Antonello da Messina, 'Christ Blessing', apparently dated 1465
About the work
Overview
Christ blesses the viewer with his right hand. Antonello has altered the original position of the fingers and hand, foreshortening them – that is, compressing their real length – so that they appear to be projecting out of the picture. If you look closely, you can see the outlines of their initial position, now visible because the paint has thinned over time.
This type of image of Christ is based upon Netherlandish pictures that became popular as focuses for prayer in the fifteenth century. The head-on view is based upon the imprint of Christ’s face which, according to legend, he left on the handkerchief of Saint Veronica as he approached the site of the Crucifixion. Antonello uses layers of oil paint glazes to show a range of textures, painting Christ’s image as vividly as if it were a portrait.
Key facts
Details
- Full title
- Christ Blessing
- Artist
- Antonello da Messina
- Artist dates
- active 1456; died 1479
- Date made
- apparently dated 1465
- Medium and support
- oil on wood
- Dimensions
- 38.7 × 29.8 cm
- Inscription summary
- Signed; Dated and inscribed
- Acquisition credit
- Bought, 1861
- Inventory number
- NG673
- Location
- Not on display
- Collection
- Main Collection
- Frame
- 15th-century Italian Frame
Provenance
Said to have come from Naples in the 1840’s. Purchased through Cav. Giuseppe Isola and Paolo Orlandi at Genoa, 1861.
Additional information
Text extracted from the ‘Provenance’ section of the catalogue entry in Martin Davies, ‘National Gallery Catalogues: The Earlier Italian Schools’, London 1986; for further information, see the full catalogue entry.
Exhibition history
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2013Antonello da MessinaMuseo di arte moderna e contemporanea di Trento e Rovereto4 October 2013 - 12 January 2014
Bibliography
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1862R.N. Wornum, Descriptive and Historical Catalogue of the Pictures in the National Gallery with Biographical Notices of the Painters: Foreign Schools, London 1862
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1863London, National Gallery Archive, NG17/1 ANNUAL REPORTS 1855-1871: Annual Report of the National Gallery for Year Ending 31 Mar 1863, 1863
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1871J.A. Crowe and G.B. Cavalcaselle, A History of Painting in North Italy: Venice, Padua, Vicenza, Verona, Ferrara, Milan, Friuli, Brescia, from the Fourteenth to the Sixteenth Century, 2 vols, London 1871
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1878National Gallery, The Abridged Catalogue of the Pictures in the National Gallery: With Short Biographical Notices of the Painters: Foreign Schools, London 1878
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1887F. Kugler, Handbook of Painting: The Italian Schools, eds C.L. Eastlake and A.H. Layard, 5th edn, London 1887
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1888E.T. Cook, A Popular Handbook to the National Gallery Including, by Special Permission, Notes Collected from the Works of Mr. Ruskin, London 1888
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1897G. Gronau, 'Die Quellen der Biographie des Antonello da Messina', Repertorium für Kunstwissenschaft, XX, 1897, pp. 347-61
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1898F. Witting, Piero dei Franceschi, Strasbourg 1898
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1901A. Venturi, Storia dell'arte italiana, 11 vols, Milan 1901
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1903Half Holidays at the National Gallery, London 1903
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1903G.D. Marzo, Di Antonello da Messina e dei suoi congiunti, Palermo 1903
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1903G.D. Marzo, 'Di Antonello d'Antonio da Messina - primi documenti messinesi', Archivio storico messinese, III, 1903
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1903G. La Corte Cailler, 'Antonello da Messina: Studi e ricerche con documenti inediti', Archivio storico messinese, IV, 1903
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1904A. D'Amico, 'Antonello da Messina, le sue opere e l'Invenzione della pittura ad olio', Archivio storico messinese, V, 1904, pp. 90-1
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1905G.D. Marzo, Nuovi studi ed appunti su Antonello da Messina, Messina 1905
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1907U. Thieme and F. Becker (eds), Allgemeines Lexikon der bildenden Künstler von der Antike bis zur Gegenwart, 37 vols, Leipzig 1907
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1907L. Venturi, Le origini della pittura veneziana 1300-1500, Venice 1907
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1908E. Brunelli, 'Opere d'arte nel palazzo Marullo di Castellaci a Ragusa inferiore', L'arte, XI, 1908, pp. 223-4
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1912J.A. Crowe and G.B. Cavalcaselle, A History of Painting in North Italy: Venice, Padua, Vicenza, Verona, Ferrara, Milan, Friuli, Brescia, from the Fourteenth to the Sixteenth Century, ed. T. Borenius, 2nd edn, 3 vols, London 1912
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1914N. Scalia, Introduzione, note e commento alla vita di Antonello del Vasari, Florence 1914
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1914N. Scalia, Antonello da Messina e la pittura in Sicilia, Milan 1914
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1914R. Longhi, 'Piero dei Franceschi e lo sviluppo della pittura veneziana', L'arte, XVII, 1914
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1930S. Bottari, 'Ricerche intorno agli antonelliani', Bollettino d'arte, X, 1930, pp. 21-4
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1933J. Lauts, 'Antonello da Messina', Jahrbuch der Kunsthistorischen Sammlungen in Wien, VII, 1933, pp. 15-88
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1937S. Bottari, 'Il primo Antonello', Critica d'arte, II, 1937, pp. 97-109
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1939S. Bottari, Manet, London 1939
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1940J. Lauts, Antonello da Messina, Vienna 1940
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1942C. Brandi, Mostra dei Dipinti di Antonello da Messina (exh. cat. Istituto Centrale del Restauro, November - December 1942), Rome 1942
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1949F.M. Godfrey, 'Antonello da Messina', The Connoisseur, CXXIV/514, 1949
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1951Davies, Martin, National Gallery Catalogues: The Earlier Italian Schools, London 1951
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1952G. Vigni, Tutta la pittura di Antonello da Messina, Milan 1952
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1953S. Bottari, Antonello, Milan 1953
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1961M. Davies, The Earlier Italian Schools, 2nd edn, London 1961
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1963Z. Wazbinski, 'Le cartellino: Origine et avatars d'une etiquette', Pantheon, XXI, 1963, pp. 278-83
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1964R. Causa, Antonello da Messina, Milan 1964
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1967L. Sciascia, L'opera completa di Antonello da Messina, Milan 1967
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1975M.G. Paolini, 'Antonello da Messina', The Connoisseur, CXC/764, 1975, pp. 126-31
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1975A.W. Robins, 'The Paintings of Antonello da Messina', The Connoisseur, CLXXXVIII/757, 1975, pp. 186-93
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1977F. Bologna, Napoli e le rotte mediterranee della pittura: Da Alfonso il Magnanimo a Ferdinando il Cattolico, Naples 1977
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1978D. Robertson, Sir Charles Eastlake and the Victorian Art World, Princeton 1978
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1980G. Previtali, 'Da Antonello da Messina a Jacopo di Antonello, I: La data del "Christo benedicente" della National Gallery di Londra', Prospettiva, XX, 1980, pp. 27-34
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1980J. Wright, 'Antonello da Messina: Origins of His Style and Technique', Art History, III/1, 1980, pp. 41-60
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1981A. Marabottini and F.S. Santoro, Antonello da Messina, (exh. cat. Museo Regionale, 22 October 1981 - 31 January 1982), Rome 1981
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1982P.H. Jolly, Jan van Eyck and St. Jerome: A Study of Eyckian Influence on Colantonio and Antonello Da Messina in Quattrocento Naples, London 1982
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1982J. Snow-Smith, The Salvator Mundi of Leonardo da Vinci, Seattle 1982
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1982P. Trutty-Coohill, 'La "Eminentia" in Antonello da Messina', Antichità viva, XXI/4, 1982, pp. 5-9
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1984L.C. Vegas, Italie et Flandres dans la peinture du XVe siècle, Milan 1984
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1986Davies, Martin, National Gallery Catalogues: The Earlier Italian Schools, revised edn, London 1986
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1986F. Sricchia Santoro, Antonello e l'Europa, Milan 1986
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1987F. Zeri, La pittura in Italia: Il Quattrocento, Milan 1987
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1987J. Wright, 'Antonello the Portraitist', in Antonello da Messina. Atti del convegno di studio tenuto a Messina dal 29 novembre al 2 dicembre 1981, Messina 1987, pp. 181-98
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1988F. Zeri, Giorno per giorno nella pittura: Scritti sull'arte dell'Italia settentrionale dal trecento al primo cinquecento, Turin 1988
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1990P. Humfrey, La pittura veneta del Rinascimento a Brera, Florence 1990
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1990Piero Corsini Gallery, Important Old Master Paintings within the Image, New York 1990
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1990E. Markgraf, Antonello und die Niederlande, Frankfurt 1990
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1991J. Dunkerton et al., Giotto to Dürer: Early Renaissance Painting in the National Gallery, New Haven 1991
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1993L. Arbace, Antonello da Messina: Catalogo completo dei dipinti, Florence 1993
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1993R. White and J. Pilc, 'Analyses of Paint Media', National Gallery Technical Bulletin, XIV, 1993, pp. 86-94
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1993D. Thiébaut, Le Christ à la Colonne d'Antonello de Messine (exh. cat. Musée du Louvre, 13 May - 9 August 1993), Paris 1993
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1995E.H. Gombrich, Shadows: The Depiction of Cast Shadows in Western Art (exh. cat. The National Gallery, 26 April - 18 June 1995), London 1995
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1996L.C. Vegas, Il Quattrocento: L'arte del Rinascimento, Milan 1996
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1996'Filippo Lippi', in J. Turner (ed.), The Dictionary of Art, London 1996, vol. 2
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2001
C. Baker and T. Henry, The National Gallery: Complete Illustrated Catalogue, London 2001
About this record
If you know more about this painting or have spotted an error, please contact us. Please note that exhibition histories are listed from 2009 onwards. Bibliographies may not be complete; more comprehensive information is available in the National Gallery Library.
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