Detail of a Portrait of a Young Man by Antonello da Messina in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, September 2021

Portrait of a Young Man
ca. 1470

Antonello da Messina (Antonello di Giovanni d'Antonio) Italian


Object Details

Title: Portrait of a Young Man

Artist: Antonello da Messina (Antonello di Giovanni d'Antonio) (Italian, Messina ca. 1430–1479 Messina)

Date: ca. 1470

Medium: Oil on wood

Dimensions: 10 5/8 x 8 1/8 in. (27 x 20.6 cm)

Classification: Paintings

Credit Line: Bequest of Benjamin Altman, 1913

Accession Number: 14.40.645


Trained in Naples in the Netherlandish technique of oil painting, Antonello set the standard for portraiture when he came from Sicily to Venice in 1475. Long before Leonardo da Vinci, he introduced the incipient smile as an indication of the inner life of the sitter, enveloping his features in a soft light and engaging the viewer with his direct gaze. In these ways, the picture responds to the often-voiced negative view that painting was a mere depiction of the outward appearance of a person—not his character.


Text from: www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/435581