Artwork
Right panel San Cassiano Altarpiece with St Dominic
Right panel San Cassiano Altarpiece with St Dominic is an unspecified painting by the Early Renaissance artist Antonello da Messina. It dates from 1475 and is held in the collection of the Kunsthistorisches Museum.
About this work
Subject & Meaning
The right panel of the San Cassiano Altarpiece depicts Saint Dominic, shown as a choirboy with waist-length hair.
The right panel of the San Cassiano Altarpiece depicts Saint Dominic, shown as a choirboy with waist-length hair. He is presented in a three-quarter view, gazing upward, embodying youthful devotion and spiritual contemplation. The figure’s modest scale and focused expression align with the devotional function of the altarpiece, intended to inspire veneration within a liturgical setting.
Dominic’s portrayal emphasizes his role as a founder of the Dominican Order, conveyed through the serene and reverent character of the depiction rather than overt iconographic attributes. The panel’s integration into the altarpiece underscores its role in a larger devotional program, reinforcing themes of piety and religious continuity central to Antonello da Messina’s composition.
Technique & Style
The work is executed on a poplar panel, a support characteristic of Antonello da Messina's Venetian-period practice. Measuring 56.8 cm in height by 35.6 cm in width, the panel was originally part of a larger altarpiece structure before being detached in 1620 and later reattached, a history that bears on its present condition and structural handling.
Stylistically, the painting belongs to the religious genre and presents a half-length figure of a choirboy with waist-length hair, identified as Saint Dominic. The combination of Antonello da Messina's authorship with an attribution also linking Jacopo Bellini reflects the collaborative and inherited devotional traditions shaping the panel's formal qualities.
History & Provenance
Created in 1475 by Antonello da Messina, possibly with involvement from Jacopo Bellini, this poplar panel originally served as the right wing of the San Cassiano Altarpiece. The work remained intact until 1620, when it was detached from the main structure before eventually being reattached in later years. Its ownership history includes possession by the collector Bartolomeo della Nave and Archduke Leopold Wilhelm of Austria. The panel ultimately entered the collection of the Kunsthistorisches Museum, where it is currently housed.
The right panel of the San Cassiano Altarpiece, depicting Saint Dominic, is held by the Kunsthistorisches Museum. According to its provenance record, the work was once owned by Bartolomeo della Nave and subsequently by Archduke Leopold Wilhelm of Austria before entering the museum's collection. The panel, painted on poplar in 1475, was detached from the altarpiece in 1620 and later reattached.
No specific inventory or accession number is recorded in the available sources, and no exhibition history beyond its long-term placement in the Kunsthistorisches Museum is documented.
Context
Antonello da Messina created the right panel of the San Cassiano Altarpiece in 1475, depicting Saint Dominic in religious context. The panel, painted on poplar wood, was originally detached in 1620 and later reattached. It is currently housed in the Kunsthistorisches Museum, having been owned by Archduke Leopold Wilhelm of Austria.
The work is often studied alongside Jacopo Bellini's contributions and within the broader trajectory of Antonello's devotional imagery.
Overview
The right-hand panel of the San Cassiano Altarpiece, executed on poplar by Antonello da Messina around 1475, forms part of a larger polyptych now dispersed. The work presents a solitary figure in a black habit, identified as Saint Dominic, set against a richly draped altar background. The panel is part of the collection of the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna.
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Artist & collection
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