Room
9
This room is devoted to the San Cassiano Altarpiece (Kunsthistorisches
Museum, Vienna) – which, unfortunately, has not been loaned to the exhibition
– and how this breakthrough in the history of religious art was received
in Venice. Commissioned from Antonello by the aristocrat Pietro Bon
for the altar of the Venetian church of the same name, it has had a
rather troubled history: first it was dismantled and then various fragments
of the painting were lost, as can be seen from engravings and works
such as Saint Sebastian by David Teniers (1651 – 59) from Vienna, which
is exhibited here. As soon as it was finished (1475 – 76), the altarpiece
became one of the most famous works of art in Venice. The idea of the
unified figurative space immediately aroused fascination and admiration
– eight saints gathered around the throne of the Virgin and Child under
a large arch – since it was unique and completely revolutionary in the
figurative panorama in Venice, which was characterized almost exclusively
by altarpieces composed of various sections. Its features thus captivated
viewers and artists alike. The latter sought to measure themselves against
this difficult work which immediately became a model that could not
be ignored. One of them was Giovanni Bonconsiglio, called il Marescalco,
who faithfully imitates Antonello’s painting in the fragment of the
altarpiece (Vicenza) commissioned by the Venetian nobleman Gabriele
Morosini della Sbarra, as does Antonello de Saliba in the large Virgin
Enthroned in Catania. The room also contains other works by Antonello’s
closest heirs, namely his son Jacobello, Antonello da Saliba and Jacometto
Veneziano.
