebastian. The sacred conversation composition and oil layering of the altarpiece directly influenced Giovanni Bellini; he declined a post as portrait painter at the Milanese ducal court, and after returning home completed the Annunciation in Palermo, dying in Messina in 1479.