Some paintings were never meant to be seen from across a room. This rare, double-sided work by Antonello da Messina was made to be held, contemplated, and experienced in solitude. Small enough to rest against the chest, it offers a deeply personal encounter with one of the most psychologically powerful images of Christ in Renaissance art — startlingly human, vulnerable, and present.
On one side, Christ emerges from darkness with an intensity that reshaped emotion in Italian painting. On the other, Saint Jerome inhabits a stark desert landscape marked by devotion and penance — its surface softened by centuries of touch and veneration. Together, they form a work that carries not only artistic innovation, but the physical imprint of belief, intimacy, and time.
This panel by Antonello da Messina will be offered in Sotheby’s New York Old Masters Week, presented by Qatar Executive, at the Master Paintings & Works of Art Part I Auction.
