St. Jerome Penitent and Abraham Served by the Angels are two paintings by the Italian Renaissance master Antonello da Messina

Antonello da Messina

Antonello da Messina, properly Antonello di Giovanni di Antonio was an Italian painter from Messina, Sicily, active during the Italian Renaissance...

. They are housed in the Museo Nazionale della Magna Grecia

Museo Nazionale della Magna Grecia

The Museo Nazionale della Magna Grecia , Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Reggio Calabria or Palazzo Piacentini is a museum in Reggio Calabria, southern Italy, housing an archaeological collection from sites in Magna Graecia.Initially formed with a nucleus of material ceded from the...

, Reggio Calabria

Reggio Calabria

Reggio di Calabria , commonly known as Reggio Calabria or Reggio, is the biggest city and the most populated comune of Calabria, southern Italy, and is the capital of the Province of Reggio Calabria and seat of the Council of Calabrian government.Reggio is located on the "toe" of the Italian...

.

These two panels are considered amongst the first works by Antonello da Messina. They were both intended for devotion of private owners.

St. Jerome

The painting shows elements inspired both the Flemish

Flemish people

The Flemings or Flemish are the Dutch-speaking inhabitants of Belgium, where they are mostly found in the northern region of Flanders. They are one of two principal cultural-linguistic groups in Belgium, the other being the French-speaking Walloons...

 and Italian painting schools. The former belongs the rugged landscape, while typically Italian is the kneeling posture of St. Jerome.

Abraham Served by the Angels

Due to its poor conditions, for a long time this work was considered a part of a larger Nativity. The identification of theme was possible after the finding of a small panel by a 15th century French master (now at Denver) in which the scene is reproduced in its entirety, and which was surely known by the Italian master: the part missing in Antonello's work would show Sarah spying Abraham from the hut's door.

External links

• Description (St. Jerome)
• Description (Abraham)