An Antonello School Madonna and Child at the Musée Jacquemart-André, Paris : new considerations

Abstract

The Sicilian artist Antonello da Messina (c.1430-79) was an undisputed genius of Italian Quattrocento art. In Keith Christiansen’s words: “He is, in a sense, the first truly European painter”. Antonello is renowned for his use of the oil medium, his acute realism, and the sensitivity with which he applied the chiaroscuro technique. His untimely death in Messina at age 49 must have left a great void that was partly mitigated by his followers: the Antonelliani. Among the Antonelliani were Antonello’s nephews, the brothers Antonio (1466/7- c.1535) and Pietro (doc. 1497-1501) de Saliba. Documentary evidence4 and extant paintings place Antonio de Saliba firmly in Messina between 1497 and 1534 where he set up and ran his own bottega. Some paintings indicate Antonio’s reliance on Antonello’s prototypes, which is understandable considering the young artists’ training, while other works by the artist strongly suggest that he was active in Venice in the 1480s and the first half of the 1490s. Signed paintings by Pietro de Saliba similarly betray both an Antonellian as well as a Venetian connection, and imply that he worked in Venice alongside Antonio. In fact, Venice provides the first record of paintings for both the Saliba brothers. Furthermore, through the Salibas’ known Venetian oeuvre, it is possible to ascertain that they both had a strong affiliation with the prolific Renaissance Venetian artist Giovanni Bellini (c.1430-1516). This also suggests that the brothers had a similar artistic training. My recent research on Antonello’s family of artists has led me to study paintings in several collections and museums in Europe and beyond. For the purpose of this book of essays in honour of Professor Blondy, this paper will focus on a painting that today hangs in the Musée Jacquemart- André in Paris, a historic house turned museum that is home to the collection amassed by Édouard André (1833-1894) and Nélie Jacquemart (1841-1912). The unsigned painting depicts a Madonna adoring the Child that has variously been attributed to both the Saliba brothers. This picture, in fact, betrays knowledge of a Venetian influence, particularly Bellinesque, as opposed to Antonellian. This paper will analyse the painting’s qualities and discuss how an attribution to the Saliba brothers is justified through new modes of investigation, although it is not easy to ascertain who of the two artists was responsible for its execution. [Excerpt]