Madonna and Child

For a long time this small Madonna has hung under one of the great names of the Italian 15th century, Antonello da Messina. He was the Sicilian painter who learned the Netherlandish way of building a face out of thin, glowing layers of oil, and carried that technique south into Italy, where most painters were still working in egg tempera. That is why a picture like this attracts his name. Whether his own hand actually made it is a separate question. Some scholars accept it as his, while others see the work of his busy workshop, or of a follower who knew his manner closely. The museum leaves the debate open. In the same collection hangs a Crucifixion tied firmly to Antonello's early years, so the point of comparison is right there on the wall.