Correggio

Italian painter

• Born: c. 1489
• Birthplace: Correggio, Duchy of Modena (now in Italy)
• Died: c. March 5, 1534
• Place of death: Correggio, Duchy of Modena (now in Italy)

Correggio produced frescoes and paintings of religious and mythological subjects that demonstrate his skills as one of the greatest masters of the High Renaissance. His innovations in composition, expressiveness, and particularly in the illusionistic foreshortening of figures seen from below were to have a tremendous influence on later Baroque painters.

Early Life

Correggio (kohr-RAYD-joh) was born Antonio Allegri in the town from which his name is taken. The date of his birth to Pellegrino Allegri and Bernardina Ormani has been debated. The year was once thought to have been 1494 because artist-biographer Giorgio Vasari stated that Correggio died at the age of forty; however, most scholars now place his birth nearer to the year 1489.

Correggio’s uncle, Lorenzo Allegri, was a painter, under whom he may have studied. The apprenticeship is unclear, however, as are many details of his life because of the absence of documents. While the story that he was Bianchi Ferrari’s pupil in Modena is plausible, Mantua is a more important place for Correggio’s formative career. Some work there has been attributed to him, and the strong influence of both Andrea Mantegna and Lorenzo Costa on Correggio’s work between 1510 and 1518 argues strongly for his presence in nearby Mantua around that time. Influences from Dosso Dossi in nearby Ferrara are also likely.

Yet by far the greatest formative influence on Correggio was Rome. The evidence is stylistic, based especially on paintings in the cupola of S. Giovanni Evangelista. There is a blend of antique classicism; Raphael’s Stanza della Segnatura (1508-1511) and the Sistine Chapel ceiling by Michelangelo are evident. Generous borrowings from Leonardo da Vinci suggest that he may also have traveled to Milan.

While no known description of the artist exists, it has been proposed that the Saint Anthony of Padua in the Madonna and Child with Saint Francis in Dresden is a self-portrait. Half smiling, he appears there as having been graceful and decidedly shy or withdrawn, as Vasari described him.

Life’s Work

With the varied impressions made on Correggio, including Florentine cultural stimuli, one might assume Correggio to have been merely eclectic. Yet the opposite is true. His handling of figure, space, and color was accomplished with fluid, sensual harmony. Even the classical references are never dry or academic and appear with the graceful casualness that suggests intimate familiarity.

The earliest documentary evidence for a painting, the Madonna of Saint Francis , is the contract made on August 30, 1514. References to Leonardo da Vinci and Raphael may indicate that the Rome visit had already been made. Earlier than this, but firmly attributed to Correggio, are Christ Taking Leave of His Mother (1514-1517) and two pictures of the Marriage of Saint Catherine (1510-1514), which show the strong influence of Costa and Mantegna. Other works attributed to Correggio from the period prior to 1518 include The Holy Family with the Infant Saint John the Baptist, Adoration of the Magi, Judith, and Nativity. The atmospheric effects in landscape from the Nativity and the Adoration of the Magi suggest a Venetian origin by way of Ferrara; the latter also indicates familiarity with the protomannerism of Emilia such as is seen in the works of Dosso Dossi.

In 1518, Correggio was summoned to Parma to decorate the suite of Giovanna da Piacenza, abbess of the convent of S. Paolo. As no sightseers were admitted to the room for two centuries, the first detailed account of the work was not published until 1794. It is the artist’s first major work in fresco. The largely decorative treatment of the vault, with a network of reeds carrying festoons of fruit pierced by ovals through which putti glance downward, is largely Mantegnesque. The bands of reeds terminate in illusionistic, monochromatic lunettes that reflect extensive familiarity with the antique. A figure of Diana moves across the great hood of the chimney, glowing with soft flesh tones. The total effect is rich, harmonious, and enchanting.

By 1520, Correggio was at work on the decoration of the church of S. Giovanni Evangelista in Parma. The dome frescoes came first, then the half-dome of the apse, followed by frescoes on the underarches of the dome. He provided drawings for the nave frieze, executing a small portion of it that was finished by Francesco Mario Rondani and others. While he was in Parma, on November 3, 1522, Correggio signed a contract for the decoration of the choir and dome of the Cathedral of Parma. This year was the turning point in his career. Commissions for work began pouring in from various places. It is speculated that enough of the frescoes in S. Giovanni Evangelista were completed to have astonished Italy and created his fame.

The subject of the fresco in the dome of S. Giovanni Evangelista is the Vision of Saint John on Patmos, showing the risen Christ in the center surrounded by the glow of rich, luminous light. Cherubim surround this light, with the other apostles lining the base of the dome. There is a soaring effect, and illusionism, which was to impress later Baroque artists. It is evident that an audacious imagination was at work. The sculptural effect of the figures against the neutral background recall Raphael and Michelangelo. The atmospheric effect is the result of contact with Leonardo, the latest Venetians, and the swirling, last scenes by Michelangelo in the Sistine Chapel. The coloration and the sinuous soft form of Raphael’s Triumph of Galatea (1511-1513) are present, but the overall effect is uniquely Correggio’s, with his harmonious, fluid forms.

The ceiling painting in the Cathedral of Parma is a logical consequence of the preceding dome and can be seen as the culmination of Correggio’s artistry and as his most imaginative and creative effort. The Assumption of the Virgin (1526-1530) is an exciting celestial vision with great illusionistic depth of space. It is filled with the fluid, energetic movements of frolicking angels on soft masses of clouds amid a golden, mysterious glow of light. Throughout there is a festive gladness and a sensual exaltation. The virtuosity of illusionism plus the intertwining and piling up of figures is a tour de force unequaled before the seventeenth century.

During the period of his work at Parma, Correggio executed many other single paintings, plus altarpieces and mythological scenes. He did two paintings for the private chapel of the Del Bono family around 1524. The new elements are to be present in the remainder of the artist’s works. The two paintings, now in Parma’s Galleria Nazionale, The Deposition and The Martyrdom of Four Saints , are both very emotional, exhibiting a bolder color, a stronger, more direct source of light, and the use of relative clarity to give attention to the focal points. In addition, there is a decided mannerism, shown in the flattening of space, choice of color, and prominent use of hands for expression. Among the notable paintings executed during the early to mid-1520’s are the Madonna of Saint Jerome, “La Notte,” or Adoration of the Shepherds, with its brilliant illumination amid the darkness, and the Holy Family with Saint Francis.

Correggio executed several mythological and allegorical paintings for Federigo II Gonzaga, the duke of Mantua, which are among the most delightful and popular of his works. These include the School of Love and its pendant, Venus, Cupid, and Satyr , both of which may have been executed in the 1520’s. The four great Loves of Jupiter were done in the 1530’s and a second series of Loves of Jupiter were under way when Correggio died. The Danae, Leda, Io, and Ganymede were given by Federigo to Holy Roman Emperor Charles V. All contain nudes executed with great subtlety and grace. The figures are monumental but softened by atmospheric shadows, sensual poses, and rich flesh tones.

Significance

The works attributed to Correggio constitute a prodigious oeuvre. Had he lived past his forty odd years, Correggio probably would have revolutionized art. As it is, his stature is only now coming to be appreciated. The illusionistic space of Correggio’s domes, with its antecedents in Mantegna’s ceiling in Mantua, masterfully anticipated the artists of Baroque decoration from the Carracci family and Guercino to Giovanni Lanfranco and Baciccia.

The lessons of strength and drawing that Correggio learned from Raphael and Michelangelo were softened by the Venetian atmosphere and the shadows and smiles of Leonardo. In his own time, Parmigianino was profoundly influenced by Correggio when he worked by his side in Parma. Correggio in turn absorbed the lessons of the mannerists to a certain degree. The final outcome is a confusion about the exact position of Correggio’s place in history. His art escapes easy labeling.

Correggio’s abilities were to be greatly admired in the eighteenth century, the period of the discovery of his frescoes in San Paolo and the publication of documents by Girolamo Tiraboschi such as Notizie de’pittori, scultori, incisori, e architetti natii degli stati del serenissimo duca di Modena (1786), as well as a history by Correggio’s greatest admirer, Anton Raphael Mengs. Correggio’s importance was eclipsed in the nineteenth century, and some scholars see his tremendous impact on artists from the later sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, from Baroccio, even Gian Lorenzo Bernini and the Carracci family, to a host of other lesser-known artists. Correggio evoked the true grandeur of Renaissance classicism but indicated a new direction that was profoundly to affect art for centuries.

Bibliography

The Age of Correggio and the Carracci: Emilian Painting of the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries. Washington, D.C.: National Gallery of Art, 1986. A beautifully produced catalog of more than two hundred Emilian paintings of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, organized and written by dozens of scholars for the exhibition appearing at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, and the Pinacoteca Nazionale, Bologna. With beautiful illustrations, many in color, this is the most extensive treatment of the effects of Correggio on later sixteenth and seventeeth century art.

Brown, David Alan. Una Pietà del Correggio a Correggio/A Pietà by Correggio in Correggio. Milan, Italy: Silvana Editoriale, 2003. Bilingual English and Italian monograph on Correggio’s Pietà. Includes illustrations, bibliographic references, index.

Ekserdjian, David. Correggio. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1997. This study of Correggio focuses especially on his altarpieces, but it covers the entirety of his output and attempts to trace the influence of his predecessors and contemporaries in his work. Includes almost three hundred illustrations, bibliographic references, bibliography, appendices, and index.

Fornari Schianchi, Lucia. Correggio. Translated by Christopher Evans. New York: Riverside, 1994. Part of the Library of the Great Masters series, this book is meant as an introduction to and general survey of Correggio’s life and career. Includes illustrations, some bibliographic references, and an index.

Gould, Cecil. The Paintings of Correggio. Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 1976. The most comprehensive, definitive, and up-to-date assessment of Correggio’s paintings. It is well illustrated and includes documents and a helpful catalog of all surviving pictures including a discussion of attributions.

Popham, Arthur E. Correggio’s Drawings. London: Oxford University Press, 1957. A valuable and well-illustrated treatment of the known drawings. Includes a discussion of drawings of questionable attribution.

Smyth, Carolyn. Correggio’s Frescoes in Parma Cathedral. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1997. Book-length study of the frescoes portraying the Assumption of the Virgin Mary, focused on the physical relationship between the frescoes and the viewer and on Correggio’s use of perspective and space within the cathedral. Includes seventy-eight pages of plates, bibliographic references, and index.

Wind, Geraldine Dunphy. Correggio: L’eroe della cupola/Hero of the Dome. Milan, Italy: Silvana Editoriale, 2002. Bilingual English and Italian study of Correggio’s frescoes in the Parma Cathedral and in the Church of San Giovanni Evangelista in Parma. Includes illustrations, bibliographic references, index.