

Group of Draped Figures
Antonello da Messina(?) (Antonello di Giovanni d'Antonio) (Italian, Sicilian, ca. 1430–1479)
Tip of the brush (or fine pen?) and brown ink
Antonello da Messina(?) (Antonello di Giovanni d'Antonio) (Italian, Sicilian, ca. 1430–1479)
Tip of the brush (or fine pen?) and brown ink
110 x 149 mm
Robert Lehman Collection, 1975 (1975.1.265)
Antonello da Messina's contact with Northern European art during his apprenticeship in Naples in the 1440s and 1450s had a profound influence on his style. Several features of this drawing—in particular, the elongated proportions of the figures and the heavy drapery arranged in sharp, angular folds—demonstrate Antonello's absorption of Netherlandish and Burgundian art. A more elaborate drawing of this composition, with the group of figures set against a cityscape, is preserved in the Musée du Louvre.







