_Antonello da Messina_ (Venetian: 1444-1493). _See 673._
A portrait in Antonello's second or Venetian manner. The portrait is
the more interesting from the probability that it is of the painter
himself. The inscription which so stated is said to have been sawn off
by a former owner to fit the picture into a frame.[224] "It is the
likeness of a man who is entirely self-possessed, nowise an idealist,
yet one who would never be prompted to impetuous action. He has plenty
of intelligence; nothing would escape those clear gray eyes;--scarcely,
however, do they seem as if they would penetrate below the outward show
of things. Considered from a technical point of view, the same subdued
feeling is apparent. In the Louvre masterpiece (which this picture at
once recalls), Antonello evidently braced himself for a supreme effort;
in the National Gallery portrait we have an excellent example of his
powers at his best period" (_Times_, May 31, 1883).