Parmigianino

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Parmigianino
Self-portrait in a Convex Mirror (c. 1524, age about 21),[1] Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna
Born
Girolamo Francesco Maria Mazzola

(1503-01-11)11 January 1503
Parma, Duchy of Milan
Died24 August 1540(1540-08-24) (aged 37)
Casalmaggiore, Republic of Venice
NationalityItalian
Known forPainting, etching
Notable workSelf-portrait in a Convex Mirror
Vision of Saint Jerome
Madonna with the Long Neck
Height1.63 m (5 ft 4 in)
MovementMannerist

Girolamo Francesco Maria Mazzola (11 January 1503 – 24 August 1540), also known as Francesco Mazzola or, more commonly, as Parmigianino (

printmaker active in Florence, Rome, Bologna, and his native city of Parma. His work is characterized by a "refined sensuality" and often elongation of forms and includes Vision of Saint Jerome (1527) and the iconic if somewhat anomalous Madonna with the Long Neck (1534), and he remains the best known artist of the first generation whose whole careers fall into the Mannerist period.[4]

His prodigious and individual talent has always been recognised, but his career was disrupted by war, especially the Sack of Rome in 1527, three years after he moved there, and then ended by his death at 37. He produced outstanding drawings, and was one of the first Italian painters to experiment with printmaking himself. While his portable works have always been keenly collected and are now in major museums in Italy and around the world, his two large projects in fresco are in a church in Parma and a palace in a small town nearby. This in conjunction with their lack of large main subjects has resulted in their being less well known than other works by similar artists. He painted a number of important portraits, leading a trend in Italy towards the three-quarters or full-length figure, previously mostly reserved for royalty.

Bardi Altarpiece (1521)

Early years

Parmigianino was the eighth child of

Correggio, who was at work on the fresco decorations of the cupola
.

Work in Fontanellato and travel to Rome

Vision of Saint Jerome (detail)

In 1524, he traveled to Rome with five small paintings, including the

Clement VII. Vasari records that in Rome, Parmigianino was "celebrated as a Raphael reborn". In January 1526, Parmigianino and his uncle, Pier Ilario, agreed with Maria Bufalina from Città di Castello, to decorate the church of San Salvatore in Lauro with an altarpiece of the Vision of Saint Jerome (1526–27, National Gallery, London). Within a year, the Sack of Rome
caused Parmigianino, and many other artists, to flee.

Bologna and return to Parma

He resided in Bologna for nearly three years. At around 1528, he painted the Madonna and Child with Saints (Pinacoteca, Bologna), then later in 1528, he painted Madonna con la Rosa (Dresden) and Madonna with Saint Zachariah (Uffizi). By 1530 Parmigianino had returned to Parma.

In 1531, Parmigianino received a commission for two altarpieces, depicting

Santa Maria della Steccata. The brotherhood overseeing the church advanced him salary and promised him the supplies and materials; however, by 1535, the project was unfinished. In December, he nominated Don Nicola Cassola, a Parman cleric at the Roman Curia
, to act as his legal representative. Parmigianino authorized him to collect the 50 gold scudi from Bonifazio Gozzadini for the Madonna with St. John the Baptist and St. Zacharias.

In 1534, it was decided that the Madonna dal collo lungo (the Madonna with the Long Neck) would hang in the chapel of the family of Elena Baiardi.

Parmigianino had probably expected to succeed Correggio in the favour of the church. However, in April 1538, the administrative offices commissioned initially

Girolamo Bedoli, to decorate the apse and choir of the Parma Cathedral
.

It is believed that at this time, he became a devotee of

magic. Scholars now agree that Parmigianino's scientific interests may have been due to his obsession with trying to find a new medium for his etchings.[citation needed] As a result of his alchemical researches, he completed little work in the church. He was imprisoned for two months for breach of contract after the Confraternita decided unanimously to ban him from continuing in their church. He was replaced between 1539 and 1540 by Giulio Romano
, who also promptly withdrew from the contract.

Parmigianino died of a fever in Casalmaggiore on 24 August 1540 at the age of 37 years. He is buried in the church of the Servite Friars "naked with a cross made of cypress wood on his chest".

Among those closely influenced by Parmigianino were his cousin

Giacomo Bertoia; and Francesco Borgani.[6]

Works

Self-portrait with red beret (1540)
Portrait of Galeazzo Sanvitale, 1524, Museo di Capodimonte

Parmigianino was also an early Italian

Giovanni Jacopo Caraglio
.

Selected works

See also

  • Self-portrait in a Convex Mirror (book)

Notes

  1. ^ Oil on wood, diameter 24.4 cm; Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna.
  2. ^ "Parmigianino". Lexico UK English Dictionary. Oxford University Press. Archived from the original on 2021-09-27.
  3. ^ "Parmigianino". Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary. Retrieved 15 June 2019.
  4. ^ Hartt, pp. 568–578, 578 quoted
  5. ISBN 0-14-044460-2
    .
  6. ^ The picture amateur's handbook and dictionary of painters, by Philippe Daryl and Paschal Grousset, Londong, 1878.
  7. ^ Michelle Leicht, "Correggio and Parmigianino", exhibition, Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2001 (on-line review)

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Parmigianino.

External links

Media related to Parmigianino at Wikimedia Commons

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