This superb panel painting has been mistreated over the centuries, and to complicate matters, the artist himself had adjusted his original ideas, including a change in the placement of Christ's right hand. The insistent frontality of the figure recalls Byzantine images. Antonello's use of oil as a medium, a technique shared with Flemish painters, allowed him to produce more impressive trompe l'oeil effects like the cartellino applied to the bottom of the picture.
|