CORREGGIO(Image List)

Antonio Allegri from Correggio, near Parma, was born in1489 and in his early works showed much influence of Andrea Mantegna in his chromatic shading, and of Leonardo da Vinci in his use of light and shade. These influences can be clearly seen in the "Nativity" (1512) and in the "Adoration of the Magi" (1518), in Brera, as well as in the "Wedding of St. Catherine" at the National Gallery, Washington, the "Virgin and Child in Glory" and in the "Rest on the Flight to Egypt" at the Uffizi. It seems that the artist later went to Rome, because his amazing decoration of the Room of the Abess at the Convent of St. Paul in Parma, shows the Mannerist style and classicism of Raphael and Michelangelo, as does the subject chosen, a series of small gracious putti, with animals depicted inside "windows" (or "oculi") full of lush vegetation. Still in the Emilian city of Parma,

Correggio continued to produce very scenic pictures: the frescos in the cupola at St. John the Evangelist, showing "Visions of St. John in Patmos" (1520-23), in which, below the brightly shining Christ, the apostles lie comfortably on soft clouds, while the circular shape of the composition suggests a whirling movement; the decoration of the Cathedral cupola with the "Assumption of the Virgin" (1526-30), the "St. Jerome Virgin" (1527-28), also known as "Day" ("Night" is at the Dresden Gallery), characterized by a harmonious intimacy between the figures and a strong light (there is also an affected little angel with an open book) and the "Virgin with bowl" at Parma's National Gallery.

Among his paintings on holy subjects is th "Noli me tangere" (1518) at the Prado in Madrid and the "Vrgin's adoration of the Child" (1524-26) at the Uffizi. The last works, showing the artist's maturity, are based on mythological themes: "Leda" (1531) at the State Museum in Berlin; "Danae" (1531-32) at the Borghese Gallery in Rome; "Ego" (1531) and "Ganymedes" (1530-32) at the Museum of Historic Art in Vienna. A kind of dreamy atmosphere wafts through these paintings covering the people, animals and places. Correggio died in 1534.