Antonello da Messina (c. 1430–1479)

Italian painter. He was a pioneer in his country of the technique of oil painting developed by Flemish artists; he acquired his knowledge of it in Naples, or, if the historian Vasari is to be believed, he may have learnt it from Jan van Eyck himself. Flemish influence is reflected in his brushwork, his use of light, and sometimes in his imagery. Surviving works include bust-length portraits and sombre religious paintings.

He visited Venice in the 1470s where his work inspired, among other Venetian painters, the young Giovanni Bellini. His paintings include St Jerome in His Study (c. 1460, National Gallery, London) and A Young Man (1478, Staatliche Museum, Berlin).