Antonello da Messina – one of the greatest masters of the Early Renaissance. He was born in Messina and, as a painter, left the provincial environment, more associated with the “Mediterranean Renaissance.”
However, after passing school in Naples, which in the middle of the XV century. became one of the largest centers of humanistic thought in Italy, Antonello da Messina joined the various cultural traditions. He also got acquainted with the work of Dutch painters, from whom he adopted not only oil painting techniques, but also attention to the “world of small things”, details, as well as a number of iconographic schemes and figurative accents, love for the landscape, depicting the beauty of Divine Creation. All this gave a special character to the artist’s work, which combined various areas of the time.
“Saint Jerome in the cell” – from among the mature works of Antonello. In the picture, the influence of Dutch art is noticeable, but at the same time the artist is faithful to the principles of the humanistic worldview of the Italian Renaissance with its inherent clarity and orderliness of space and the typical Italian burden of monumentality. Other famous works: “Saint Sebastian”. OK. 1475-1476. Art Gallery, Dresden; “The Crucifixion”. OK. 1455. Art Museum, Bucharest.