Antonello da Messina: Mariology of the “New Man”
Introdução
The merit of Antonello da Messina does not consist merely in having improved the condition of modern painting, propagating the perfection of the method of oil painting, but also in having been one of the most daring Italian painters of the 15th century. His supreme merit is to move with tenderness, whether in the various subjects where he represents severity prevailing over sweetness, the magnificent over the pastoral, pain over tenderness, or that tranquility of the most intimate and sweet affections of the soul.
Born around 1430 in Messina, where he died in 1479, Antonello is one of the most enigmatic figures in Italian art, as, given the few testimonies received, he embodies a dual identity as a local artist following tradition and as an international artist capable of revolutionary innovations. He incorporated Flemish grammar into Italian syntax and gave the humanity of his land, his island, an absolute and eternal expression.
This is what her Portraits tell us, so ‘terribly Sicilian’ that it seems to hear them speak in dialect, the same with which she speaks her Annunciation. This tumane adherence to the subject, this lyrical transfiguration of the most intimate, most ardent substance of tumanity, which he proposes to form absolutism, is the reason for the mysterious wonder that seizes whoever looks at a work by Antonello.
Therefore, the earthly figures of the Crucifixion of Sibiu seem to be burned by an internal flame, which consumes and disperses in the white heat of the sky of the landscape. Therefore, their saints and the Virgin impose their tender presence with so much suffering and simple nobility.
Antonello is the typical representative of the Homo Novus of the Renaissance, a fully Italian phenomenon from Sicily to Venice. He is the symbol of the 15th century, the century in which the tomb recovered self-awareness to cross the vast ocean to discover the New World, where the devotio moderna awaited an intimate and subjective religiosity in opposition to the medieval collective piety.
The language of gestures
In the representation of the Virgin with the Child, the female counterpart to the numerous male portraits, Antonello da Messina draws inspiration from his homeland. Both the physical appearance and the poses of Antonello’s Virgins, such as the hand that mimics the veil of the Annunciate in Palermo, remind one of Sicilian women.
As the first Virgins, such as the Virgin of Salting or…
In the Virgin Reader, a monochrome flat background showcases the meticulous precision of the jewels and mantles, referencing Antonello’s training in Colantonio’s workshop in Naples, where he encountered Flemish art for the first time.
The Virgin of Salting depicts the Mother with the Child in her arms, crowned by two Nordic angels as the Queen of Heaven. The small Gothic figure of Jesus holding a pomegranate, a symbol of Mary’s fertility and royalty, but also of his Passion, as the red fruit resembles blood. The transparent veil of the Virgin represents a high level of virtuosity, as well as the beautiful description of the jewels and brocade.
The angels, the dark background, the elaborate crown with metallic sheen, the sharp white light allude to Flemish art that Antonello was able to mediate with the spatiality and monumentalism of Italian art.
The firm and impenetrable face, where everything, from the dark bands of hair to the pallor of the skin, to the geometric signs of the eyebrows and the corners of the mouth, to the mysterious mouth, to the perfect ear, seems to seek the immobile hardness of sculpture, freezes in its stylization of marble a hot type of beauty, still recognizable among the multitudes of Sicily.
An iconographic link connects the Virgin of Salting to the Virgin Reader, a truly close bond, so intimate that it cannot appear casual and almost suggests the idea that the Child Jesus replaced, at the last moment, the open book in the Mother’s hands.
The Virgin reader, whose white face seems to radiate light, due to the adorned crown of lilies and roses, and the open book in her hands, is a youthful work by the Master of Messina, who described her as a piercing creature, with a bitter mouth, long and almost predatory hands, and a face sealed in tormented bands, fulfilling numerous requests for private devotional altars.
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To deepen reflection on Mariology in sacred art and Renaissance painting, consult the Apostolic Exhortation Marialis Cultus by Paul VI, which values artistic expressions as privileged vehicles for Marian devotion and contemplation.
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