A doctoral dissertation which started ten years ago on the life and work of the nephews of the great Renaissance master painter Antonello da Messina eventually evolved into a thorough and obsessive quest which has now been translated into a most exquisite publication recently launched to the public by its author, Dr Charlene Vella.
The long-anticipated book 鈥淚n the Footsteps of Antonello Da Messina 鈥 The Antonelliani between Sicily and Venice鈥, was officially launched this month. It highlights the work of the 鈥榓ntonelliani鈥 and its art-historical interest lies in its crystallization of the diverse influences conditioning the art of South Italy and Sicily, namely Byzantine, Gothic, Burgundian and the Italian and Northern Renaissance.
Published by Midsea Books, the 430-page book is being hailed as 鈥渁 significant achievement that has given these painters a secure footing in the southernmost spill of Renaissance in South Italy, Sicily and Malta,鈥 according to Mario Buhagiar, Professor In History of Art. In the preface to the book, Professor Buhagiar explained that 鈥淒r Charlene Vella made her first acquaintance with the 鈥榓ntonelliani鈥 during her university studies in Late Medieval Art of the Maltese Islands. This matured into a pervasive interest in their lives and artistic activities. In fact, in this book, Dr Vella covers the themes of family and travel throughout the generation that followed Antonello鈥檚 path, continued his artistic legacy, and inherited his workshop.鈥
鈥淎fter almost a decade of research, Dr Vella today is probably the only person who has faithfully followed in the footsteps of the Saliba brothers from Veneto to Malta, and to every Sicilian hill-top town that commissioned their work,鈥 wrote - a specialist in Italian Medieval and Renaissance art at the University of Cambridge who tutored Dr Vella throughout her doctoral research - in his introduction to the publication.
鈥淚n this publication, the antonelliani emerge from the master鈥檚 shadow as one of the most travelled and best documented painting workshops of the Renaissance Mediterranean. Therefore, the significance of this book lies in the way it portrays mobility, migration, and artistic exchange across and around the Mediterranean in the pre-Modern period. Most of all, it reveals how Antonello鈥檚 artistic legacy and his family鈥檚 exposure to Venice and its art nurtured a neglected Renaissance of painting in Sicily, Calabria, and Malta, one that would ultimately be superseded but which nonetheless possessed its own considerable appeal and invention,鈥 he added.
鈥淎ntonello da Messina (1430-79) was an Italian Quattrocento Renaissance master whose paintings are noteworthy for their remarkable use of the oil medium, their realism and use of chiaroscuro that made him famous outside of his native Messina (Sicily). The art of his followers, particularly that of his nephews 鈥 Antonio and Pietro de Saliba and Salvo d鈥橝ntonio has often been included as an extension to the study on Antonello, and thus not treated holistically in its own right and thus has often been overlooked.鈥 explains Dr Vella. 鈥淚 believe that understanding what survives, what we know and what else can be deciphered about these artists who were active immediately following the master鈥檚 death and whose art was in demand until the early 1530s, would provide more insight on Antonello himself and this was the point of departure for this project,鈥 she added.
鈥淪everal aspects came to light, including the importance of marriage alliances for the sake of the bottega where a number of goldsmiths, wood carvers and painters worked closely and in sync, as well as a special connection with the Maltese islands through Antonello鈥檚 brother-in-law Giovanni de Saliba,鈥 concluded Dr Vella.
Besides having authored, contributed to, and edited other publications, Dr Vella is also the author of 鈥淭he Mediterranean Artistic Context of Late Medieval Malta:1091-1530鈥 (Midsea Books, 2013). She also leads research projects on Late Medieval and Renaissance art works such as the diagnostic tests carried out on Renaissance paintings by Antonello da Messina鈥檚 followers on Malta (Antonio de Saliba and Salvo d鈥橝ntonio) and which are subsequently conserved and restored.
