to revisit his native land, and to make Italy partake in the advantages of a secret so useful, beautiful, and valuable. After having remained some few months in Messina, he repaired to Venice, where, being much addicted to the pleasures of life, a man, indeed, of very licentious habits, he resolved to fix his residence, and there finish his life, having found in that city a mode of existence exactly suited to his taste. Resuming his labours, he executed many paintings in oil, according to the method which he had learned in Flanders; these are dispersed among the houses of different gentlemen dwelling in Venice, by whom these works were valued on account of their novelty. He, likewise, produced many others which were sent to various places,[1] and having at length acquired a name and renown, he was commissioned to paint a picture for the parish church of San Cassiano in the abovenamed city. This work was executed by Antonello with great care, he gave much time to its completion, and brought all the resources of his knowledge to the task he had undertaken.[2] Being finished, it was highly commended for the novelty of the colouring, and the beauty of the figures, Antonello having displayed very good design therein, and the work was held in great esteem. When it was afterwards understood that he had brought the new secret from Flanders into Venice, he was always much beloved and amicably treated by the magnificent nobles of that city, so long as his life endured. Among the painters then in repute at Venice, one of the most distinguished was a certain Maestro Domenico. This man, when Antonello arrived in Venice, received him with so much courtesy and so many caresses, that more could scarcely be offered to a dear and valued friend. For this cause, Antonello, who was not willing to be surpassed in courtesy by Maestro Domenico, imparted to him, after some few months, the secret and method of painting in oil. This
- ↑ The German galleries are richer than any other in the works of this master; there are three in the Berlin gallery, and one in that of the Belvidere (Vienna). Of the latter there is an engraving in Rosini, Storia della Pittura Italiana, See, vol. iii. p. 111.
- ↑ This picture was in its place in the year 1475, and so remained until the end of the century, as we learn from Morelli, Notizie d’Opere d'Arte di Anonimo, p. 189. In 1580, Sansovino saw it still there, but at the time of Ridolfi (1646), see Meraviglie dell'Arte, it was no longer to be found.
