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NEW INSIGHTS INTO THE PAINTED CRUCIFIX ATTRIBUTED TO ANTONIO DE SALIBA, IN THE V&A MUSEUM, LONDON

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 July 2020

Charlene Vella
Charlene Vella*
Affiliation:
OH 303, Department of Art and Art History, Faculty of Arts, University of Malta, Msida, MSD2080, Malta. Email: [email protected]
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Abstract

The V&A is home to a painted crucifix that has been attributed to the Sicilian master, Antonio de Saliba (c 1466/7–c 1535), who was active in Venice and eastern Sicily during the Renaissance. This paper takes a fresh look at the documentary sources that were published before the devastating earthquake that struck Messina, in the north west of Sicily, in 1908. In re-examining these sources, this paper reveals new insights into Antonio de Saliba’s oeuvre and enables a possible identification of the V&A’s painted crucifix with a specific contractual agreement that links this crucifix’s commission to the artist – specifically with a commission de Saliba received in 1508 from Limina, a small town in the province of Messina. The roots of this provincial commission would explain the persistence of a retardataire production visible in this early sixteenth-century painted crucifix. This paper also challenges the preconceived idea that such painted crucifixes were destined to be displayed high up in a church, on a tramezzo or beam.

Keywords

crucifix displayantonellianicrucifixionChristianitycrucifix iconographyChristus vivenssouthern Italy
Type
Research paper
Information
The Antiquaries Journal , Volume 101 , September 2021 , pp. 269 - 300
Copyright
© The Society of Antiquaries of London, 2020

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References

Bibliography

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ASM, Notary Matteo Pagliarino, 1478–80, fol 128Google Scholar
ASM, Notary Matteo Pagliarino, 1497Google Scholar
ASM, Notary Niccolò Ismiridi, 1502–3, ind. vi, fol 88vGoogle Scholar
ASM, Notary Santoro d’Angelo, 1460–78, fol 72vGoogle Scholar
V&A Archives, Vincenzo Scuderi letter to Claus Michael Kauffman dated 25 January 1969Google Scholar
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Belting, H 1990. The Image and Its Public in the Middle Ages: form and function of early paintings of the passion, Aristide D Caratzas, New Rochelle, NYGoogle Scholar
Berenson, B 1913. ‘Note su Pietro e Antonio da Messina’, Rassegna d’Arte, 13 (4), 57–9Google Scholar
Bottari, S 1954. La pittura del Quattrocento in Sicilia, D’Anna, Messina and FlorenceGoogle Scholar
Buhagiar, M 1983. ‘Late medieval Marian art in Malta’, in Buhagiar, M (ed), Marian Art During the 17th and 18th Centuries (exhib cat, Mdina Cathedral Mus, Malta, 8–22 Sept), 1–11, Friends of the Cathedral Museum, MaltaGoogle Scholar
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Ciolino, C 1986. Opere d’arte restaurate 1980–1985 (exhib cat, Museo Regionale, Messina, 12 Mar–31 May), 43–8, Museo Regionale, MessinaGoogle Scholar
Ciolino, C 2003. ‘Crocifissi messinesi (1447–1551)’, in Barbera, G (ed), Aspetti della scultura a Messina dal XV al XX secolo, 9–26, Museo Regionale, MessinaGoogle Scholar
Cooper, D 2006. ‘Projecting presence: the monumental cross in the Italian church interior’, in Maniura, R and Shephard, R (eds), Presence: the inherence of the prototype within the image and other objects, 47–70, Routledge, Aldershot Google Scholar
Cooper, D 2015. ‘Book review, Marcello Gaeta. Giotto und die Croci Dipinte des Trecento: Studien zu Typus, Genese und Rezeption. Mit einem Katalog der monumentalen Tafelkreuze des Trecento (ca. 1290–ca. 1400), Rhema, Münster, 2013’, in Stud Iconogr, 36, 179–84Google Scholar
Cooper, D 2017. ‘Recovering the lost rood screens of medieval and Renaissance Italy’, in Bucklow, S, Marks, R and Wrapson, L (eds), The Art and Science of the Church Screen in Medieval Europe: making, meaning, preserving, 220–45, Boydell & Brewer, Woodbridge Google Scholar
[Crowdy, W L] (ed) 1896. The Artist: an illustrated monthly record of arts, crafts and industries, 18 (Jul–Dec)Google Scholar
Cuccia, A 2015. ‘Il Compianto in mistura del Museo Diocesano di Monreale, un manufatto nell’ambito di una produzione secondaria di Antonello Gagini’, OADI: Rivista dell’Osservatorio per le Arti Decorative in Italia, 11 (June), 21–30Google Scholar
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Di Marzo, G 1899. La pittura in Palermo nel Rinascimento. Storia e documenti, Alberto Reber, PalermoGoogle Scholar
Di Marzo, G 1903. Di Antonello da Messina e dei suoi congiunti: studi e documenti, Scuola Tip. ‘Boccone del Povero’, PalermoGoogle Scholar
Di Natale, M C 1992. Le Croci Dipinte in Sicilia, L’area occidentale dal XIV al XVI secolo, Flaccovio, PalermoGoogle Scholar
Di Natale, M C 2009. ‘Le croci dipinte nella provincia di Trapani dal XIII al XV secolo’, in Vitella, M (ed), Mysterium crucis: nell’arte trapanese dal XIV al XVIII secolo (exhib cat, Chiesa di Sant’Agostino, Trapani, 6 Mar–13 Apr), 17–25, Il Pozzo i Giacobbe, TrapaniGoogle Scholar
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Di Natale, M C 2010b. ‘Il Crocifisso del Museo Diocesano di Palermo. Una singolarità tecnica nel panorama siciliano tra croci dipinte e lignee’, in Di Natale, M C and Sebastianelli, M (eds), Il restauro del cinquecentesco Crocifisso in cartapesta del Museo Diocesano di Palermo, 11–26, Museo Diocesano di Palermo, Palermo Google Scholar
Di Natale, M C 2013. ‘Il Crocifisso nelle chiese francescane in Sicilia: dalla croce dipinta tardo-gotica alle sculture in legno e in mistura della Maniera’, in Di Natale, M C (ed), Opere d’arte nelle chiese francescane. Conservazione, restauro e musealizzazione, 22–47, Plumelia edizioni, Palermo Google Scholar
Gaeta, M 2013. Giotto und die croci dipinte des Trecento: Studien zu Typus, Genese und Rezeption. Mit einem Katalog der monumentalen Tafelkreuze des Trecento (ca. 1290–ca. 1400), Rhema, Münster Google Scholar
Giuffrida, A 2011. Le reti del credito nella Sicilia moderna, Associazione Mediterranea, Palermo Google Scholar
Kauffmann, C M 1969. ‘Notes on two paintings’, V&A Museum Yearbook, i, 49–50, V&A, LondonGoogle Scholar
Kauffmann, C M 1973. Catalogue of Foreign Paintings. I: before 1800, Victoria and Albert Museum, London Google Scholar
La Corte Cailler, G 1903. Antonello da Messina, D’Amico, Messina Google Scholar
Lucco, M 2011. Antonello da Messina, 24 Ore Cultura, MilanGoogle Scholar
Luttrell, A T 1975. ‘Approaches to medieval Malta’, in Luttrell, A T (ed), Medieval Malta: studies on Malta before the Knights, 1–70, British School at Rome, London Google Scholar
Mauceri, E 1924. ‘Restauri a due dipinti di Antonello de Saliba in Catania e Taormina’, Bollettino d’arte del Ministero della Pubblica Istruzione, 12 (Anno III, Serie II, June), 567–70Google Scholar
Mosca, S 2012. Il Gonfalone ‘antonelliano’ di Gallodoro: Problemi e congetture, Armando Siciliano Editore, Messina Google Scholar
Rosser, G 2014. ‘Antonello da Messina, the devotional image, and artistic change in the Renaissance’, in Kwakkelstein, Michael W and Talvacchia, Bette (eds), Around Antonello da Messina: reintegrating Quattrocento culture, 103–25, Centro Di, Florence Google Scholar
Sricchia Santoro, F 2017. Antonello: i suoi mondi, il suo seguito, Centro Di, Florence Google Scholar
SAL 1896a. Exhibition of English Medieval Paintings and Illuminated Manuscripts (exhib cat, 8–20 June 1896), Society of Antiquaries of London, London Google Scholar
SAL 1896b. Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of London, 2nd Ser, 16, 197–210, <https://doi.org/10.1017/S0950797300004741> (accessed 4 June 2020)CrossRef+(accessed+4+June+2020)>Google Scholar
Vella, C 2015. ‘In the footsteps of Antonello da Messina: The antonelliani in Sicily and Venice in the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries’, unpublished PhD thesis, University of WarwickGoogle Scholar
Vella, C 2016. ‘Three recently restored Renaissance paintings by Antonio de Saliba on Malta’, in Vella, C (ed), At Home in Art: essays in honour of Mario Buhagiar, 47–66 and 171–86, Midsea Books, Santa Venera, Malta Google Scholar
Vella, C 2018. ‘An Antonello School Madonna and Child at the Musée Jacquemart-André, Paris: new considerations’, in J. Azzopardi (ed), Tribute to Alain Blondy, 399–433, Fondation de Malte, VallettaGoogle Scholar
Vella, C 2019. ‘Marriage alliances for the sake of art: the case of Renaissance Messina, Sicily, and the repercussions for the Maltese islands’, in Buttigieg, E (ed), Storja 2018–2019, Valletta, 1–24, Kite, MaltaGoogle Scholar
Vitella, M 2009. ‘Crocifisso di Antonello Gagini della Chiesa Madre di Alcamo’, in Vitella, M (ed), Mysterium Crucis: nell’arte trapanese dal XIV al XVIII secolo (exhib cat, Chiesa di Sant’Agostino, Trapani, 6 Mar–13 Apr), 88, Il Pozzo i Giacobbe, Trapani Google Scholar
Zappasodi, E 2016. ‘Intus dictum monasterium prope cratem: la croce e il coro delle monache’, in Bollati, M (ed), Francesco e la croce di S. Damiano, 131–153, Biblioteca Francescana, Milan Google Scholar
Zupko, R E 1981. Italian Weights and Measures from the Middle Ages to the Nineteenth Century, American Philosophical Society, Philadelphia Google Scholar
ASM, Notary Matteo d’Angelo, 1507–8, ind. xi, fol 478Google Scholar
ASM, Notary Matteo Pagliarino, 1478–80, fol 128Google Scholar
ASM, Notary Matteo Pagliarino, 1497Google Scholar
ASM, Notary Niccolò Ismiridi, 1502–3, ind. vi, fol 88vGoogle Scholar
ASM, Notary Santoro d’Angelo, 1460–78, fol 72vGoogle Scholar
V&A Archives, Vincenzo Scuderi letter to Claus Michael Kauffman dated 25 January 1969Google Scholar
V&A museum entry on the painted crucifix, online <http://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O116965/painted-crucifix-painting-antonio-de-saliba/> (accessed 4 June 2020)+(accessed+4+June+2020)>Google Scholar
Bacci, M 2005. Lo spazio dell’anima: vita di una chiesa medievale, Laterza, Rome – BariGoogle Scholar
Belting, H 1990. The Image and Its Public in the Middle Ages: form and function of early paintings of the passion, Aristide D Caratzas, New Rochelle, NYGoogle Scholar
Berenson, B 1913. ‘Note su Pietro e Antonio da Messina’, Rassegna d’Arte, 13 (4), 57–9Google Scholar
Bottari, S 1954. La pittura del Quattrocento in Sicilia, D’Anna, Messina and FlorenceGoogle Scholar
Buhagiar, M 1983. ‘Late medieval Marian art in Malta’, in Buhagiar, M (ed), Marian Art During the 17th and 18th Centuries (exhib cat, Mdina Cathedral Mus, Malta, 8–22 Sept), 1–11, Friends of the Cathedral Museum, MaltaGoogle Scholar
Campagna Cicala, F 1981. ‘Per la scultura lignea del Quattrocento in Sicilia’, in Cantelli, G (ed), Le arti decorative del Quattrocento in Sicilia (exhib cat, Chiesa dell’Annunziata dei Catalani, Messina, 28 Nov 1981–31 Jan 1982), 101–12, De Luca, RomeGoogle Scholar
Ciolino, C 1986. Opere d’arte restaurate 1980–1985 (exhib cat, Museo Regionale, Messina, 12 Mar–31 May), 43–8, Museo Regionale, MessinaGoogle Scholar
Ciolino, C 2003. ‘Crocifissi messinesi (1447–1551)’, in Barbera, G (ed), Aspetti della scultura a Messina dal XV al XX secolo, 9–26, Museo Regionale, MessinaGoogle Scholar
Cooper, D 2006. ‘Projecting presence: the monumental cross in the Italian church interior’, in Maniura, R and Shephard, R (eds), Presence: the inherence of the prototype within the image and other objects, 47–70, Routledge, Aldershot Google Scholar
Cooper, D 2015. ‘Book review, Marcello Gaeta. Giotto und die Croci Dipinte des Trecento: Studien zu Typus, Genese und Rezeption. Mit einem Katalog der monumentalen Tafelkreuze des Trecento (ca. 1290–ca. 1400), Rhema, Münster, 2013’, in Stud Iconogr, 36, 179–84Google Scholar
Cooper, D 2017. ‘Recovering the lost rood screens of medieval and Renaissance Italy’, in Bucklow, S, Marks, R and Wrapson, L (eds), The Art and Science of the Church Screen in Medieval Europe: making, meaning, preserving, 220–45, Boydell & Brewer, Woodbridge Google Scholar
[Crowdy, W L] (ed) 1896. The Artist: an illustrated monthly record of arts, crafts and industries, 18 (Jul–Dec)Google Scholar
Cuccia, A 2015. ‘Il Compianto in mistura del Museo Diocesano di Monreale, un manufatto nell’ambito di una produzione secondaria di Antonello Gagini’, OADI: Rivista dell’Osservatorio per le Arti Decorative in Italia, 11 (June), 21–30Google Scholar
Di Marzo, G 1880–3. I Gagini e la scultura in Sicilia, 2 vols, Tipografia del Giornale di Sicilia, PalermoGoogle Scholar
Di Marzo, G 1899. La pittura in Palermo nel Rinascimento. Storia e documenti, Alberto Reber, PalermoGoogle Scholar
Di Marzo, G 1903. Di Antonello da Messina e dei suoi congiunti: studi e documenti, Scuola Tip. ‘Boccone del Povero’, PalermoGoogle Scholar
Di Natale, M C 1992. Le Croci Dipinte in Sicilia, L’area occidentale dal XIV al XVI secolo, Flaccovio, PalermoGoogle Scholar
Di Natale, M C 2009. ‘Le croci dipinte nella provincia di Trapani dal XIII al XV secolo’, in Vitella, M (ed), Mysterium crucis: nell’arte trapanese dal XIV al XVIII secolo (exhib cat, Chiesa di Sant’Agostino, Trapani, 6 Mar–13 Apr), 17–25, Il Pozzo i Giacobbe, TrapaniGoogle Scholar
Di Natale, M C 2010a. ‘Le croci dipinte in Sicilia dalla devozione alla musealizzazione’, Römisches Jahrbuch der Bibliotheca Hertziana, 38 (2007/08), 173–204 Google Scholar
Di Natale, M C 2010b. ‘Il Crocifisso del Museo Diocesano di Palermo. Una singolarità tecnica nel panorama siciliano tra croci dipinte e lignee’, in Di Natale, M C and Sebastianelli, M (eds), Il restauro del cinquecentesco Crocifisso in cartapesta del Museo Diocesano di Palermo, 11–26, Museo Diocesano di Palermo, Palermo Google Scholar
Di Natale, M C 2013. ‘Il Crocifisso nelle chiese francescane in Sicilia: dalla croce dipinta tardo-gotica alle sculture in legno e in mistura della Maniera’, in Di Natale, M C (ed), Opere d’arte nelle chiese francescane. Conservazione, restauro e musealizzazione, 22–47, Plumelia edizioni, Palermo Google Scholar
Gaeta, M 2013. Giotto und die croci dipinte des Trecento: Studien zu Typus, Genese und Rezeption. Mit einem Katalog der monumentalen Tafelkreuze des Trecento (ca. 1290–ca. 1400), Rhema, Münster Google Scholar
Giuffrida, A 2011. Le reti del credito nella Sicilia moderna, Associazione Mediterranea, Palermo Google Scholar
Kauffmann, C M 1969. ‘Notes on two paintings’, V&A Museum Yearbook, i, 49–50, V&A, LondonGoogle Scholar
Kauffmann, C M 1973. Catalogue of Foreign Paintings. I: before 1800, Victoria and Albert Museum, London Google Scholar
La Corte Cailler, G 1903. Antonello da Messina, D’Amico, Messina Google Scholar
Lucco, M 2011. Antonello da Messina, 24 Ore Cultura, MilanGoogle Scholar
Luttrell, A T 1975. ‘Approaches to medieval Malta’, in Luttrell, A T (ed), Medieval Malta: studies on Malta before the Knights, 1–70, British School at Rome, London Google Scholar
Mauceri, E 1924. ‘Restauri a due dipinti di Antonello de Saliba in Catania e Taormina’, Bollettino d’arte del Ministero della Pubblica Istruzione, 12 (Anno III, Serie II, June), 567–70Google Scholar
Mosca, S 2012. Il Gonfalone ‘antonelliano’ di Gallodoro: Problemi e congetture, Armando Siciliano Editore, Messina Google Scholar
Rosser, G 2014. ‘Antonello da Messina, the devotional image, and artistic change in the Renaissance’, in Kwakkelstein, Michael W and Talvacchia, Bette (eds), Around Antonello da Messina: reintegrating Quattrocento culture, 103–25, Centro Di, Florence Google Scholar
Sricchia Santoro, F 2017. Antonello: i suoi mondi, il suo seguito, Centro Di, Florence Google Scholar
SAL 1896a. Exhibition of English Medieval Paintings and Illuminated Manuscripts (exhib cat, 8–20 June 1896), Society of Antiquaries of London, London Google Scholar
SAL 1896b. Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of London, 2nd Ser, 16, 197–210, <https://doi.org/10.1017/S0950797300004741> (accessed 4 June 2020)CrossRef+(accessed+4+June+2020)>Google Scholar
Vella, C 2015. ‘In the footsteps of Antonello da Messina: The antonelliani in Sicily and Venice in the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries’, unpublished PhD thesis, University of WarwickGoogle Scholar
Vella, C 2016. ‘Three recently restored Renaissance paintings by Antonio de Saliba on Malta’, in Vella, C (ed), At Home in Art: essays in honour of Mario Buhagiar, 47–66 and 171–86, Midsea Books, Santa Venera, Malta Google Scholar
Vella, C 2018. ‘An Antonello School Madonna and Child at the Musée Jacquemart-André, Paris: new considerations’, in J. Azzopardi (ed), Tribute to Alain Blondy, 399–433, Fondation de Malte, VallettaGoogle Scholar
Vella, C 2019. ‘Marriage alliances for the sake of art: the case of Renaissance Messina, Sicily, and the repercussions for the Maltese islands’, in Buttigieg, E (ed), Storja 2018–2019, Valletta, 1–24, Kite, MaltaGoogle Scholar
Vitella, M 2009. ‘Crocifisso di Antonello Gagini della Chiesa Madre di Alcamo’, in Vitella, M (ed), Mysterium Crucis: nell’arte trapanese dal XIV al XVIII secolo (exhib cat, Chiesa di Sant’Agostino, Trapani, 6 Mar–13 Apr), 88, Il Pozzo i Giacobbe, Trapani Google Scholar
Zappasodi, E 2016. ‘Intus dictum monasterium prope cratem: la croce e il coro delle monache’, in Bollati, M (ed), Francesco e la croce di S. Damiano, 131–153, Biblioteca Francescana, Milan Google Scholar
Zupko, R E 1981. Italian Weights and Measures from the Middle Ages to the Nineteenth Century, American Philosophical Society, Philadelphia Google Scholar