Antonello Da Messina, an Italian painter, born at Messina in 1414, died about 1493. According to Vasari and other authorities, he was the first Italian who painted in oil, learning the art under Van Eyck at Bruges. Before his journey to Bruges, he had already acquired some fame at Messina, Rome, and Palermo, which became more firmly established on his return, when he worked for some time at Milan and at Venice to some extent in portrait painting, but chiefly in religious pictures.