Antonello da Messina, properly Antonello di Giovanni di Antonio (c. 1430 – February 1479), was an Italian painter from Messina, Sicily, active during the Italian Renaissance. His work shows strong influences from Early Netherlandish painting although there is no documentary evidence that he ever travelled beyond Italy.[1] Giorgio Vasari mistakenly credited him with the introduction of oil-painting into Italy.[2] Unusually for a south Italian artist, his work proved influential on painters in northern Italy, especially in Venice. (source: Wikipedia)