Delphi Complete Works of Correggio (Illustrated)

By Correggio

The leading painter of the school of Parma, Correggio created some of the most vigorous and sensuous works of the sixteenth century. In his use of dynamic composition, illusionistic perspective and dramatic foreshortening, Correggio prefigured the Baroque art of the seventeenth century and the Rococo art of the eighteenth century. Correggio’s masterful use of chiaroscuro would establish his reputation as one of the leading figures of the High Italian Renaissance. Delphi’s Masters of Art Series presents the world’s first digital e-Art books, allowing readers to explore the works of great artists in comprehensive detail. This volume presents Correggio’s complete works in beautiful detail, with concise introductions, hundreds of high quality images and the usual Delphi bonus material. (Version 1)

* The complete paintings of Antonio da Correggio – over 110 paintings, fully indexed and arranged in chronological and alphabetical order
* Includes reproductions of rare works
* Features a special ‘Highlights’ section, with concise introductions to the masterpieces, giving valuable contextual information
* Enlarged ‘Detail’ images, allowing you to explore Correggio’s celebrated works in detail, as featured in traditional art books
* Hundreds of images in colour – highly recommended for viewing on tablets and smart phones or as a valuable reference tool on more conventional eReaders
* Special chronological and alphabetical contents tables for the paintings
* Easily locate the paintings you wish to view
* Includes Correggio's drawings – explore the artist’s varied works
* Features two bonus biographies, including Vasari’s seminal work – discover Correggio's Renaissance world

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CONTENTS:

The Highlights
Madonna and Child with Angels Playing Musical Instruments
Madonna with Saint Francis
Madonna and Child with the Young Saint John
The Holy Family with Saint Jerome
Adoration of the Magi
Portrait of a Gentlewoman
Frescoes for Camera di San Paolo
Rest on the Flight into Egypt with Saint Francis
The Vision of Saint John
Martyrdom of Four Saints
Noli me tangere
Adoration of the Christ Child
Assumption of the Virgin
Venus with Mercury and Cupid
The Adoration of the Shepherds
Danaë
Ganymede Abducted by the Eagle
Jupiter and Io
Allegory of Virtue

The Paintings
The Complete Paintings
Alphabetical List of Paintings

The Drawings
List of Drawings

The Biographies
Life of Antonio da Correggio by Giorgio Vasari
Correggio by Estelle M. Hurll

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• Language: English
• Publisher: Delphi Classics Ltd
• Release date: May 12, 2019
• ISBN: 9781788779746

Book preview

Antonio da Correggio

(1489-1534)

Contents

The Highlights

Madonna and Child with Angels Playing Musical Instruments

Madonna with Saint Francis

Madonna and Child with the Young Saint John

The Holy Family with Saint Jerome

Adoration of the Magi

Portrait of a Gentlewoman

Frescoes for Camera di San Paolo

Rest on the Flight into Egypt with Saint Francis

The Vision of Saint John

Martyrdom of Four Saints

Noli me tangere

Adoration of the Christ Child

Assumption of the Virgin

Venus with Mercury and Cupid

The Adoration of the Shepherds

Danaë

Ganymede Abducted by the Eagle

Jupiter and Io

Allegory of Virtue

The Paintings

The Complete Paintings

Alphabetical List of Paintings

The Drawings

List of Drawings

The Biographies

Life of Antonio da Correggio by Giorgio Vasari

Correggio by Estelle M. Hurll

The Delphi Classics Catalogue

© Delphi Classics 2019

Version 1

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Masters of Art Series

Antonio da Correggio

By Delphi Classics, 2019

COPYRIGHT

Masters of Art - Correggio

First published in the United Kingdom in 2019 by Delphi Classics.

© Delphi Classics, 2019.

All rights reserved.  No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of the publisher, nor be otherwise circulated in any form other than that in which it is published.

ISBN: 978 1 78877 974 6

Delphi Classics

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Delphi Publishing Ltd

Hastings, East Sussex

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The Highlights

Correggio, a town in the Province of Reggio Emilia, in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy — Correggio’s birthplace

Church of Saint Quirinus, Correggio

The Highlights

In this section, a sample of Correggio’s most celebrated works is provided, with concise introductions, special ‘detail’ reproductions and additional biographical images.

Madonna and Child with Angels Playing Musical Instruments

Antonio da Correggio, the foremost painter of the Parma school of the High Italian Renaissance, was born in Correggio, a small town near Reggio Emilia. Sadly, little information has survived regarding the artist’s early life; so much so, that we do not even know for certain the year of his birth (c. 1489). He was the son of Bernardina Piazzali degli Aromani and Pelegrino de Alegris, a cloth merchant of Correggio.  We also know that at some point the artist married a Gerolama Merlini, by whom he had four children, before she left him as a widower after ten years of married life.

Art historians are much divided over Correggio’s training and his earliest influences. It is recorded that his first teacher was Francesco Bianchi Ferrari (1447-1510) from Modena; yet, it is estimated that Bianchi would have died when Correggio was only 16 years old. Nonetheless, there is no doubt that the style that had the greatest influence on Correggio’s early works was the paintings of the Mantua-based artists Andrea Mantegna and Lorenzo Costa. It has been suggested by some that Correggio was responsible for the Evangelists Matthew and Luke in the pendentives of the vault of Mantegna’s mortuary chapel in the church of Sant’Andrea, completed in 1506.

Although the Mantuan school would exert a major influence on the young Correggio, these artists were eventually superseded by the emergence of Leonardo da Vinci’s work over the artists of northern Italy. However, the understanding of Correggio’s development as a young artist is still a very problematic endeavour, with conflicting historical documents and diverse associations confusing the issue. Even the famed biographer Giorgio Vasari, so often an invaluable source on the lives of the masters of the High Renaissance, is uncharacteristically vague with his treatment of Correggio. Although Vasari assigns a large amount of attention to the artist, acknowledging the original nature of his work, his account is frustratingly imprecise in biographical data.

A small panel titled Madonna and Child with Angels playing Musical Instruments (c. 1514), housed today in Florence’s Uffizi, can be reliably placed among Correggio’s early works, due to its close resemblance to other works from this period. The painting presents an intimate scene, bathed in an ethereal golden range of hues. The Christ Child leans forward, clearly interacting with his angelic tutor, a look of rapt intelligence on his young face. The Madonna looks down at her son, in quiet reflection, giving solemnity to the scene. She is adorned with a transparent veil, knotted over her breast, which is delineated in fine detail.  Mary’s hands appear to softly touch the Christ Child, and the posture is echoed by the angel to the left, reinforcing an impression of security and love. The chiaroscuro (the dramatic contrast of light and dark), which would become such a telling feature of the artist’s overall style, is softened by the back light of the composition’s distinctive golden background.  The entire scene is framed by a large gathering of clouds, from which Christ’s angelic music teachers are emerging.  The colours employed by the artist are deep, yet muted, while the figures occupy more three-dimensional space than customarily found in contemporary paintings of similar subjects.

Up until the end of the nineteenth century, the panel was ascribed to Titian, due to the characteristic Venetian luminosity, found in other known paintings by Correggio. On the back of the panel, there is a sixteenth century monogram from the grand-ducal gallery in Florence, showing the identification number of 2523, which does not feature in any of the lists of the gallery’s holdings at that time; once more, any attempt in deciphering this early work of Correggio is fraught with uncertainty.

Although the painting has not been traced in any seventeenth century inventories, it was most likely one of the works taken to Düsseldorf by Anna Maria Luisa de’ Medici in 1691 on her marriage to John William, Elector Palatine and which, following John William’s death in 1717, was brought back to Florence. Its first confirmed record of ownership places it in the inventory of the Gallerie fiorentine in 1798, in the Sala dei Maestri Italiani, where it remained until the mid-nineteenth century. Many copies were commissioned from the eighteenth century onwards, attesting to the small panel’s enduring popularity. The Italian art critic Giovanni Morelli (1816-1891) was the first to attribute it as an early work of Correggio, which would become the established view in the twentieth century.

Detail

Detail

Detail

Detail

Detail

The Saint Matthew and the Angel pendentive in the vault of Mantegna’s mortuary chapel in the church of Sant’Andrea, believed by some art historians to be among the earliest work of Correggio

‘The Madonna of the Cherubim’ by Andrea Mantegna, 1485, Pinacoteca di Brera, Milan

Detail of the ‘Presentation at the Temple’, with the alleged young self-portrait of Mantegna, who was an early source of inspiration to Correggio

Madonna with Saint Francis

The first painting by Correggio of which we have a documentary record and authentic date is the Madonna with Saint Francis. Revealing the influence of Mantegna in its enthroned representation of the Virgin, it employs a complex structure, belying the artist’s young age. Once more he employs chiaroscuro, influenced by Leonardo’s groundbreaking work, while the ecstasy of the saints has been identified as hallmarks of Raphael’s style. Held today in the Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister in Dresden, it portrays Saint Francis of Assisi, bearing the stigmata, while prostrating himself before the enthroned Madonna and Child. The painting stresses the theme of the intercession of the Madonna, which was promoted by the Franciscans after the definition of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception in 1473. Saint Francis is supported by Anthony of Padua, whilst to the right are depicted Catherine of Alexandria and John the Baptist. Catherine’s wheel gives the painter’s signature Antonivs de Alegri F.[ecit]. At the base of the Madonna’s throne, there is the somewhat unusual depiction of a small grisaille, presenting the image of Moses bearing the tablets of the law.

The painting is framed by a succession of polished Ionic columns, defining the space that occupies the figures, before opening out to the landscape, providing an additional plane, extending the sense of three-dimensionality. The translucent flight of putti above the enthroned Virgin signalises the influence of Lorenzo Costa, a Ferrarese painter that worked in Bologna before succeeding Mantegna as the principal painter at the Gonzaga court at Mantua. Costa produced a number of ambitious altarpieces and was also a gifted portrait painter.  Correggio’s Madonna with Saint Francis, however, reveals a new and more modern approach to an altarpiece. The complicated structure and variety of interactions between the figures demonstrates an engrossing language employed by the artist.  There is a hint of the modernity that would characterise Correggio’s mature style.  Saint John the Baptist gazes directly out at the viewer, his hand pointing towards the Virgin stresses the importance of painting’s central figures; yet, his facial features evoke solemnity, demanding our attention.  Meanwhile, the figure of Anthony of Padua, leaning back to the right, as his eyes are hidden in shade, adds a more ominous impression to the altarpiece.  A strange smile lingers on his lips. As with Saint John, Anthony looks directly out of the painting, conveying a distinctly different expression from Saint John’s gaze. 

The contract for this painting was signed by Correggio on 30 August 1514, accompanied with the consent of his still-unmarried father and of Girolamo Cattania, the guardian of the Franciscan convent in the town of Correggio. The painting was likely intended as the high altarpiece for the convent church dedicated to Saint Francis. Correggio was paid for the completion of the commission on 4 April 1515, revealing how quickly he produced the work. Before 1638, it was confiscated by Francesco I d’Este and taken to the Palazzo Ducale in Modena, where it was hung beside five other Correggio paintings seized from the duchy’s territory.

In 1746 the impoverished Francesco III d’Este attempted to raise funds by selling a hundred of his most famous works in the Galleria Estense, including six Correggio works, to Augustus III of Saxony. This new owner was the only legitimate son of Augustus II the Strong, Prince-Elector of Saxony and king of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth who belonged to the Albertine line of the House of Wettin. Upon the death of Augustus II in 1733, Augustus III inherited the Saxon electorate and was elected to the Polish throne, with the support of the Russian Empire and the Holy Roman Empire. As King, Augustus was uninterested in the affairs of his Polish-Lithuanian dominion, focusing instead on hunting, the opera and, of course, the collection of paintings by Old Masters. Throughout the eighteenth century Augustus II the Strong and his son had