Painter born in Messina, D’Antonio was the son of Giordano, brother of Antonello da Messina. Trained in Antonello Da Messina’s workshop where he worked with cousins Peter and Antonello de Saliba (or Risaliba). Information about his life his very limited until 1493 when, already “discretus magister”, received the commission of a S. Antonto and stories of his life for Tortorici (Messina). His activity then brought him to Calatabiano (Cross of St. Philip Church) in 1502, Malta (Cathedral) in 1505, and then back to Messina were he painted his masterpiece, “Dormitio Virginis” (1509) for Cathedral. The painting was mostly destroyed by an earthquake in early 1900 and only a fragment with the signing and an early photographic rendition remain preserved in Messina’s Regional Museum.
Additional work of Salvo de Antonio include the “Madonna con Bambino” of the Chiesa di Gesù l’Inferiore di Messina (1489), “Madonna del Rosario” for the Church of San Benedetto (1510), the “Polittico” for the Church of St. Peter in Malta, “San Giovanni evangelista” for the Cathedral of Siracusa, the “Madonna con il Bambino e quattro angeli” (1509), “Madonna con il Bambino” for the Church of San Francesco in Stilo, “Madonna con Bambino in trono tra San Pietro e San Giovanni Evangelista” preserved inside the Regional Museum of Messina, “San Pietro” (Pinacoteca “Corrado Giaquinto” of Bari)
Read More:
1. Wikipedia, https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salvo_d%27Antonio/
2. Treccani, http://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/salvo-de-antonio_(Dizionario-Biografico)
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