_Antonello da Messina_ (Venetian: 1444-1493). _See 673._
Signed, and dated 1477, two years later than the very similar picture
at Antwerp. Notice the harmonious colouring, and the expression of
_abandon_ and lassitude, following more poignant grief, in the Virgin's
attitude, with her arms falling down on each knee. "The subject was
never more truly felt, and the little figure of the Virgin at the foot
of the cross contains in it an expression of concentrated grief I never
saw equalled. The _eyes are shut_, the hands simply rest on the knees,
but this very simplicity gives it a truth which far surpasses the
extravagant attitudes of the later painters" (from a letter by Louisa,
Lady Waterford, from whom the picture was purchased in 1884; see Hare's
_The Story of Two Noble Lives_, iii. 77). This picture shows, says Mr.
Gilbert, "the dawning loveliness of Venetian colour, as distinguished
from the vivid beauty of the early Flemish. Instead of the minute
definition of every object characteristic of the Van Eyck School, we
find, spread over a scene of the utmost simplicity, a delicious silvery
haze, melting into the warm tones of a shadowless foreground. In this
small picture we may see already what Venice owed to Flanders--how
Venice would enrich the gift" (_Landscape in Art_, p. 311).