Antonello da Messina (c.1430-1479)
Cristo morto sostenuto dagli angeli (Dead Christ Supported by Three Angels)
c.1476
Oil on panel, 145 x 85 cm
Museo Correr, Venezia
Nothing is known about this masterpiece before it became part of the Teodoro Correr collection; not even whether it was a small altarpiece, or a painting of private devotion. Its original Venetian pertinence is however very likely, made during the months of the documented lagoon stay of 1475–76, or – it is the recent prevailing opinion – sent shortly after from Messina. The painting appears seriously damaged, especially in the heads of the figures, by inadvertent ancient interventions, perhaps aimed at resolving an original state of incompleteness left by the painter. Fortunately it is much better preserved in other essential parts such as the body of Christ and the very detailed background landscape: a crystalline view of Messina – faithful to the apse vision of the Church of San Francesco – pushed to the horizon of the sea and rendered with optical perspicacity halfway between Piero della Francesca and the Flemish painters. These last components, combined with those techniques inherent in the refined use of oil paint, are those that, already hovering over the Venetian pictorial culture of the time, made Antonello recognized here as an elected model of synthesis and reference. An image of very high poetic and spiritual tension, it is a personal interpretation of the typical Venetian theme of the Pietà, often treated especially by Giovanni Bellini. It is with the latter that the Messina artist seems, in turn, to want to establish through this work a special dialogue and closeness. (Correr)
Compare:
Antonello da Messina (c.1430-1479)
Cristo morto sostenuto da un angelo
1475–1476
Museo del Prado, Madrid