Let’s look forward to Easter together by watching the best TV programs dedicated to art from April 14 to 20.On Rai 5 Tuesday and Wednesday at 7:25 p.m
we will see an episode of Art Night entitled Art and Propaganda
there will be an episode of Art Night dedicated to Correggio
there will be an episode of Art Night dedicated to Parmigianino
We report the airing of the film Mona Lisa Smile with Julia Roberts on Rai Movie on Tuesday
On Sky Arte Tuesday 15 from 6:15 to 3:40 p.m
The Young Wunderkind and by a Museums marathon beginning at 8:30 p.m
(and to be repeated Wednesday starting at 12:55 p.m.)
The artistic adventure of Giuseppe Iannaccone
there will be a new episode of The Square - Space for Culture (repeat Friday at 1:35 p.m.)
Challenge to perfection (repeat Friday at 2:15 p.m.)
PALMER SCANDIANO CENTER: Vecchi, Stefani, Roca, Barbieri, Herrero; N. Busani, Deinite, Beato, R. Busani, Raveggi. Mariotti All.
BDL MINIMOTOR CORREGGIO: Salines, M. Pedroni, Menendez, Righi, Casari; Cinquini, Caroli, Tudela, Holban, F. Pedroni. Granell All.
Referees: Moresco and Vischio from Vicenza.
Goals: pt 12'15'' Casari, 22'08'' N. Busani; st 6'42'' Menendez, 16'36'' Casari (td), 24'56'' Barbieri.
Note: spectators approximately 300. Roca, Barbieri, Cinquini, Caroli sent off 2'.
Serie B. Three games today, the last day of the regular season: in Modena at 16,30:17,30 pm, Amatori-Minimotor Correggio; Pesaro-Rotellistica Scandianese at 18:XNUMX pm; in Scandiano at XNUMX pm, Roller-Mirandola.
The profound redevelopment and valorisation intervention of the monumental complex of San Paolo has been underway since 2015 and, following the conclusion of the works, [...]
The NH Parma hotel is part of a gleaming new complex designed by renowned Spanish architect, Oriol Bohigas. Hotel 4* is located in close proximity [...]
the 4-star hotel welcomes its guests with a modern and sophisticated design
The Grand Hotel de la Ville in Parma, a 5-star hotel a stone's throw from the historic center, has 110 rooms, a conference center that [...]
The Starhotels Du Parc is an elegant hotel with precious Art Nouveau interiors, located next to the Ducal Park and a stone's throw from the [...]
Immersed in the Parma countryside, just ten minutes by car from the heart of the city. Available in three fascinating rooms, bathed in natural light [...]
The 3-star hotel is located in a strategic position near the Parma city motorway exit and the northern ring road that connects the main poles [...]
In the heart of Parma and surrounded by a lush garden, the 5-star Grand Hotel in Parma comes to life. A place where the ancient [...]
An elegant 4-star hotel just a stone's throw from the historic centre, the hotel has classic furnishings with marble floors and paintings on the walls [...]
The Hotel is an elegant and functional four-star hotel, an ideal location for conferences and meetings, in fact there are 6 meeting rooms, the largest [...]
The 4-star hotel, a pillar of the city's history, is a renowned hotel where modernity and tradition blend with elegance and passion.Its elegant hall with [...]
A refined multifunctional structure capable of hosting shows, conventions, congresses and gala dinners thanks to its scenic features. The modularity of the space and the [...]
The Hotel Parma & Congressi is a 4-star hotel located in the west of Parma, about 2 km from the A15 Parma Ovest exit, 8.3 [...]
The museum headquarters of the Magnani Rocca Foundation in the villa of Corte di Mamiano di Traversetolo houses the prestigious collection of Luigi Magnani (1906-1984), [...]
Located on the northern side of Piazza Garibaldi, it unites, in the long façade of classical lines, two buildings of thirteenth-century origins. The Baroque tower, [...]
Modern and elegant 4-star hotel located 150 meters from the train station and the historic center.Inside, there is a fitness area, a seasonal outdoor swimming [...]
It is the largest labyrinth in Europe. conceived by the publisher, bibliophile, designer and collector Franco Maria Ricci and inaugurated in May 2015.The event spaces [...]
Opened in June 2018, after a careful two-year conservative restoration, APE Parma Museo, thanks to its large museum spaces spread over two floors, the elegant [...]
Paganini Congressi is the operating brand of the Paganini Consortium, founded in January 2015 on the initiative of the two main musical institutions of the [...]
The Teatro Regio, in addition to being one of the most renowned temples of opera music, also offers the possibility of hosting conferences, meetings and [...]
The Casa della Musica Sector is equipped with rooms that can be used for multiple functions ranging from music production to the organization of conferences/meetings, [...]
We are at your disposal every day from 9am to 7pm
We are closed only on December 25th and January 1st
always leaving your contact details and we will answer you as soon as possible
in the heart of the church of the Monastery still inhabited by the thousand-year-old Benedictine community of Parma
a journey through the masterpieces of its author
including all the fresco cycles that represent the art identity of the ducal city
The “Correggio500” journey shows the greatness of one of the most famous artists of the Renaissance by uniting
the scenographic celestial illusions that the Pittor Lieto reworked
with an explosion of unique works that rise to pierce the vaults of the churches with infinity and anticipate the great Baroque painting by a century
Correggio500 includes two stages that are located a short distance away: starting from the Monastery of San Giovanni Evangelista
with the exciting immersive installation by Lucio Rossi “Heaven for an instant on earth” and arriving at the Abbess’s Chamber in the Monastery of San Paolo
Ticket for the Correggio500 and Camera di San Paolo exhibition: single ticket €12.00.Reduced €8.00 for groups of at least 10 people
with the ticket of Pilotta Monumental Complex
Reduced €6.00 for residents of the Municipality of Parma (Mon
Pilotta Monumental Complex employees.€2.00 for school groups
qualified guides.With the Correggio500 ticket
discounted rates at the Pilotta Monumental Complex: Individual ticket €14.00; individual ticket for the Spezieria €2.00; Complex + Spezieria ticket €15.00
For groups: the same purchasing methods apply as for individual tickets
A maximum of 25 tickets can be purchased for each time slot
the group must be divided and tickets for 2 subsequent time slots must be purchased
Correggio’s itinerary in the National GalleryDuring the opening days and times of the Pilotta Monumental Complex
holders of a regular ticket for the Correggio500 exhibition will be able to visit Correggio’s works in the spaces of the National GallerySpecial ticket: €5The ticket can be purchased online or at the ticket office of the Pilotta Monumental Complex
Correggio500Project promoted by the Department of Culture of the Municipality of Parma
with the contribution of the Cariparma Foundation and the Emilia Romagna Region
in collaboration with the Benedictine Monastery of San Giovanni in Parma
Il Cielo per un istante in terra (Heaven for an instant on earth)Basilica of San Giovanni EvangelistaEvery day except Tuesday 9.30am -1pm and 3pm – 6pmVisit to the monastery
the exhibition and the basilica.Duration approximately 1 hourCLOSED March 5 and 21; April 13
Camera di San PaoloMon-Fri 9.30am – 6pm closed on TuesdaySat
Sun and holidays 9.30am – 6.30pmDuration 30 minutesSingle ticket for the two locations valid for the entire duration of the exhibition
In the 70s you came to play in Reggio, then you started coaching. "I can't say how many games I played as a player and coach, but to say that in my life I passed the Secchia 20.000 times, maybe I'm underestimating".
Let's go back to the derby, which certainly won't go to a coin toss. In fact, there are no extra time or penalties planned. "Correggio has the advantage of being able to go to the final even in the case of two draws or a win-loss with the same goal difference. Scandiano will have to do something more".
Technically, how do you see them? "I'll start by saying that for health reasons I've only followed them on television: they both seem to be in excellent physical condition. Correggio is a compact team, it has two good goalies, it has a good coach who puts them on the field well. I think I taught many of these guys the alphabet of roller hockey, then they added their own".
Any names? "I think Righi, Casari, Caroli and Pedroni could be very important, beyond the foreigners".
And Scandiano? "The coach is the great champion Enrico Mariotti, who I followed in the youth teams of the Azzurri: unfortunately I have never had the fortune of having him in my club team, because those who have had him can consider themselves truly lucky. If he manages to give the team what he knows, it will be difficult to overcome him. Now the ball goes to the center... and I turn on the computer to enjoy the double challenge".
who had carried out studies and works of considerable stature in Florence
first inheriting the marble practice from Giovanni and Amalia Dupré
and then jousting with the formal freedoms of Graziosi.Drawing and painting
Andrea carried out a careful examination of his own personality in order to fully understand the aptitudes he possessed
to which he added the certain fascination of the capital of the arts
and all of which made him choose the faculty of Architecture in Florence: a distant location and a university line hitherto never attended by a fellow citizen
He perceived that the vast ray of creative possibilities and radiating contexts
which would be offered to him by architectural endeavor
would involve him in a broad and desirable enrichment of culture
In his early returns to his homeland he would tell us about building and compositional aspects
he began to tell us about Maggio Street (but how so?)
the street where antiquarians and art dealers displayed and proclaimed paintings and prints
Among these he was particularly interested in the nineteenth-century pieces
with their character of immediate relevance
of enchantments no longer veiled by powders or vexatious gestures
And hence began his path as an exceptional capturer of the values of early modernity
until he became that “doctor magnus” of knowledge about the nineteenth century in an Italy that
like other countries that had now emerged from Romanticism
was reaching extreme heights of poetry and fragrance in painting
even before and after graduation (1970) began a systematic and formidable undertaking of studies and had the merit of accompanying every observation
every pictorial phenomenon of the national nineteenth century
with a historical and rationally significant corollary that had never occurred in Italian criticism
and that showed in his time how that certain widespread disinterest in the century of transformations was by no means forgivable
He can be said to have determined the absolute critical-philological values of each of the artists considered during his long and still lively work of exploration concerning the masters of the century of the Risorgimento up to the enigma-filled twentieth-century gates
His personal career soon records excellent publications and critical presence at specialized reviews
with consultancy for the New York and London offices
for the Art of the 19th Century Department at Christie’s International Auction House
thus completing with rigorous competence that panorama of Italian painting ranging from the Accademia to the Vero
even through systematic contacts with scholars and collectors
At the same time he himself exhibits works between abstractionism and figuration
such as the well-known “Leaves,” with the beloved supervision of Adani
held aristocratically in the princely seat of his hometown
of a convincing achievement that critically sees the great Andrea as the “master of masters” for a very high Italian period: that extended nineteenth-century arc that
leaving with honor the last neo-classicism of perfect forms
arrives at the heroic naturalism of the macchia and then travels the freedoms of realistic vigor
and the most intimate lyricism of luminous
The exhibition presents Baboni’s early creative path as a painter and then in wide expanse the careful selection of about fifty works divided by regional “schools,” among the most important in Italy: an exhibition of national value for a century that was truly a protagonist
They are among the fragrant works of the young Baboni
The plant cycle is much more intense than the only two examples we present here
but it fully reveals the vocational address of the painter
who would later be an architect and a great scholar of the real
The Tuscan sphere was a crucible of heralds
improperly called “schools,” that ferried painting from an academic education to an encounter with the real
and for this very rich in prehensile and emotional impulses
Andrea Baboni was the lucid critical organizer of a process that saw at its beginnings the unexpected but very vivid trials of Gelati
and afterwards the appearance on the scene of the other “progressives” of the Caffè Michelangiolo who fulfilled the brief but dazzling experience of the “macchia” and from there the subsequent expansion of that “after the macchia” that became
the admirable universe of the Tuscan mater
Substantial body then is the Tuscan regional school
where verist painting was born with the debate held at the famous “Caffè Michelangiolo” in Florence among some young revolutionary painters
Artists who were also fighting on the front lines in the wars of independence; who wanted to revolutionize the academic rules of the time by going on to paint the countryside
the rough and rugged realities of everyday life
The most prominent exponent was Giovanni Fattori
along with others scornfully called “macchiaiuoli” (Abbati
until we reach the twentieth-century dawn with Fattori’s pupil Plinio Nomellini
who would approach Divisionism in the early twentieth century
Here the name of the Apulian Giuseppe De Nittis stands out
who in Paris approached French currents but maintained the strong figurative framing he had learned in Naples and which made him famous
that a group of strong artistic personalities of the second half of the nineteenth century started up
bearing the names of Francesco Paolo Michetti
Their painting touches on the great outdoors
as well as the most intense human situations
Also on the great Neapolitan school lies the precise analysis of Andrea Baboni
who knows how to distinguish with acumen the inspirations and compositional and chromatic translations of these proclaimers of the innumerable varieties offered to sight
Cima and Giambellino made their poetics rest most sweetly on the soft hills of the terrestrial Venices
A few concessions were also given by Titian
the courtly language of Veronese and the seventeenth-century rumination covered those germs that finally resurfaced first in urban vedutismo and then in the freer vedutismo of the Guardi and their contemporaries
It took the “minor poets” of the Julian sea and enchantments to offer us a fascinating and prehensile anthology
itself absolutely enhanced by Baboni’s studies
and we point them out with lively pleasure
Poor and lagoon Venice is taken as a subject by the free painters of the maritime and Julian area
among whom stands out the strong and lyrical personality of Pietro Fragiacomo
also from a modest family but full of splendid pictorial enthusiasm
who succeeds in giving us beautiful visions of inland water lanches as well as of the marinas
He is joined by Guglielmo Ciardi with a painting of impetus
Venetian painters very attentive to the life of the people and the facts of the popular calendar were also Luigi Nono and Giacomo Favretto who illustrated customs and events
Among the best-known artists who held high the Piedmontese school of painting
were the celebrated master Antonio Fontanesi (1818-1882)
very rich in pathos; then Lorenzo Delleani
Carlo Pittara and his flankers in the Rivara School
all of whom were in some way linked to Enrico Reycend (1855-1928)
Intense attention to landscape was the application of a host of these and other young painters
who were able to compare themselves more directly with the Barbizon School and the French Impressionists: Andrea Baboni gives a careful analysis
In the Savoy capital there was a wide interest especially in painting
For the sake of curiosity we will say that Delleani was among the founders of the Circolo degli Artisti di Torino
which exceeded seven hundred adherents and which also saw Camillo Benso
Avondo and Olivero were imbued with an enveloping
always strongly linked to the enchantments of the elements and the breaths of the soul
Later the sublime Divisionist works of Giuseppe Pellizza da Volpedo and Carlo Fornara would give a quivering dignity
The very nature of this vast area and the imprecise - we would like to say available and polyvalent - character of its population must make us prepared for solutions among them
The nineteenth-century Emilia is rich in many names that we could hardly call “minor,” scattered among a thousand dedications and among them some very straightforward ones of smug verismo
sustained by theatrical practice and a taste for surprise
Nineteenth-century Emilia could have remained under the great poetic wing of Antonio Fontanesi
but the very temperament of the master did not keep him still for a routine profession; nor would Po Valley
agricultural practicality have sustained a lyrical naturalism as fragrant
This has been carefully noted by Andrea Baboni in his extensive critical work
We thus meet three different artists: Gaetano Chierici
who repeatedly allowed himself to be attracted by the innermost scenes of peasant families
and musicians; then the adventurous Parma-born Alberto Pasini
who was one of the first Italian orientalists and who brought here colors and scenes from the world “beyond the sea”; and as a third instead Stefano Bruzzi
who truly painted nature in its most varied aspects
let’s find out the best TV programs dedicated to art from March 17 to 23.On Rai 5 Monday
Tuesday the 18th at 7:30 pm will feature Mother
there will be an episode of Art Night entitled Correggio
will be broadcast Michelangelo Pistoletto: artist with unlimited reponsibility
an episode of Inspired and Schifano Constellation
while starting at 9 p.m.15 a marathon of The Nazis and Stolen Art will be broadcast (repeated Tuesday starting at 2:10 p.m.)
Raphael’s The Sistine Madonna - The Rediscovered Masterpiece returns
followed by The Shadow of Goya and two episodes of Masterpiece - Art Unveiled
Success with one round to spare: 61 points, +8 on the second placed Virtus Libertas and FalkGalileo. Not bad…
"It's a victory that comes from afar. We are a young reality, in our fourth year in the First Division. The recipe for triumph includes work, commitment, passion, ideas and skills. I would also add patience: only in this way can we build victories that were unthinkable three years ago. It's the right reward for everyone".
"In the second part of last season something was born, a thought was maturing inside us: by giving continuity and improving ourselves we could give shape to our dream. This year we were at the top 25 rounds out of 29 and we made a significant leap with four wins and a draw at the beginning of the second half of the season. But there were also difficult moments..."
"The margin on the second was +10, then oscillating at +6, +4, and three rounds ago we were only +2 from Virtus Libertas. I remember that after that Sunday at home I said to myself: it's our year, the path will only be a little longer and more tortuous, but we will be rewarded. Then they lost and we returned to +5 and on Sunday here is the definitive +8".
In the last one you will host Atletic Progetto Montagna who is playing for salvation.
"We must honor our values, we will play at our best. Then, at the final whistle, the party that started on Sunday with an aperitif will continue. Yesterday, the alarm was tough (laughs, ed.), but it's beautiful. The club is organizing a party for Sunday involving the youth sector, which has over 400 members".
"We wore them on Sunday: it says 'What does it matter if... the Promotion has arrived!', paraphrasing 'Damned Spring', we often sing it".
Are you thinking about the pitfalls of Promotion? "They don't scare us: with skills, ideas and the right people you can do things well and we have these ingredients. I will speak with the company soon, but there is the will to continue together and above all not to just be an extra".
Parma will celebrate the 500th anniversary of the completion of the cycle of frescoes in the great dome of the basilica of San Giovanni by Antonio Allegri
which has been given the title Correggio500
the frescoes normally visible only from a distance
The main novelty of the celebration is the installation Il Cielo per un Istante in Terra (Heaven for an Instant on Earth)
the result of Lucio Rossi’s photographic project
which created the entire photo-plane of the dome
located in the Refectory of the Monastery of St
allows visitors to admire details and subtleties of the dome’s frescoes that normally escape the human eye
preceded by a historical-artistic introductory section
including the portion visible only to the monks
the one facing the choir reserved for them: this is the area opposite the nave
where Correggio painted the Ascension of St
which was meant to be a model for the monks to be inspired by.Another key attraction is the Abbess Chamber in the Monastery of St
Correggio500 introduces an immersive experience called Hortus Conclusus 2.0
which allows visitors to explore the history of the monastery and Correggio’s frescoes
visitors can immerse themselves in the ancient landscapes and discover hidden details of the frescoes
This project is carried out in collaboration with ArcheoVea Impresa Culturale
Publics.icc and the University of Parma through the SFERA program
Correggio500 takes place between the Monastery of San Giovanni and the Monastery of San Paolo
The celebration includes accessible routes and state-of-the-art technology to ensure informed and engaging enjoyment
Vice Mayor and Councilor for Culture and Tourism Lorenzo Lavagetto stressed the importance of this initiative as the first multimedia project dedicated to Correggio: “Correggio500 moves between two and more places of art and history separated by just 500 steps
among the greatest of the Italian Renaissance
weaves a thread between particular monastic environments
have been able to preserve and hand down a taste
a history that identifies Parma as a city of art
The connection between these 500 years could only be the first multimedia initiative dedicated to the painter of Parma
Correggio 500 offers an in-depth look at his era of activity and an evocative popularization thanks to new technologies
with totally accessible routes and state-of-the-art technology
back to its 1500s will be an aesthetic pleasure
but certainly also an enchanting opportunity for knowledge.”
The event is promoted by the Culture and Tourism Department of the City of Parma
with support from the Cariparma Foundation and the Emilia Romagna Region
The Community of the Benedictine Abbey of St
while Lucio Rossi’s images add a prodigious touch
The Regional State Property Office and the Superintendence for Architectural and Landscape Heritage of Parma and Piacenza are collaborating to ensure the success of the initiative
which runs from next fall through early 2025
In addition to rediscovering Correggio’s fresco cycles
visitors can view other works by the artist at the Galleria Nazionale di Parma in the Complesso della Pilotta
where altarpieces and other paintings of great historical and artistic significance are on display
A single ticket allows access to both the Monastery of San Giovanni and the Monastery of San Paolo from September 9
offering an unmissable opportunity to explore the beauty and history of Parma through the works of one of the greatest artists of the Italian Renaissance
The flame of hope remains lit Basketreggio (4), who returns to smile thanks to the 78-61 away win on the Basket Voltone court (6): overturning the partial of the first leg, the verdict is postponed to the last day.
DR2. Sant'Ilario hits the "bella" in the round of 2 of Regional Division 69, beating Fulgorati Fidenza 65-26 at home with XNUMX points by Parente.
The series also impacts Campagnola, who beat Cus Parma in overtime with a score of 84-83, redeeming the -20 from game 1.
Season over for luzzara, beaten 86-74 by Parma Basket Project despite 31 points from Carpi, suffering their second defeat in as many games.
Relegates to DR3 Mulberry, who lost the decisive game 68 of the first round of the playouts 50-3 on the Granarolo field.
the city of Parma will inaugurate an exceptional and very singular exhibition: an unforgettable Fifth Centenary of Correggio’s creative cycle
the “secularia quinta” of the Painter’s extraordinary presence on the Italian art scene with his supreme masterpieces are flowing
Recall that the frescoes in the dome of St
John’s depict Jesus himself descending from heaven at the moment of the Evangelist’s death to greet him directly
and it is a gigantic painting all in foreshortening
the “Friends of Correggio,” active in Antonio Lieto’s hometown
have already celebrated with two fine editions the “Madonna of St
Francis” in 2015 together with various European scholars
bestowing on the latter the unpublished unveilings of Renza Bolognesi.With the celebration of the San Giovanni frescoes now also redeems the very strange silence on Correggio that connoted Parma when it was called “capital of culture.” The backbone of the event is the surprising and masterful photographic contribution of a master
who thus crowns a career of vast and ever-renewing periegetic experiences
perhaps not to be forgotten are the fruitful approaches to the marvelous dome that has always attracted attention and questions
along with an articulate and quite remarkable bibliography
Out of curiosity many years ago the writer
to arrange several newspapers on the floor under the dome
having his assistant then rotate him in circles moving him from his feet: it was evidently a way to “follow” the totality of the vision; years later he helped U.S
professor Geraldine Dunphy Wind lock the image of John astronomically on Dec
But the most curious encounter was that of Bruno Vaghi
who in 1962 at the end of a cycle of restorations was invited to climb inside the dome to shoot it in view of the distinguished volume later realized by Roberto Longhi
His daughter recounted her father’s surprise
and almost his rejection at having to reproduce on the stretched plane of the printed photograph the total curvature of the dome
The very attentive Vaghi declared that only continuous sequences could fail to betray Correggio
and he had a barber’s chair brought to the scaffolding
from which he then drew-with much emotion-his linked shots
but all within the limit of “contact as is.” We say this to warn that
reproductions of the dome need first of all an embricated and inexhaustible capacity for investigation
but then the due inner assimilation of the shooter who places himself in the very soul of the artist
and from there elaborates an imaginative composition
Marzio Dall’Acqua knows something about this when he edited Franco Maria Ricci’s very rich critical volume in 1990
And such a need for assimilation in these times was felt by Lucio Rossi when he came face to face with the incredible “fatherless” Painter(inscrutable
as Cecil Gould called him) who had soared to break through the millennial crust of finite space-that measurable
orthogonal and perspectival space-to plunge into the cosmic infinitude of the divine empyrean
populated by free spirits and quantum joyous
In the lap of the supernal cup those Apostles that Giuseppe Verdi so loved balance round and round in a supreme etimasia
on which the figure of the Word descends from the ineffable throne
and where - everywhere - dance the childlike realities that assure the fullness of innocence needed in the heavenly garden
capable of capturing the bursting holiness of the chèrubi and at the same time the mighty stateliness of the apostles
in the manner of the reversed Columbian quest between East and West
has punctiliously sought here to set up an offer of popular fruition of the lofty masterpiece by doing the reverse of Correggio’s creative path
by returning to the primary elements of the artist’s inner imagination and arranging them in a broad and flat form - paratactic to be sure
but total - so as to achieve participatory and initial immersion for the viewer
to the amazement of the composing of a work of art as he could never have imagined before the finished painting
This is our debt to Rossi: a debt that accompanies every visitor when he or she orients himself step by step on that “reductio al piano” that dared to think
such an expert fisherman of the parts of the real as was this Parma Master
He who poured out for a lifetime - and almost over the entire planet - his vocation to the image
brought the interior of the eye back to the visual substance that painting emanated: a fresco painting
swift as the soul’s jostling; peremptory in the celestial totality conceived as an event above time; astonishing in the throw of the motions
and most refined in extending infinitely to the spaces of elevation
Perhaps only Correggio could offer such a sideways and so inducing stimulus
in the very city that identifies with him in the world: a city that loves him
and that intemperate faith that has propelled him so many times into the spiritual afterlife with an energy as simple and immediate as it is incredible: laetentur coeli!!
when Antonio Allegri offered the Benedictine Community of the Monastery of St
the marvelous frescoes of the celestial vault
the painter in his early thirties had already gone through various but limited experiences of depictions suspended in divine pneuma: the covering of Mantegna’s Funeral Chapel gazing on the clouds; the Melozzian visions caught in the 1513 trip to Rome; the precise architectural-biblical attempt at San Benedetto al Polirone; the all-important opening of the heavens in co-presence with the earth in the “Madonna of St
Francis,” and finally that “painting on high” of the Camera di San Paolo where-after the sacrifices and virtues exercised-actual children guaranteed the puerile innocence that total has to be up there
How did Lucio Rossi technically own the re-transformation of every wheedled part of the painting and bring it back intact - we may say - to a serene enjoyment
The analytical answer will come from the exhibition itself (not before the opening) but now we can relate the simple yet prodigious statement of the so cheerfully enamored Lucius: “I want every visitor
to be able for once to walk in the sky!” In this circumnavigation every detail of Correggio’s painting will be captured emotionally
ecstatic emotion: to walk in the sky there
in the Benedictine Monks’ great refectory
and to perceive in it that sanctifying launch of the hidden St
John that pierces the Apostolic Confraternity and points straight to the heart of Jesus
So the citizens of Parma have restarted the lofty conversation with Correggio
guided with extreme dedication and limpidity by a well-aware Municipal Administration: by Mayor Michele Guerra
and by Councillor for Culture Lorenzo Lavagetto
The former already in charge of Cultural Assets and Activities for some time; the latter with unreserved enthusiasm in front of the exhibition that essentially revolutionizes the entire ductus of visual retrieval
and that opens in a general sense the use of the most modern tools
accompanied by the restorative guidance of the Master of Images
A big thank you to the abbot and religious of the monastery
We hope that the catalog will succeed in spreading awareness of the hitherto unforeseeable achievements regarding the proposed execution of the new footage
Lavagetto has made Rossi’s demonstrative science his own
and together the two allies can now well say that the spectacular montage of the Chapter House in the Monastery of St
and we repeat: it is not a photographic exhibition
but a true capturing of heaven brought to earth
delivered with admirable simplicity to each of the people; hoping that a series of public conversations may permanently penetrate civic understanding and adherence
values are accentuated: when reality and truth coincide
All technical explanations are reserved for the catalog and exhibition times
All images appearing here are by Lucio Rossi
The exhibition enjoys the commitment of the Culture and Tourism Department of the City of Parma
with support from Fondazione Cariparma and the Emilia Romagna Region
and is hosted by the Benedictine Abbey Community of San Giovanni Evangelista
We publish below, as anticipated inBruno Zanardi’s article last May 18
the article written by Francis Haskell in the book that Guanda published in 1990 on the occasion of the restoration of Correggio’s frescoes in the dome of San Giovanni in Parma
It will be followed in the coming week by the other contribution
that of Alberto Arbasino.Correggio was probably the most beloved painter - although Raphael was undoubtedly the most esteemed - by all people of taste in the 18th and early 19th centuries
This must be the reason why one almost always finds a note of apology in the words of those who dared to reveal their real preferences (and then
only in private correspondence) at the comparisons that were constantly made between the two artists
who wrote in 1759 to his colleague-acquaintance Anton Maria Zanetti about the Madonna and Child
Saints and Angels of Parma known as Il Giorno
is fairly typical of a way of thinking that had been expressed almost two centuries earlier in very similar terms: “Forgive me the divine ingenuity of Raphael
and have been tempted to say in secret to Correggio
’You alone please me.’” Indeed
it seems legitimate to say that in the contrasting works of these two artists-“two angels descended from heaven and returned to it,” in the words of Charles de Brosses in 1740-we saw represented two of the most important elements that coexisted
in the sensibility of the 18th century: the appeal to reason
all without exception-but they were not thought to constitute the highest goals to which an artist could aspire: moreover
some sharp commentators noticed that there was in them a potentially subversive element
Thus Winckelmann pointed out that an excessive love for Correggio could lead to a veritable denigration of Raphael and the accusation of being stiff and sharp
while a quarter century later Sir Joshua Reynolds sternly insisted that an even deeper truth may elude those who pay too much attention to the “little elegances of art.” Once compared to Michelangelo’s sublimity
not only “the exquisite grace of Correggio and Parmigianino,” but even “the correct judgment
the purity of taste that characterizes Raphael” dissolve altogether
understanding the lofty place that was held by Correggio in the eighteenth-century imagination is not only important for shedding light on an artistic taste radically different from that of today; it also offers us significant elements for exploring the changes that occurred in the consideration of moral values
It would certainly be fanciful to claim that the vicious mutilation of Correggio’s Leda (now in Berlin) can tell us as much about similar moral values as about the mental instability of Louis
who in the 1520s threw himself on the painting with a knife
this incident is revealing because it reminds us how strong an effect the eroticism that can be found in so many of Correggio’s paintings - of sacred subject matter as well as of more explicitly pagan themes - and which was recognized only indirectly by using
words such as “grace,” “softness,” and others already mentioned
this act of vandalism is interesting for another reason
It was committed in Paris on a painting that had previously been seen in Mantua
the dispersal throughout Europe of the works of this provincial painter seems to have begun already during his lifetime
when Federico Gonzaga of Mantua gave the four Loves of Jupiter-including Leda-(now divided among Rome
In the 17th century the acquisition of the Gonzaga collection by Charles I of England brought magnificent Correggios to London
with the dispersal of Charles I’s paintings
In 1745-1746 the sale of a hundred or so paintings from the Duke of Modena’s collection to Augustus III
was destined to make Dresden one of the great centers of Correggio’s cult
since the paintings sold included his most famous work-the Nativity (known as La Notte)
some very important paintings remained in Parma
either in the churches for which they were made or in semi-public collections
Although the Revolution and the Napoleonic wars were to end up removing many of these paintings
in the years immediately following Waterloo almost all of Correggio’s masterpieces found their permanent locations (it should be noted how little the painter is represented in the United States instead)
much earlier-prints had come into circulation reproducing the vast majority of Correggio’s most important paintings
It is hardly necessary to add that many paintings were forged and others were attributed to Correggio with the justification that they seemed to include at least some of the qualities found in his authentic works
In this way art lovers would have been able to form in most of Europe some idea of the characteristics of Correggio’s style even without traveling to Italy
where there were certainly fewer significant works by Correggio in the eighteenth century than in any other guiding nation
it was perfectly possible for a connoisseur to make a joking reference to Correggio’s “Correggio-ness,” since this allusion to the somewhat unctuous form of religiosity found in his paintings would have been easily understood
and it is on the basis of the reactions raised that we can measure the appeal they exerted
These Correggios were in Modena until the best paintings in the ducal collection were transferred to Dresden
An interesting essay could be written about the effects produced on the notoriety and economy of certain Italian cities by the presence of even very few important works belonging to one of the most admired artists
restaurants and postcard stores in Borgo San Sepolcro and Reggio Calabria should be grateful to Piero della Francesca and the author of the Riace bronzes
In the 18th century Correggio played a similar role for the people of Parma
where (in the words of the highly influential Cochin) “what is most worthy of attention by amateurs and artists is undoubtedly the number of Correggio’s works that can still be seen there.” More conscientious visitors could go in search of the other glories of that beautiful city (including
but the main reason they came was the opportunity to see Correggio
The painting that most spontaneously drew their admiration was The Day
but much enthusiasm also went to the Holy Family
for many visitors there was little else left to see
since they had to agree with Abbot de Saint-Non
who had come to Parma in the company of Fragonard
that “as for the famous domes of that great master
which are to be found either at the cathedral or at the church of San Giovanni
they are so ruined that nothing can be recognized in them anymore.” The frescoes in St
Paul’s Chamber were not accessible and practically unmarked
some connoisseurs made serious attempts to examine the great dome in the cathedral
John the Evangelist which (according to common opinion) was much better preserved
And what they saw to some extent disconcerted them
They had come to find gentleness and grace
and in their place they found monumental grandeur: according to Cochin the “figures are colossal
It would be difficult to find a convincing reason,” and Gibbon
thought that “the size of the limbs and the strength of the muscles give them a somewhat too athletic air.”
It was the German painter Anton Raphael Mengs who first resolved this apparent dichotomy in a series of studies devoted to Correggio (to whose works he returned more than once) that are among the finest and most important examples of art criticism to have been written in the 18th century
As befitting an artist who had been called by the names of Correggio and Raphael
Mengs followed the now-established principle of comparing the achievements of the two artists (and also of Titian) and ended up aligning himself with the most widespread conclusion
namely that Raphael should ultimately be considered the greatest
that Correggio was above all the painter of “grace.” But he totally transformed the character of the discussion by insisting that “grace” was not
an extremely enviable (but fundamentally secondary) gift of nature
acquired with all ease by the newly educated provincial genius that Correggio had been
Correggio must certainly have seen and been able to understand the works of Raphael and Michelangelo in Rome
for only this understanding could have accounted for the grandeur of the frescoes at San Giovanni Evangelista
Correggio may indeed have painted primarily with the intention of giving pleasure; but this pleasure was of a far higher order than had hitherto been suspected: “he was the first
who painted with the end of delighting the sight and soul of the Spectators
and directed all parts of Painting to this end”-and it is the word “soul” that is crucial in this sentence
For while it is not fair to say that Mengs explicitly acknowledged Correggio’s frescoes in Parma as his most important work
it is certainly to his credit that he made it absolutely clear (for the first time) that the nature of Correggio’s art cannot be said to be truly understood so long as those frescoes are ignored or looked upon only with dutiful respect as if they were exceptional (and slightly ungainly) additions to the sweetness of easel paintings
Mengs undoubtedly knew those easel paintings very well; no connoisseur before him had seen them in such large numbers
loved them deeply for all the reasons that had attracted other enthusiasts and was pleased that they were
and very tasty throughout”; but all this did not prevent him
from realizing that his “Drawing is of a grandiose character,” and that on the other hand the naked apostles in the dome of St
inexplicably colossal and too much like athletes
that it surpasses all imagination.” Indeed
Mengs went so far as to say that “none but Michelangelo knew as well as Correggio the science of form
and the construction of the human figure.” For Mengs
Correggio’s supreme quality was his mastery of chiaroscuro (in which he was superior to Raphael) rather than color
Correggio was a painter of great seriousness and culture
perfectly informed about the sculpture of antiquity and the works of his greatest contemporaries
His style and technique deserved to be studied carefully
had been done (to great advantage) by the Carraccis and other artists
Thus Correggio lovers who were aware of the assessment given by Mengs could now for the first time approach their favorite paintings without that slight sense of distrust peculiar to those who thought that Correggio’s spontaneous qualities should not merit such unconditional admiration
it had been proven that Correggio was as important a painter as he was delightful
Echoes of Mengs can be found in much of the critical literature on Correggio of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries
although in the case of Stendhal it is probably more fair to speak of plagiarism than of echoes
who ascribed such transcendental values to the pursuit of pleasure
referred to the “divine Correggio” over and over again in both his works published during his lifetime and those that appeared only after his death
although it is rather curious that he stated that “even today Correggio is almost unknown.” Stendhal traveled through much of Europe-for example
he was overwhelmed by the Correggios he saw in Dresden in 1813
not long after the retreat from Moscow-but since the French army had taken the artist’s finest paintings from Parma
he was able to admire his work in comfort right in Paris
Stendhal’s enthusiasm for Correggio was boundless
but his direct observations tended to be more stimulating in general than acute in individual details
of extreme interest in the context of our essay is the fact that speaking of his masterpiece
Stendhal explained that “the whole character of the Duchess Sanseverina is copied from Correggio (i.e.
she produces on my soul the same effect as Correggio)”; and also that the masterpieces in Dresden may have suggested to him two observations that proved to be among the most successful of the entire nineteenth century
Stendhal went so far as to say that these paintings “seen from a distance [...] give pleasure regardless of the subject they represent
they captivate the eye by a kind of instinct”-a concept that was echoed
by Baudelaire in his appreciation of Delacroix and by later generations of connoisseurs eager to emphasize “formal” qualities in art
And by observing immediately afterwards that “Correggio brought painting closer to music,” Stendhal went even further in the direction of nonrepresentational painting and
laid the groundwork for an analogy between these two arts that would in the future enjoy the same consideration that fell to the traditional notion
that the two sister arts were painting and poetry
No similarly important figures would have spoken of Correggio again with such unbridled enthusiasm
but the painter continued to be highly regarded for another generation at least
the presence of Night and his other paintings in Dresden had made his reputation particularly illustrious in Germany
and we have seen that it was a Dresden native
In Wilhelm Heinse’s curious 1787 novel
John the Evangelist are described in enthusiastic terms; and once in Paris between 1802 and 1804
Friedrich von Schlegel (whose brother August Wilhelm wrote a poem about the artist) proved a subtle
But by then the situation had changed somewhat
Guido Reni and other seventeenth-century painters who had always been regarded as Correggio’s illustrious heirs
and acknowledged that it had taken him “a long and very serious study to understand” Correggio
Like Stendhal (who probably derived the idea from him) Schlegel compared Correggio’s paintings to music
but he also recognized in them a majestic solemnity that Stendhal would surely have found misplaced
For Schlegel all the paintings were allegories
“whose task is to represent the struggle and conflict between the principles of good and evil” so that
in Night the beauty of the newborn Christ contrasts with the “guilt and darkness of this earthly world in decay and ruin,” exemplified - rather surprisingly - by the “hideous old man” and the elderly shepherd on either side of the painting
Schlegel was aware that the current was changing
educated in Rome [...] reproach this master not a little
because his compositions do not harmonize with their ideas about the correctness of drawing nor with their ideal forms.”
who had once dispensed so much earthly pleasure-as had happened again with Stendhal-
now had to be defended as a painter of faith
Hegel included him among the artists “at the apogee of Christian painting” and told the audience of his lectures that “there is nothing more lovable than Correggio’s naiveté
but religious and spiritual; and nothing there is sweeter than his smiling
unconscious beauty and innocence.” But this kind of approach could not last long
The cult of the “primitive” was destined to mark the beginning of the end of Correggio’s appeal: in fact
be respected for having freed himself little by little from the study of Giotto
and Perugino and for having-at least in his youth-retained something of the virtue and innocence that were recognized in those artists
Correggio was born with original sin (no one knew for sure who his master had been)
“We not painters,” wrote the Anglo-Italian Pre-Raphaelite Dante Gabriel Rossetti in 1849
mocking the famous “I too am a painter” that had been attributed to Correggio for more than two centuries
Rossetti’s comment was expressed in a sonnet “after a careful examination of the Canvases of Rubens
When Jacob Burckhardt wrote about Correggio in his 1855 Cicero
he acknowledged that “There are those who feel absolutely repelled by him and those who have every right to detest him.” But he thought it worthwhile to go to Parma “possibly in fine weather
if only to see the other works of art there
who by their kindness and courtesy succeed in making one forget the ugliest pavement in Italy.” How amazed previous generations would have been to read these words
To visit Parma “for the other works of art” and for the good manners of its inhabitants
He appreciated his splendid qualities as a painter and as a realist but
since Correggio lacked everything that can elevate us from a moral point of view so that
he did not realize that by showing all the figures on the dome of St
John the Evangelist in a realistic rather than an ideal perspective
he would end up making Christ look like a frog
It is also true that a few years later Burckhardt changed his opinion about these frescoes
and that in 1878 he was fully aware of their overwhelming grandeur
which he compared to that of Prometheus and the Titans
but his cautious reaction in 1855 is much more in keeping with a way of thinking that was widespread among those who then rejected Correggio’s art en bloc
Yet one cannot cite Correggio’s reputation solely as an example of what happened to some artists (such as Guido Reni) whose once uncontested fame was eclipsed in the mid-nineteenth century and regained vigor in the middle of our century
The reason is not only (as has been pointed out in the past) that his paintings were largely protected from the whims of the market
More interesting-and more important for an understanding of European culture-is the fact that his fame
It was the uncertainty about his biographical events that directly conditioned opinions about his art: for example
how could he have reached a peak of artistic creativity that was almost unparalleled
These questions alone triggered a fervor of antiquarian research that was not accorded to any other painter
not even Raphael: it began in the early eighteenth century and culminated in Abbot Luigi Pungileoni’s three priceless and intolerable volumes published in Parma between 1817 and 1821
Surely Correggio’s life must have seemed quite different from that of other artists: of all those very famous paintings painted in the nineteenth century to illustrate the careers of Renaissance artists
it appears that only those dedicated to Correggio on the basis of Vasari’s scanty account tended to depict him as poor
Correggio was certainly impoverished during the nineteenth century
Among the most admired paintings attributed to him in the Dresden gallery was a small Mary Magdalene (painted on copper)
lying in a landscape and in the act of reading a book
It would be difficult to exaggerate the ecstasies provoked by this work
and it was probably this same enthusiasm that encouraged Giovanni Morelli
a great but in some cases perverse connoisseur and lover of the tactic of “épater le bourgeois,” to deprecate this “brilliant and somewhat coquettish Magdalene” as the work of some Flemish artist of the late 17th or early 18th century
Never was a painting by an artist of the same weight-Raphael or Titian
for example-was so much admired to be later removed from its catalog during the ruthless (and usually necessary) purging processes introduced by new connoisseurs; and the effect was clearly devastating
Morelli for his part ensured that it was as ruinous as possible by placing his excommunication of Magdalene in the context of one of those comic scenes he was so fond of inventing: the painting’s defense is entrusted to a “stocky
ruddy-cheeked gentleman” and his weak-sighted daughter
who brings her golden lorgnette close to his eyes
declaring that “there is no other painting in the world so stupendous
that I prefer this beautiful sinner by Correggio to all the Madonnas of Raphael and Holbein.” Both are predictably indignant when Morelli tries to demonstrate by a close examination of the painting that the past enthusiasms of a Mengs or a Wilhelm von Schlegel are entirely irrelevant: their taste was
But Morelli forgets to note that his taste is also only the taste of his time
and those who are irritated by his truncated bravado-although they are bound to recognize his real powers of observation and his great flair for comedy-may derive some satisfaction from the fact that some connoisseurs later came to the conclusion that the picture (which was lost during the war) was ultimately painted by Correggio."
found it much more difficult to come to satisfactory conclusions about the essentials of Correggio’s art than about any other master: his nature was “simple
but somehow also morbidly excited”; his later paintings for churches were conventional and lacked freshness; Correggio was in his true element in Greek mythologies
And-in an ingenious attempt to resolve all possible paradoxes-Morelli declared that “no one has ever represented sensuality to us so spiritualized
as Correggio.” In the light of so much nineteenth-century criticism
we can see that Morelli also tries to gain the painter to the cause of purity
but without appreciating certain aspects of his art that might have been more authentic to him and his eighteenth-century admirers
The constant shifts in tone that we find in discussions of Correggio’s art in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries can be illustrated by a series of questions
the number of which could be further increased: did his training take place in the provinces or in a large city
Was Correggio facile and superficial or cultured and refined
Was his inspiration essentially pagan or Christian
Was he naïve or aware of his own means
The ambiguities at the heart of Correggio’s paintings represent a challenge to our idea of what we expect from art in general; they force us to consider
as happens with the works of very few other painters
what we really mean when we speak of aesthetic pleasure
when we discuss the importance of an artist
we generally think about his importance to other artists-not just those who look directly at his achievements
Correggio’s place in art history is also a dominant one
and if this essay were to deal with his legacy in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries
this place would have to be discussed at length
For the debt owed to Correggio by such first-rate artists as Federico Barocci
and Gian Lorenzo Bernini (to name but a few) is so great that we are entitled to declare that Correggio changed the entire course of art history
to the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries
that Correggio’s presence is no longer felt: indeed
during the eighteenth century traces of his influence can be found almost everywhere
But one feels that Correggio is no longer inspiring new and daring artistic achievements
as had been the case with previous generations
Correggio had been too easily absorbed into the blood of painters such as François Boucher and no longer carried with him a distinct presence; on the contrary
it was when Boucher’s influence began to wane and the new severity introduced by David seemed to assert itself unchallenged
that the impact with Correggio returned to original and fruitful significance
It was the talented (and strangely forgotten) Pierre-Paul Prud’hon who turned to Correggio for a more original and more fruitful form of inspiration than the way Correggio himself had appealed to Rococo painters
and it was Prud’hon who brought Correggio’s legacy to the field of nineteenth-century art
where it was eagerly picked up first by Diaz and later by Henner
These are very small names when compared to those of Annibale Carracci and Bernini
but it becomes interesting to bring them all together
Correggio is certainly one of the few great artists whose influence has always been beneficial
Art history is littered with the names of Raphael and Michelangelo’s victims
but Diaz and Henner are surely much better artists than they would have been had they not discovered Correggio
John the Evangelist will soon make it clear that its importance demands much more of our attention and that
we will find ourselves (in the words of Mengs) in the presence of a “style so grand that it surpasses all imagination.”
Excluded for centuries to the frequentation of citizens and people the summer retreat of the Roman Pontiffs
knows from today a new and welcoming role of choral invitation as a gaudy seat with its furnished historical rooms and with the celebrated complex of its famous gardens
but particularly as a shining wing devoted to the most intense fruition of absolute masterpieces of the Vatican Museums
the Papal Villa with its related dependencies
by virtue of its belonging to the Church State
had experienced during World War II the reception of thousands of refugees and entire families escaping Nazi reprisals
About 12,000 people were able to find protection and food thanks to the intense activity promoted by Pius XII
and - a touching detail - 40 children were able to come to light on the pope’s own bed: that bed that can still be seen there today
in spite of all diplomatically assured guarantees
mistook certain bombing raids directed at German positions
and there were several hundred casualties within the Vatican’s extraterritorial zone
This washing of heroism and blood is rightly remembered with a documentary and photographic exhibition in the first rooms on the first floor that visitors can walk through to become aware of a life that was not only formal within the solemn Palace whose facade dominates the high square of Castel Gandolfo.After Paul VI died there (1978)
the seat on the Alban Hills had many appearances by John Paul II
and then experienced the retirement from papal office of Benedict XVI (at 8 p.m
This gives us the impetus to space briefly over that territory-paradise that are the Castelli Romani: which extend south of Rome and are geologically formed by a very vast volcanic area that - resting - left very fertile highlands and undulations
Two lakes remained from as many ancient craters: the one at Nemi where Caracalla had the vaunted amusement ships laid
and the larger one at Albano on whose shores the emperor Domitian had his superb villa built
and in Roman times an admirable conduit was built to regulate the waters
which today offers an acrobatic archaeological tour
But it is the entire landscape that enchants
dotted with the small settlements of the producers of the famous wine and ringed by the historic villas of the great centuries that are often fascinating anthologies of architecture
This glimpse of the poetic landscape where so many painters paused allows us to return to the “aedes pontificum,” which today seeks its own future by calling forth animated throngs of visitors
at the behest of Pope Francis (who never goes on vacation) the papal residence
while preserving some particular articulations such as the Vatican Specola
articulated between architecture and nature
and takes on the rare but extraordinarily effective task of presenting and deepening - from season to season - some of the works of art from the countless art collections of the Petrine See
the visit of the museum itinerary within the Leonine walls
sinks the daily guest into an ocean of elements that make the perception of even the most famous titles blurred and takes away the deep participation
the understanding necessarily linked to the era
And sometimes even the scholar fails to decrypt
at Castel Gandolfo (whose name is linked to a Ligurian family that held the feudal mandate in its time) a very special offer will take place from now on: that of a direct
enveloping encounter with very few works of the highest quality
brought here in their best condition and accompanied each one by an ad hoc environment
brightly lit and lavishly rich in critical
Here - almost paraphrasing the sought-after sigh of the restless Doctor Faust of Goethean memory - every eager soul of art will be able to exclaim at the time of the pause the"stop
you are beautiful," as an authentic depth of meditation and satisfying nourishment of the substance of a cogent message
In the current summer 2024 this experience can be experienced on two works
both chosen by supreme masters of the Italian Renaissance: Antonio Allegri known as Correggio
who thus accomplishes a truly avant-garde test in the relationship with the public
a decisive and new role of select exhibitions at Castel Gandolfo
particular credit was due - also from the Vatican Museums - to Andrea Carignani
head of the Exhibitions Office; Matteo Mucciante of the Conservator’s Office
who took care of the lighting; and Barbara Bellano of the Superintendence of Architectural Heritage
Alessandra Rodolfo in their respective specializations follow in evidence
As a note for the record we will say that Correggio (Antonio Allegri; Correggio
1489 - 1534) was born and died in his small town
but worked especially in Parma with his famous frescoes in domes
and enchanting love myths; while Raphael Sanzio (Urbino
1520) pursued his well-known career first in Florence
when Allegri went down to Rome with Gregorio Cortese to collect the “Sistine Madonna,” and they almost certainly discussed pictorial preparations
On the same occasion Michelangiolo showed Correggio his “Moses,” who - exiled from the no longer foreseeable tomb of Julius II - stood covered and disdainful in the sculptural cavern of Macel de’ Corvi
Antonio reproduced him in his “Madonna di San Francesco” (1514-1515)
This was the summit canvas of an overall apparatus that closed the apse of the sodal church of Santa Maria della Misericordia in Correggio; seen there at the bottom was the “lifelike” statuary composition of the Madonna and Child-whose extremely valuable bust is still at the Museo Civico di Correggio
a polychrome terracotta work by Desiderio da Settignano - flanked by the two Allegrian canvases of St
Bartholomew in the act of offering Jesus the skin that will be taken from him in martyrdom
Correggio’s canvases were studied at the time by the writer
with important contributions from Rodolfo Papa and Vatican restorers: to all went the open praise of Antonio Paolucci and David Ekserdjian
In this exhibition the canvas is proposed by Fabrizio Biferali’s excellent exegesis
Here is the Redeemer in glory appearing for us most illuminated
as beatifying a vision as we can ever see in a picture gallery
and he is exposed in direct view with his unusual
very singular iconography: he is naked to the chest
sitting on the iris and holding his feet on the clouds while divine light expands behind Him; He
powerfully covering the whole dimension of the square canvas
opens His arms unfolding His protective and welcoming hands with a gaze that we can define as universal
We have to think about where the painting was: inside a Confraternity of Mercy
and raising children abandoned by families
accomplishing a sum of works of charity that cannot fail to move us
The painting stood high and this led the painter to some obvious and final adjustments that help the view from below
In Paradise He is surrounded by those children whom He loved so much and whom we
in their marvelous expressions and in their dissolving within the celestial radiance: a masterpiece achieved by an “unparalleled master” as Guercino called him
and on whose canvas we can find the astonishing chromatic preparations that only Raphael - in the history of painting - could equate
And it is on the chromatic preparations that the most exhilarating discovery of critical reading took place
with an extremely topical ability that really takes us inside the pictorial process
of a Correggio who aims at the final result and the last pigments through a gradation of successive colored veils
which make the visible matter so tender and strong
declares “di stupendissima maraviglia.” Thus
thanks to the lesson of Claudio Rossi de Gasperis
we too can experience the angelic emotion of being together with the “flying children - in the limbs of the saints - wandering splendors - to the choirs of children
of loves,” set to music by Arrigo Boito
The stupendous and magnificent retablo is the first in the series of ten scenes commissioned from Raphael by Pope Leo X de’ Medici as early as 1514 (a year after his election) for which the Urbino executed the fundamental cartoons to scale to life
engaging in them ingeniously for two years
The subjects range from the last episodes of the Life of Jesus after the Resurrection to some of the Acts of the Apostles and the early Martyrs
thus completing the grand theological design of the entire Sistine Chapel
where - on special occasions - the tapestries
can still be displayed in place of the painted drapery
the entire artistic reception in Rome was imbued with the heroic rumblings of Michelangelo’s vault where divine acts and biblical genealogical links were not simply illustrated by way of narrative-as in the Perugian proposals on the walls-but expanded in the energetic power of heavenly power
creative and imperative will of the Eternal Father
Raphael felt he had to respond to such intensity
and Alessandra Rodolfo points out how he turned away from the continuity of effort in the frescoes of the Stanze and concentrated on the cartoons requested by the pope
Leo X had been elected by being merely a deacon and had no authentically forged training on the “magnalia Dei,” so Sanzio must have sought appropriate assistance that enabled him to capture the profound meanings of the handing over of sacramental powers by the Risen Jesus to the apostles
and consequently bring out the intimate heroic transfiguration of these early Priests
This quest is also part of Sanzio’s excellent culture
Michelangelo’s innic vault declined the Beginning
The scenes of the Florentine team on the walls carried the Liberation of the Chosen People
And now the series of Tapestries gave the thrust of the life of the Church after the reopening of the Garden and the offering of the universal Forgiveness to all accessible
Raphael’s intelligence thus willed the composition of the scenes
as a powerful counterpoint to the biblical and Christological epos
soon after Christmas 1517 were able to admire the first arrivals in the Chapel
The cartoons had been sent to Brussels for execution in cloth at the famous master Pieter van Aelst
To explain the execution technique is a very complex thing: let us say that the tapestry is a strong fabric
which is formed by colored threads of silk
which make up the vast scene painted in the delivered cartoon
the execution takes place in front of the color cardboard
which is always very close; a large tapestry can take more than a year of work by skilled men and women
The fabrics were then lined and served as sumptuous furnishings hung along the walls in halls and rooms
The figurative subject of the Miraculous Fishery is paradigmatic in several ways: first
Jesus sits himself in Peter’s boat-theological allusion to Christ’s everlasting presence in the life of the Church-and also shows Peter’s two gestures: disillusionment due to his own work and then obedience to Jesus “at your word” that produces the miraculous catch of one hundred and fifty-three large fish
We note that the prodigious harvest fully involves the second boat
who-as will always happen in the ordinary life of the Church-are the ones who obtain the results of divine Grace
Here Raphael has given us a powerful and rich scene
where the great rotulus of the apostolic presence extends throughout the entire vision and ends in Christ
It is extraordinary to admire the silvery-blue reflections of an execution directly prompted by Raphael’s cartoon
and to find there the golden flickers in the waters A more analytical reading
which we are afforded by this exposure in full light and at the right height wants to see from the extreme lower edge the “mother earth,” the fruitful creation that God the Father delivered to the progenitors with the order to govern it
Thanks are due to the Management of the Vatican Museums
As already written in the December 31, 2023issue of “Finestre sull’Arte,” in the 1980s Parma was becoming a small restoration capital in Italy
a priest with great organizational skills (to him we owe the decades-long and prescient maintenance of a conspicuous part of the churches and religious buildings of the city and province)
following an advice from the president of the Pontifical Commission for Sacred Art in Italy
had managed to bring two former directors of the Central Institute for Restoration (= Icr)
The problem Monsignor Grisenti was trying to remedy through Rotondi and Urbani was the proprietary attitude the local Soprintendenza and the local University had toward the Church’s heritage
a huge scaffold had been stationed in the presbytery of Parma Cathedral that was supposed to be used for the restoration of Correggio’s frescoes
A restoration that was supposed to be carried out in function of a messianic exhibition on the Emilian artist curated by the local University and financed by the City of Parma
but to be finally realized it would have to wait about thirty years and for the Superintendence to organize it in 2008: thirty years of controversy
But also deserted for a few years was the scaffolding that was to be used for the restoration of the west portal of the Baptistery
thus foreshadowing an affair not unlike the one taking place in the Duomo for the Correggio frescoes
Hence Monsignor Grisenti’s idea that the Church of Parma should exercise its right-duty as owner always
keeping its actions at an indisputable technical level
That assured by the consulting dio Rotondi and Urbani
in fact those who founded the science of heritage conservation in relation to the environment.An extraordinary affair in many senses
which unwittingly gives rise to an important and entirely new cultural fact in the whole of Italy
and technical culture that convinces the local Cassa di Risparmio to finance the restoration of one of the most important monuments of the medieval West
And it will be the first intervention conducted in Italy on the basis of a restoration project defined with every precision in terms of time
An example of reliability in whose wake stands a young food industrialist
founder of “Parmacotto,” who in 1989 offered to finance the overhaul
of the restoration conducted some 40 years earlier of Correggio’s frescoes in the dome of the abbey church of San Giovanni
which was followed by a tour of the frescoes from the scaffolding that attracted about twenty thousand people
about the fertility of what was happening in Parma
the restoration of the frescoes and mosaics of one of the holiest
most mysterious and important monuments of our Middle Ages
An intervention conducted under the supervision of the then Director General of the Vatican Museums Carlo Pietrangeli
whose execution was followed almost daily by one of the great art historians of the 20th century
A restoration that half the world talked about and that made Rosi a historical figure of cultural patronage in the twentieth century
Actor in these restorations was the writer
(then) a young restorer trained in the international closed-number school of an Icr that was still an undisputed international point of reference
and who not long before had been commissioned to restore one of the most celebrated monuments of classical antiquity
It was a restoration that had put me in direct contact with the Scuola Normale of Pisa and with a celebrated archaeologist
From the then superintendent of the Imperial Forums Adriano la Regina
as well as those who as it were “came to visit the Column” such as
returning to Correggio’s frescoes in the dome of San Giovanni
who proposed publishing them in an elegant gray silk slipcase and with “loose” full-page photos taken by one of the photographers of the Kunsthistorisches Institut in Florence
and to entrust the scholarly part of that task to a distinguished cultural historian
to write a story in which the frescoes would be read in narrative rather than academic form
And it is the photos and texts that are published here
saving them from the oblivion to which they would otherwise have been destined
2023 issue does “Windows of Art” made downloadable the link to the short film in which Giuseppe Bertolucci asked his father Attilio to tell him about his relationship with the Correggio of Parma and also the same issue of the magazine in which I mentioned the senseless waste made of it all
A criminal affair that can be said about elsewhere
The symbols of the evangelists Luke and John
and after the article written by Francis Haskell
the one written by Alberto Arbasino for the book that Guanda published in 1990 on the occasion of the restoration of Correggio’s frescoes in the dome of San Giovanni in Parma.After Stendhal’s “divine
divine!” (“what seductive grace
the grace of expression combined with that of style
how many decades of cringing and frowning: Correggio too graceful..
But That Famous Light Of Correggio - soft eroticism of complexion and skin like youthful autumnal fruit
to be touched - seems to spread a musical enchantment and poetic warmth less and less garrulous
And those illustrious picture galleries seem warmed as well as illuminated by the wall of Correggios
as by a flashing fireplace in the row of dynastic salons
with such an elegant little head: an equine mise-en-abîme...)
will not be ready to divide himself between “impudichi et dishonesti” loves and a wife “who is a true saint to put up with me”?...And from the sensual ee gallant collecting of Rudolph II (old Prague...)
to the devotional altarpiece sampler of Augustus III (old Dresden...)
already in the context of the four Correggesque Madonnas in that supreme Saxon Gemäldegalerie one understands a character of “our Antony” in common with authors who instead of rewriting the same novel thirty or forty times continually change thematic and technical approaches
such as for example Thomas Mann from the small formats of Tonio Kröger and Death in Venice to the vast cone domes without pendentives
such as Joseph and his Sisters Brothers and Doktor Faustus
Morning shovels of “outside day” and night shovels with limelight; shovels with few still people as in Castelfranco Giorgione
or with several saints in elegant movements
such as Dosso Dossi’s Giorgio and Michele
in the three dresdens halls of the mind-boggling collectible slalom between Raphael’s Sistine Madonna and Botticelli and Mantegna and the Venetian maxima
passing and repassing between Cosmè Tura’s Sansebastiani and Antonello da Messina’s Sansebastiani that serve as wings
In Budapest’s triple museum parthenon
in a verandah of madonnas beyond a hall of dark
the Correggesque one suckles the Child very profusely beside a dubious Barocci and vis-à-vis Raphael’s Esterhàzy
A very devotional collective or ensemble: underneath the madonnas thread one imagines children’s cribs and goodnight kisses
But also a “ladies’ breakfast,” since the only man there is a young Pietro Bembo portrayed by Raphael
as precisely in a ladies’ lunche where there is one man for every ten women because managerial husbands have told each one “you go,” and they are at the table with only one talk show scholar
dear Leda has traveled more than many of our worldly aunts put together
now the immediate competition here in the salon will result on the one hand with Titian’s Venus to whom the curly-haired musician goes playing the organ in pastoral mood..
with the nervousness and restlessness of the Farewell to the Mother of a Lottish Christ (“Mother..
...”) in the discomfort of a symmetrical porch full of movement but open to all winds
And a Prado catalog may say that Correggio
“aunque no sea propriomente un manierista
su pintura anticipa este estilo.” But around this Leda with her lively and beautiful “cygne d’autrefois,” certain smaller ledinas raise younger birds in a Swan Lake that undoubtedly pulls more to the point than Tchaikovsky’s
attempting a visit to the Correggios in today’s Italy
could perhaps tell that the Danae no longer dwells in the sinister and landslide Villa Borghese almost like Dresden under bombs
and will emanate a perhaps silvery glow and no longer “so yellow when it is yellow” after the restorations
while the Martinis and Christs and Madonnas of Emilia reside accumulated or stacked in an ephemeral and metallic cul-de-sac
at the National Gallery of Parma renovated and remansarded like a Pavesini where one has to walk miles of ladders and U-paths among the gigi rats in order to get a coffee
But arriving in Maria Luigia’s capital city
a sentimental art traveler will first of all be enchanted by the inventions and whimsy of the Camera di San Paolo
a post-Gothic parasol of greenery and neo-pagan gazebo for a singular Abbess with an evidently strong spirit
Other than those Jeanne Moreau sheepish nuns between Diderot and Monza...
Here the heads of the Ionian abbeys still fresh from the undertaker’s bench stretch with the volutes of the horns-capitals the napkins that hold up the “good” table services just below the mythological and otherwise classical “conversation pieces” that will give a thematic start to the causerie at breakfast
an anticipation with enlargement of that elementary but sublime expedient of erotic voyeurism later variously called “oeil-de-boeuf ”or “glory hole,” and equally appreciated by Marcel Proust as by the paraculets in the booth at Ostia: sexuality being transferred and concentrated from the usual organs deputed to it into a Gaze that “penetrates” through a “hole” that is not carnal but optical
Even exalting as “Dionysian” what without the Forum and the Obstacle could be traced back to that model of weekday anticlimax that is the nudist beach
Within the oculons of greenery in the high gazebo
the movement of the correggesque babes may prompt questions about motivations and destinations-nowadays one would say the target audience-because they are rather developed
Not “holy asses ”or “golden” to tenderize mommies of sweethearts
and push them to mindless purchases of baby powder and fluffy family-type toilet paper
that first thread of beard with change of voice that heralds forthcoming-though inexperienced-satisfactions for the lady: themes mostly played out by Colette and Gide
if the good seed doesn’t die will come up the budding wheat
“To change the green meadow / Into a forbidden play
/ But did I succeed?” (Sandro Penna)
Perhaps those cheerful asses at the most critical age for the growing child were not really meant to delight an eccentric lady with sodomitic tastes
Perhaps the sage and worldly Abbess Piacenza showed rather a polite regard for certain of her friends who came to make conversation: old sodomites who were dowdy
perhaps secret collectors of who knows what jailbird Sansebastians
perhaps gastronomes accustomed to the joke about Culatelli and Felini with the son of the charcuterie man who understood everything “so shall we make good weight?” But proud
of their friendship with the Lady-one of the few salons that can still be frequented-and no less assiduous with their little gift at the first communions of the villagers’ little ones
“Such good gentlemen with the youth!” very conservative and well-meaning
And since Parma seems to have changed very little over time
their amiable conversations can be well reconstructed
How many elegant similarities (have you noticed?) between Stendhal’s affectionate judgments of Correggio
and an astonishing forerunner of his (will he ever have read it?) that is Wilhelm Heinse’sArdinghello and the Happy Isles
youthful journey-conversation through the most Renaissance and passionate Italy of “the three great apostles of art
and Correggio” where “some miserable little town
rich only in a celestial painting by Raphael or Correggio
shines like a star in the face of the immense riches of the North
nocturnal deserts where no beauty appears...”And just in Parma
comparing Correggio’s Dead Christ already in San Giovanni to Raphael’s Borghese Deposition: “In my opinion
he has surpassed all and holds the first place like a Sophocles
emotion and simplicity with which he treats the episode
renouncing his usual magnificence of color and his smiling manner
like an inconsolable lover; the tender mother’s grief over her son’s terrible fate borders on the bitterness of death
A murky light envelops them; everything is life-size.”
recalling the voluptuous Correggio: "Raphael
never expressed the delight of love-perhaps the highest subject for all the figurative arts-with the deep harmony of soul and serene imagination that manifested in his Io the great Lombard
without fame invites and Ariosto’s neighbor
even if he should have offered him occasion for it the small and ancient Leda with whom Jupiter mates in the form of a swan
an excellent and voluptuous group that you Venetians have placed just in front of the entrance to the Library of St
Mark’s as a demonstration of your free thinking.“..And a fixed idea: ”Ah
and Michelangelo’s knowledge of the human body could be united in one being
we would undoubtedly have the ideal painter
such as perhaps even the Ancients themselves never had." Sturm und Drang
Half a century before the Charterhouse of Parma..
Not for nothing is Ardinghello actually a young Frescobaldi in anti-Medicean exile between old Titian’s atelier in Venice and always incognito at a ball in Genoa where he ends up in the closet of the beautiful Lucinda
a copy of Raphael’s delightful Madonna della seggiola and the work of one of his best pupils
a lamp was burning; another was lit in front of a Magdalene
certainly the work of that great Lombard genius who was Antonio Allegri; there was an indescribable grace in the features of her face
a great delicacy in the color;her blond hair
was as if deliciously moved by a light aura over her young breasts
In front of each painting was a flowering plant: in front of the Magdalene
buds and roses in bloom; in front of the Madonna
lilies and carnations that she herself had grown in winter
On a small table in front of the Magdalene
the necessities for writing...” And after numerous objective correlatives - erotic power of Correggio
- “in the end I was no longer master of myself
I shed my clothes and gradually approached with my whole body the most beautiful thing in the world
With the tips of my fingers I peeled back the shirt on either side
exposing the breasts that smiled at me with their innocent buds
as if begging to be spared in their virginity; I lifted the sheet from the dry
slender feet and beautiful legs to the middle of the thighs that rose upward round and opulent as columns
and under which it remained imprisoned....” (W
An Italian History of the Sixteenth Century
Ardinghello also willingly reconnects Correggio with music
(But Heinse’s favorite authors are the same ones reevaluated by Riccardo Muti and Amadeus: Salieri
and even Cimarosa (about the Madonna of the Bowl)
Is it possible to mystify oneself to such an extent
Excellent charades and quizzes for the Abbess’s elegant guests: which musician will most deeply correspond to Correggio
And by sovereign mythological suavity one should inexorably arrive at Francesco Cavalli
but of whom Stendhal could not have known the sublime works - La Calisto
L’Ormindo - having missed all the Venetian carnivals at the theaters of San Cassiano
Sant’Apollinare and San Moisè
as well as the shootings between one beloved Mozart and another in those arcades of updated Stendhalism that are Glyndebourne and Santa Fe
where Cavalli’s baroqueOrion “en plein air” was transformed into a constellation up in the summer New Mexico sky..
because it brings together two such Correggesque themes as the Loves of Jupiter and the Hunting of Diana (there she is on the mantelpiece in St
while not for nothing did a Callisto by Dosso Dossi keep good company with Danae in Room XIX of the Borghese Gallery of yore
A love among the most “intriguing,” even for a Parmigianino after Fontanellato
since while Diana a little bit is lost contemplating Endymion’s sleep
Jupiter disguises himself precisely as Diana to seduce the nymph Callisto
who remains delighted and would like to start again with the real Diana
with introducing into it such filthy lusts
form worse sayings?” And comes Juno to question her
between thy Diva and thee?” And the bawdy nymph
which I would not tell thee.” Having figured it all out
and Jupiter in turn into Ursa Minor (so many constellations for outdoor festivals!)
while Pane certain satyrs behave very badly with Endymion deep in the woods (“Bound to the maple trees
and the Abbess Piacenza’s friends would have been delighted
Stendhal claims that “tout le personnage de la duchesse Sanseverina est copié du Corrège.” But won’t it be Clelia
And aren’t the Sanseverina and Fabrizio rather Bronzino
One can go on for evenings and evenings...
And about Correggio’s “intriguing” trips to Rome or elsewhere
with what relish would one recall the controversies about Luchino Visconti’s trips to the United States
when he was making directions so identical to Elia Kazan’s Tennessee Williams that documentation could not have sufficed
it is known that Luchino had done all of America before the war
whereas afterwards sympathy for the PCI would have created problems...So how do you explain certain striking coincidences even for those who went to and from Broadway every year like Garinei and Giovannini?..
how difficult is historical certainty even about contemporaries: other than Vasari
when nothing is known about a “Nazi period of Luchino,” removed by family and old friends
however a source of the “rightness” in the last “Bavarian” films
elaborated on a first-hand but evidently immediate personal testimony
And about the conjectures around the perhaps alleged iconographic programs of perhaps “casual” collectors
who knows how many comments and smiles: this year I put Rops’s etchings next to Klimt’s heliographies because it seems witty to me in the bathroom; this corner has a difference in formats because under Klinger’s centaurs go the tall bottles while under Fantin-Latour’s Daughters of the Rhine will come the low glasses..
Nèi and cicisbei of the sixteenth century..
in the intermittences of a Tangier or Patmos of the spirit...
be the same old local friends of the Abbess
those “ambiguous vigilants in robes next to wingless angels” (Longhi) on the dome of the friars of St
now restored to its splendor after centuries of invisibility through filth
for Berenson an emergence of Michelangelo in Florence
was “all but inevitable.” But by no means was it predictable
“in the petty municipalities of Emilia”-and in that petty commiserative “petty” is usually summed up all the meanness of the Universe-“the delightful flow we know as Correggio.” And the very curious noun “stream” (mica always “of consciousness”) mostly means a very consistent and very abundant liquid jet
referred to as “a miracle” in disused surroundings as “uninspiring.”
Yet Berenson identifies flow and miracle with the irresistible seduction of a charm so feminine as to anticipate the eighteenth century and aim “miraculously ” at the most exquisite Rococo..
completely cutting out the impressive Giants of this dome
where the referents and competitions of an artist in his early thirties could mainly turn out to be the Sistine Chapel and its not at all gallant and chic homons
impossible to forget what Maria Callas replied about the supposed Nietzsche in her dizzying Medea: “The greatest concern was the weight of the train
to make the folds fall right in the sudden turns on the steps.”)
on the other hand: “Correggio’s dome enclosing the Ascension into Heaven of Christ in the church of San Giovanni in Parma belongs to a special kind of pictorial tactics and is a work in itself which for pictorial effect one cannot compare with that of Raphael without doing him wrong
helpful winds that play caressingly with his broad purple cloak.”
one can thus feel the grip of the elegant illusionistic artifice whereby from the side of the audience (i.e.
the faithful) Christ’s flight actually appears as an Ascension: and in fact the young James the Lesser
having already taken leave and bid farewell and exhausted the pleasantries
without lingering to wave bye-bye as at the station until the train has disappeared around the bend
the monks could glimpse the optical reverse of the omelet
and an opposite situation: this shabby-looking old man - John the Evangelist in Patmos - already submerged and crushed in who knows what up to the waist (by punishment
like an Atlas of William Blake or Samuel Beckett
now dumb and despondent and Fin de partie after repeating the thousand times
“all the weight of this stuff must rest on my shoulders
while you go about night and day having fun.”..And the unhappy old man sees this rather dreadful thing: a depressed old Jesus (the steaming thirty-somethings of yesteryear...) falling head over heels disheveled and bewildered on his side
not like those aviatrix aviators who in 1930s movies glided laughingly over a pile of hay there ready
but without looking his down and without minding the direction..
characteristic and widespread even today when one has to leave Patmos: perhaps
a resurrection of the flesh with a body now a hundred years old (unlike the Endimions and Actaeons and Adoni who died young and romantic and neo-classical and splendid)
and a future all in the company of other old saints and saints who are no fun at all (Jerome
in an afterlife where the best Gregorian will perhaps already have been abolished as in the hereafter
replaced by the San Remo outtakes performed by Rag
Brambilla on the electric conciliar guitar
with rhymes in “are ”and in “ato”...And if the Tristan and Pélleas la Carmen at the Teatro Regio were not heard
it’s over: and to think that it was there just a stone’s throw away from St
“How to make them fly?” was a theme that typically troubled Carlo Emilio Gadda
Leonardesque aspects of human flight (cone without dome)
and because of the psychological implications that led him to identify with the intimate problems of mythical beings: will the Hippogryph really be happy
every time the little Achilles jumps on his scantily clad back?..
Questions suspended in midair even in this dome where all the onlookers behave as if in a very civilized and well-attended sauna or hammam..
if it were not for all those gangs of little boys there between their legs asking and demanding...And if you look up as you do when you exclaim “Juste Ciel!” on the beach in Copacabana
amidst the demands for cigarettes and change
you might attempt some Leonardesque musings -- interspersed with “watch your bag!”
“leave those shoes alone!”-remembering Gadda exclaiming “such aesthetic grossièreté cannot be allowed to pass!” about “Alfieri’s flight” in Carducci’sOde to Piedmont
where the verses are alas thus: “There came that great one
like the great bird / whence he was named;and to the humble country / above flying
Italy / he cried to the meek ears...”
“A problem arises here that the poet did not ask himself
whereas he would have been bound to ask it,” Gadda observed
And will this Alfieri flying have been so exciting to watch for those who saw him pass over
an individual flying above us gives us the feeling that he might drop something dangerous on our heads: what do I know
And what spectacle would he then offer to those looking up from below
What if he flew instead in the clothes of his time
not tawny but bald as a knee having contracted ringworm as a young man in the military school of cadets?..
and can blossom into impoetic situations par excellence: grotesque-baroque; indeed
Perhaps here is a very faint (and removed) “souppon” of Carducci and d’Alfieri
in the Correggesque Christ seen from the side of the chorus
with the Italian fear that just down could begin a “Qui freno al corso
tu vuoi ch’io ponga?” (Verses of the Astigian)..
in addition to the “ascending” view from the nave and the “descending” view from the choir
one also contemplates this Christ laterally
anything but a figure à double face: structure and gestures appear quite polymorphous (even from illustrious Rats of Europe
as if the unwinding figure had been paraded with the bull below)
within the luminous contour or dessert d’angiolini more elegant and discreet than in the dome of the cathedral
even a smoothie of Ganymede akin to the Viennese one
an island so pleasantly frequented on vacation
And among the many artists who have treated the theme of the visions of St
John in that gem of the Dodecanese with the “magic” hall as Ascona and St-Moritz
some as early as the Renaissance “got it right” visionarily the panorama (like Kafka who guessed America without having been there)
so that sometimes at the Metropolitan or the Louvre one meets a small group still tanned that “recognizes” the house of Grace and Joseph
there were greetings on the patmiotee beaches at the monastery of St
John the Evangelist from several old geezers who looked very much like those in the Parma dome - mostly
antiquarian art dealers from London and New York - with wipes and chintilles identical to the Correggesque ones
and just as many little boys willing for a few bucks to bring them back in palanquins his Kora for Byzantine monk services
There was also on those not-yet-mass shores an apostle younger and clearer than the others
but he was the first (perhaps) to leave: he was Bruce Chatwin
there had always been the legend of Capri before
as a “topos” of relaxation among mature grandparents and mischievous grandchildren
perhaps (the more elders) busy with towels to cover each other and not show the ugliness to the less-than-shameless teenagers as dinners have always been in droves
even on prode and river and stream banks in poor Po Valley Italy
And Roberto Longhi amusedly quotes John Addington Symonds for whom the Correggesque dome of the Duomo would appear to be “a Muslim erotic paradise” with “angels and ephebes such as urses.” He then comments
regarding his colleagues incapable of “epicurean” or “anti-transcendental” interpretations and “enlightened frame of mind,” “but what to expect from a terrain where always luxuriated the forest of eternal Italian arcadia
albeit draped in the costumes of late Romanticism?” He would have chuckled quite a bit upon finding in Symonds’ own Memoirs that his favorite spot in Venice was the little garden of the Fighetti tavern on the Lido
“favored by the gondoliers because Fighetti
is a hero to them.’ (”In trace of some anonymous Correggesque Giants and Fighetti.“ What a title for a contribution to be sent to anonymous ”Paragons"..
came out from Random Housea New York only in 1984.)
organizing and illuminating a dome!”
Mantegna and Goya inside the largest dome of all must be saying to each other
And they will immediately cite this Johannine masterpiece by Correggio for the sovereign freedom and ease of affections and gestures
Parmesan tenderness and tickling even down among bulls and winged lions in the odor of symbolic evangelism...And not already graceful Delikatessen of historical conjuncture or geographic peculiarity
but inspiration and vocation for a warm and confidential beauty and capable of grandeur as well as intimacy
in a quiver of golden vibrations that create and emanate light (and will the Rococo be perhaps “spillover” or “induced”?...)
Note: Those who would like computer translations of David Alan Brown’s essay (without the notes) should contact
stands as a singular compositional and executive pivot at a temporal juncture of the height of the Italian Renaissance; that artistic phenomenon that had already reached the “great manner” and that saw the creative impetuses proposed by the celebrated masters oscillating at that time
Raphael knew the last year of his activity
and Michelangelo withdrew into himself after the crisis at the tomb of Julius II.The ranks of Italian painters were becoming disoriented from classical models
and the symptoms of Mannerism were now evident
The much-frequented theme of the Altarpiece knew considerable oscillations
At the crossroads of ancient patterns and new formal evidence
Correggio entered with his own language and high ethical-formal preparation
The most important precedent was Raphael’s"Sistine Madonna,“ which Allegri knew well having accompanied it from Rome to Piacenza with the learned Abbot Gregorio Cortese
From this he takes the concise outline of the ”three figures plus the Child" but rejects their cloudy suspension and in particular the great celestial distance of the Madonna
subtracted even from perspective foreshortening
for the parish church of Albinea pictorially arranges the Madonna in humility on the precise site of the sanctuary
above a meadow that slopes rapidly toward us
and in this way makes every believer share in the immediacy of veneration and impetration of graces: here is the spiritual colloquy
The gentle centripetal rotation of the two saints gently accompanies our approach to Mary and Jesus
Mary Magdalene hands the ointment of the Resurrection and St
Lucy bears witness to love even to martyrdom: the complete femininity surrounding the Divine Child also makes this altarpiece a touching and most hopeful invitation
Correggio thus overcomes the now blocked problem of the static co-presence of the saints
and initiates those new and authentic “sacred conversations” that would increasingly demand
Here was his most vivid contribution to the renewal of sacred art; a contribution that did not escape the notice of the most acute commentator on Correggio’s creative parabola
who pointed out in his time the extraordinary humanistic and tactile fusion of the figures with the landscape
who was very young and ill with gout and tuberculosis
was incumbent on the one hand to revere the new emperor
Leopold I-also very young-on the other hand to obtain the investiture of the principality of Correggio
He therefore ordered an embassy to Vienna led by Marquis Giovan Battista Montecuccoli
Among the various tributes for Archduke Leopold Wilhelm
the emperor’s uncle and a great fan of Correggio’s paintings
the Madonna of Albinea was almost certainly included
during the long journey the pictorial film was eroded by the rubbing of the crosspieces of the case in which it was contained
this was due to the oscillating movement of the crate itself as it was transported on the bars of the carts pulled by mules
The Archduke nevertheless accepted the work as it was
but never included it in his prestigious gallery
it is not clear what happened to our painting
“Hoarded” in some room of the imperial palace
it was perhaps irretrievably lost in a raging fire that destroyed an entire wing of the sumptuous palace in 1668
there is a copy of smaller dimensions than the original
The signature is very similar to the one that appears in identical position on the copy now preserved in Parma
which many scholars consider the closest to the original
Everything is explained when Allegri fully enters the intense humanistic and Renaissance mentality
This painting poignantly preserves the intensity and precision of Correggio’s original
We can call it a “masterpiece” in relation to its replica or proof status
The definition stems from the compositional strength and resonant coloring: one can feel an original creative act in it
It can be observed that Mary’s eyes are lowered to look at her Little Son
as is a constant custom in Correggio’s Mothers; one can also note the admirable execution of Mary’s face and the softness of the flesh
which here is particularly captured in the small arm that Jesus extends toward the Mother’s heart
there are Correggio’s “secret signatures” that are important for their meanings and for the careful arrangement of the composition
The first is that the two diagonals of the canvas intentionally meet over the heart of the Madonna: Correggio was most attentive to this almost secret effect and its value
The second consists in the fact that each of the three large figures stands within a well-defined third of the vertical space: this
is a secret rhythm that the eye does not specify at a mere glance but actually holds the composition harmoniously
The third “secret signature” is found in the horizontal-vertical division that composes a precise checkerboard of nine squares
and here the painter places the Baby Jesus
Let us not forget that Jesus is the Word of God and that His complete nudity signifies the sacrificial offering of His Body for the Redemption of all humanity: thus a Body that is placed in the absolute center of the painting
The geometric research was studied by Renza Bolognesi
in order to satisfy the parish priest’s requests
may have painted only the Madonna’s marvelous face or little more
then leaving it to others to finish the work in detail
It would then be justified that the painter could have painted a Madonna similar but not the same as the previous altarpiece
Could it instead be the preparatory sketch for the altarpiece made in Albinea by Correggio
The latter is not such an absurd hypothesis
the parish priest would never have agreed to move from the Pieve that miraculous tablet hanging in a side altar continually visited by the faithful as a dispenser of graces
Allegri was supposed to come himself to Albinea and here
draw before the sacred image the necessary cues to then transfer it to a larger altarpiece
The same is true of the landscape in the background
the reality seen from the church looking toward the plain seems recognizable
If we look closely at the Rome copy (rather than the Parma copy) in the glimpse of the landscape between the Madonna and Santa Lucia we also seem to recognize a hill with a tower house
This could be the “ben posta torre” that Ludovico Ariosto nostalgically recalls in his Rime
thinking back to the happy days when he stayed in Montejatico di Albinea ("Non mi si pon dalla memoria torre/ le vigne e i solchi del fecondo Jaco/ la valle e il colle e la ben posta torre" Satira IV
after summarily making the sketch in Albinea
shown and liked by the commissioning parish priest
took it to his workshop in Correggio where
he made the altarpiece influenced by Leonardo’s work that he had seen in Milan at that very time
is the earliest example of the Albinea Madonna that we can consider today
We can call it a “masterpiece” in relation to its state of being
The definition arises from the compositional strength and resonant coloring: one can feel an original creative act in it
It can be repeated here that Mary’s eyes are lowered to look at her Little Son
as is a constant custom in Correggio’s Mothers; we can also note the admirable execution of Mary’s face and the softness of the flesh that is particularly captured in the small arm that Jesus extends toward the Mother’s heart
Giuseppe Menozzi (1897-1969), a painter, pupil first of Cirillo Manicardi then of Camillo Verno, teacher and restorer, for years considered one of the leading local art experts (a real talent in recognizing works of art and spotting forgeries and counterfeits
in the pages of Stampa Sera of November 19
1938 claimed to have discovered in the sacristy of the Pieve di Albinea "a painting that
would be an authentic masterpiece by Allegri
We are dealing with a painting of considerable artistic value and distinguished workmanship
it is immediately striking for its unparalleled expression
From a careful observation of the painting we were able to make those remarks that seemed useful to communicate
The canvas is with white imprimitura: the whole painting is set
in chiaroscuro to black and with the shadows in brown
with a half impasto of color in the highlights and colored glazes in the shadows
both in the foliage of the plants and in the grasses on the ground
We are undoubtedly dealing with a painting of supreme importance."
The critical-attributive problem remains open on the various sides: diagnostic
well pleased that the Albinea Community and the art world can approach this valuable cultural asset
Ligabue 2008
On this see Sirocchi 2018
Of these
one is preserved at the Pinacoteca Capitolina in Rome and another at the Pinacoteca Nazionale in Parma
Bishop Coccapani’s 1625 visitation of the side altar mentions "imago B.V
que imitatur picturam Corrigii pictoris eccellentissimi" (Saccani1925
Gabriele Lippi
Madonna della Ghiara fra i santi Prospero e Biagio
is the following inscription: “For Signora Cecilia Manfredi
the year of the lord 1598 Gabriele Lippi made.” It is the first painting made after the miracle of the Madonna of Reggio and is also the only work currently known of this Reggio painter
Many scholars in the past denied that the work was signed
That stone is not there casually
Correggio chose with particular care the places where he would put his signature (M
The Soprintendenza had already entrusted the restoration of many of Correggio’s works to this Studio in full confidence
G.Adani
Cfr.G
would not take example from his painting “without example,” who in his development had no other models of reference than his individual genius
given that moreover he worked in the context of a small provincial town
untied from the trends and research of the great metropolises
his condition sheltered him from the danger of homologation
on the fringes of the Italy “that counts,” without any light to illuminate his way
he in solitude pushed the accelerator in a direction only known to him : “one man in charge,” he would thus illuminate the path of those who would come after him
First we can think because of the radical novelty of his idea of space: Correggio is the first painter to completely transform the “two-dimensional” and terrestrial perspective of the Florentines into a “three-dimensional” and celestial perspective
If we then consider how difficult it already is to rationally arrange the figures on the flat space of a wall while avoiding distortion for those looking from below
imagine how much more complex it was to calculate the dimensions of the various parts in order to achieve the desired effect in the curved space of a vault
Considering also that the domes Correggio had at his disposal were not hemispheres as one might think
but in fact one (San Giovanni) had unequal sides and that is
and the other (Il Duomo) was octagonal and that is
refuses to resort to linear-prospective expedients
which characterized the trials of his predecessors
Think of Michelangelo: in the Judgment there is an orderly and balanced arrangement of the masses to which is superimposed a logical subdivision of humanity from bottom to top
When he paints the vault of the Sistine Chapel then
he organizes the space at his disposal still in an orderly and geometric manner following a thread that punctuates the events according to a chronological succession
the scenes are painted as if they were squares shown on the ceiling
and this brings out even more how the locus of his representation is always that of terrestrial perspective
the figures are placed on a plane parallel to the intuitive line of the horizon toward which their lines inexorably converge
The same principle of perspective is applied by Raphael on the walls of the Vatican
where the figures are arranged in a very pure
perfectly calculable space that more often than not pivots on the classic central vanishing point
and this should come as no surprise at all given that Raphael comes from the capital of mathematical renaissance
The most complex scene is that of the Dispute
which is again organized according to the principle of terrestrial perspective
but in this case it is divided into several levels
placed frontally to the observer: an idea that will have a certain following and that we find in the dome of Florence Cathedral
in Tintoretto’s Paradise and in the Glory of the Escorial
where Luca Cambiaso reaches his highest level of abstraction
In the vaults he repeats the kind of approach we have already been able to appreciate in Michelangelo
while in the Farnesina he experiments with true tromp l’oeil
for both of these masters the figures rest firmly on top of the ground they tread and are static
precisely in deference to that principle of gravity from which the minds of their creators cannot get away-even if they are painted on the ceiling the viewer must imagine them as looking at a wall
otherwise inexorably the figures would fall over the viewer
who as we know did not paint much; the Last Supper
offers a space rigidly determined on the basis of the ideal vanishing point that the walls hint at
we owe the definition of aerial perspective
because of the interposition of layers of air
provides for a progressive modification of the tones
and colors of objects as they move away from the foreground
This probably had a certain influence on Allegri
who this for purpose uses a complex and studied combination of light
proportional ratios and above all movement: the kineticism of the limbs of his figures fragments the geometric rigidity of the lines of ideal space
into an unlimited number of vanishing points
which the mind can no longer reconstruct and reduce to a synthetic type of logic
Correggio’s characters are finally freed from the constraint of gravity
the absolutely necessary link to the concept of terrestrial perspective; they are perfectly in control of the three-dimensional space in which they live and completely free to twirl happily in it
as seen in the beautiful pose of the angel from behind in the vault of the Duomo
The figures in this fresco wrapped in an eccentric vortex
have been placed according to a principle of celestial perspective
organized according to a vanishing point perpendicular to the horizon
consistent with their upward movement that now acts as a binder in place of the principle of gravity; moreover
they are projecting with respect to the point of view of an observer from below
they also move perpendicular to the plane on which they are painted: this increases the illusionistic effect of penetration into space
in this way the figures are clearly detached from the painted surface and appear in their own complete three-dimensionality
if they had not been placed foreshortened one would have run the perceptual risk of seeing them fall over the head of the viewer
it is an extraordinary expedient used by Correggio to neutralize the sense of looming characteristic of the curved surface he had at his disposal
his genius is capable of transforming even this limitation into a merit
3) Correggio comes to conceive an idea of space of a complexity that had never before even been imagined let alone realized: we can now understand what Titian’s thoughts were when he said that not even the volume of the dome filled with gold would be a sufficient price to quantify its value
who of all in this sense was his most direct heir
comes close to him in the dome of Sant’Andrea della Valle in Rome
but his figures are in the end seated on the clouds that keep them bound
they are unable to detach themselves from the walls to which they remain glued
in the end we must conclude that no one can free himself from the bonds of gravity,not even in the mind
only Correggio knows how to “fly.”
The shape of the dome is perfectly perceivable with its concrete form
the imaginary space conceived by Lanfranco
and his ideas must eventually adapt to the structural limit and not vice versa as happens in Correggio: that absolute freedom of movement that loosens the figures from any ties and makes them so happy disappears
we will have to wait another fifty years and arrive at Father Pozzo to see again something comparable to the ineffable feast painted by Allegri
Correggio’s space does not look like a rational space but a natural one; it records and reflects what happens in reality
not what happens in the ideal perfection of the mind
When he tackles the description of a scene
he does not start from an imaginary construction that logically requires all the actors to be fully included in it: the Correggio
in order to give the greatest impression of verisimilitude to the action
does not perfectly include all the elements
voluntarily and arbitrarily limiting the field of the frame
just as the man’s field of vision is limited in reality; in other words
on the contrary he wants to give the ’impression of portraying an action that is taking place right before his eyes
even though to our mind the overall picture may appear unbalanced in some ways
This intent appears with all evidence in the martyrdom of the four saints (fig
where only two are placed in the center of the scene
the other two are barely glimpsed on the right
as a memory of an action that has just taken place.The conscious effort in the direction we have just described can be understood by comparing it with the first idea of the preparatory drawing (fig
where all four saints are placed canonically and symmetrically in the center
The scale of the figures also changes; now they occupy the whole scene
Naturalness is the cardinal principle Correggio chooses to adopt
guiding him in all decisions: he reproduces exactly what he sees
of which he was one of the greatest innovators,do you remember ever seeing a sky as completely white as the one in the Correggio Museum deposition
as can also be seen in the splendid rippling of light in the Noli me tangere
is the protagonist of the eclipse in the Mourning over Christ
just as the light that has now just disappeared with his death
in the stupendous crepuscular nocturne of “Night,” one of Italian art’s earliest experiments in this direction
The golden light of a summer afternoon invades its counterpart
Correggio is fully master of all the nuances of the atmosphere
of which he manages to render even the elusive lightness of fog
not incidentally coupled with the soft flesh of the nymph in the Loves (fig
but it is not only the atmosphere of nature that arouses his interest
but rather that which is given off by the delicacy of human feelings
This is the other area where Correggio makes a radical innovation; he refines a never again achieved ability to express emotions
which are always the focal point of his narrative
sweetness are the melody to which all the protagonists of his works tune in
always openly manifesting their affective sphere
creating that feeling of mutual understanding and participation that flows into the overall harmony that distinguishes each of his paintings
Correggio once again does not choose to represent the heights of man’s rational mind
making a radical shift in this sense as well
and making the entire history of art do so
taking into account how much emotions and even sensuality were center stage in the Baroque era
gentleness are always the protagonists of his narrative
even when the action becomes tragic the pathos is composed
on the faces of his martyrs there is no hint of sorrow but rather of bliss
explicable only by the certainty of Hope for those who are guided by the Spirit in their race toward an otherworldly goal
Correggio fully possessed a sense of the Divine
“everything cooperates for the good of those who love God.”
Imagine the difficulty of transforming an idea that is forcibly conceived and drawn on a plane space and adapting it to a curved surface
as the quadrature subdivided by segments as a function of spherical space demonstrate in the drawing preserved in Frankfurt (fig
Correggio’s aim in the top of the dome is to depict a harmonious ensemble of masses that must be visible from below without distortion
and once again he chooses not to resort to the use of rational
geometric and visibly artificial arrangements like his predecessors: for this purpose he uses the expedient of arranging an uninterrupted succession of movements that project upward in an upward and apparently random motion
Starting from this idea he solves the problem by designing from the initial stages the theory of the figures already in a perspective suitable for a point of view from below
as the circle on the upper part of the Frankfurt drawing
and the Windsor drawing stand to demonstrate
and moreover by not taking into any account the segmented division of the dome
as is the case instead in the lower part where the figures of the apostles rest: the two segmentations of the squareness of the Frankfurt sheet in fact do not coincide with the segments
If we then analyze the extraordinary evolution of his manner of painting
we cannot but be astonished; his beginnings are characterized by a delicate
which is well distinguished in the early work of the Mystic Marriage of St
free and impetuous brushstroke that are the most striking features of the Vatican Museums’ Christ of the Apocalypse
for a long time was thought to be a copy of Carracci’s scope precisely because of this already fully seventeenth-century manner of spreading color: only recently have scientific analyses and historical studies been able to prove that it was the original
one must come to the inescapable conclusion that Correggio
while holding firm to that balance which distinguished the Renaissance was already Baroque
his genius opened a path in painting that was interrupted by his death and was taken up by it only fifty years later
The assimilation of his inventions by the Baroque era happened in all senses: in the concept of space
Of course, it is not easy to talk about Correggio in this age thirsty for strong emotions, as Bernard Berenson said, “Men do not desire happiness, men desire to live, they aspire to a certain violence of sensations, to a mixture of pain and good, and for this they forgive without remorse the peace of mind. ” But when the emotions and adventure are over of these fires of the soul what remains
who among us in reality would not want to have at his or her side every day people endowed with that nature described by Allegri
would not want to live immersed in an environment permeated by that atmosphere of serene affectivity that he miraculously succeeds in portraying
it is not easy to understand Correggio for us who that world of his was never able to realize it
and are now so far removed from it that we no longer even have the ability to imagine it
But only that universe of human correspondences and understanding that Correggio describes is able to leave us with a lasting memory and in a sense make us better people
Our memory is not made up of ephemeral thrills and emotions
but of a constellation of personal relationships
to which Correggio first knew how to pay attention and so well represent
There is little left for us to add in conclusion but to express our wish that Correggio was prophetic in this as well
Derby atmosphere that also brings good luck to the Novellara who conquers the "Rinaldi" of Reggiolo in the English style, reconquering the First category after 15 years. For the boys of trainer Bruno Prandi, the former Zaniboni and the striker Brocchetta scored.
Angry poker (4-2) of the Celtic Cavriago (for Cavriago pallonara it is the second championship won after the seal in Third of the cousins of Sporting two weeks ago that cancels the same number of tumbles of last year) on Cerredolese stretched by Rispoli, Boretti, Riella and Dallaglio that mean immediate return to the upper floor for the black and greens of the coach Luisito Reggiani. For the locals Rivi and the striker Guido Guidetti shorten the distances.
Virtus Libertas fell in Modena, defeated (0-1) by Corlo and joined in second place by FalkGalileo: on Sunday, ironically, the city derby of Cella will put the silver medal of group C up for grabs.
The Falketti overcome (3-1) Povigliese thanks to a sprint start marked by the diagonal of Redo who grants the encore of a header on a corner of Iaquinta. The guests who shorten with the penalty of Signoriello, but at the end the new-entered Grotti nets with a flat from a cross of Arcuri.
Allai's shot to the top of the table marks Guastalla's away win over Daino Santa Croce: a goal that keeps the play-off flame alight.
A season in 5' for Atletic Progetto Montagna who almost took the lead, didn't win the corner and on the counterattack Boca Barco managed the lethal counterattack in the 90th minute with Muredda who sealed their salvation.
Still in the running Campeginese beats (4-2) the Original Celtic Bohys condemning them to the first relegation in their history. For the locals double by Mungiguerra, singles by Frignani and Bettati inspired by a solo by Tagliavini; for the black and greens provisional draw signed by Sakho from eleven meters and by Obeng on a corner twenty minutes from the gong.
Virtus Mandrio's feat stops San Prospero Correggio's winning streak at 11, stung in the 94th minute by Lambruschini's deflection on the second post; the yellow-greens thus secure third place.
Internal hara-kiri for Santos 1948 surprised by Rubiera and thus condemned to the play-out against Virtus Bagnolo: a lightning-fast counter-attack by Montorsi was unblocked, cancelled out by Carfagna's header, then in the second half Arleoni scored an assist from Carubbi, but the disaster was concocted in injury time with Lambruschini's equaliser and Fisic's counter-attack to overtake.
In group D, United Albinea and Fellegara are celebrating with poker scores in view of the direct clash on Sunday at the "Nasi" with second place currently in the hands of the Albinetans at +3 points.
The yellow-greens conquer Casina thanks to Sassi, the two-goal scorer Ferrante (decisive at 0-1 with a save on the line in a slide) and the euro-goal from 20 meters by Margini.
Fellegara's task was much easier as they crushed Borzanese with doubles by Campani and Brusciano.
At the bottom of the table, a vital success for Puianello who tamed (2-1) Roteglia thanks to Kokolari's shot to the top corner and Tessitori's touch; in the middle, Borrelli's provisional equaliser from the penalty spot.
In the third category, the tandem Rivalta-Vetto continues to advance arm in arm, overtaking an increasingly troubled Cavriago into second place.
A distracted and experimental Sporting Cavriago slips at home (2-3) with Fogliano thus defending eighth place thanks to Malagutti's free kick, Iardino's invention and Rinaldi's penalty.
Redeghieri and Sonko are closing the gap for the leaders.
from a lost work by Correggio (Antonio Allegri; Correggio
at the “Il Correggio” Museum in the artist’s hometown
a detached and pasted fresco on copper preserved in a private collection
is included in an exhibition entitled Nei cieli del Correggio that aims to reconstruct the history of the lacerto
curated by Maria Cristina Chiusa and Gabriele Fabbrici
aims to reconstruct the history of the fragment
which is believed to come from theCoronation of the Virgin
a work by Correggio dating back to 1522: it is the fresco that decorated the apse basin (destroyed in 1587) of the church of San Giovanni Evangelista in Parma.According to art historian Maria Cristina Chiusa
who is responsible for attributing the fragment to Correggio
the hand of the Emilian painter is recognizable on the basis of philological-stylistic figures that
are “unmistakable,” and to the stylistic data
is added “solid documentation.” The stylistic comparison
demonstrates links with the only other four fragments known to date
all of which come from theCoronation of the Virgin and are preserved at the National Gallery in Parma
the National Gallery in London and the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston
The exhibition itinerary includes an introductory historical-didactic part that
allows visitors to access previously unseen content
This is followed by access to the room in which Correggio’s Head of a Cherub is preserved
and then a virtual reconstruction of the apse basin of the church of San Giovanni Evangelista in Parma with repositioning of the fragment
created for the occasion by Jacopo Veroni of Blackforge
and ending with the recent initiatives related to the Reggio Emilia exhibition on the Lady
excitement and pride that we present today a new and fundamental Allegrian discovery: an unpublished fragment of a fresco from the destroyed Coronation of the Virgin made for the apse of the church of San Giovanni Evangelista in Parma
A fragment studied at length by Maria Cristina Chiusa and which today
is the subject of an exhibition event that restores its public enjoyment and opens up new avenues of research aimed at further deepening our knowledge of Allegri
In addition to the historical and technical value of this discovery
a moment of reappropriation of an important and evocative public space as the Museum is
and it is very significant that this takes place in the name and through the work of its most famous son
The exhibition is free admission, with shifts by mandatory reservation of 20 people per hour. Catalog with preface by Ilenia Malavasi and texts by Gabriele Fabbrici and Maria Cristina Chiusa available at the venue. For information and reservations call 0522 691806, email museo@comune.correggio.re.it, or visit the Museo Il Correggio website
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This brief essay takes the form of a sequence of notes
a painting executed by Correggio probably around the year 1522
90.5 x 72.2 preserved at the Städelinstitut in Frankfurt
where it was acquired by donation in 1889; also on the discovery of the copy formerly housed by the Diocesan Museum of Cremona
curated and exhibited there in December 2023-January 2024 under the meritorious care of Stefano Macconi
the Städelmuseum in Frankfurt has commendably provided us with the color photographic image of the specimen predominantly believed to be autograph
including the precise measurements and studies recently made by Jochen Sander
Bastian Eclercy for his accurate expertise and courtesy
Other thanks go to Oscar Riccò and Renza Bolognesi for their collaborations.The creation of the CorreggioLet us preface by pointing out that the theological-devotional theme of the “Madonna and Child Jesus and St
John” was painted several times by Correggio in his youthful and early maturity phase
reaching almost a dozen examples from the end of the first decade of the 16th century to the end of the second decade
obviously alternating with the artist’s other works but becoming for Allegri - who always “lived as a very good Christian” - a kind of intense symbolic and figurative training ground
we can say that it is a work that has always been considered minor in Correggio’s corpus because of its low historical visibility and state of preservation
It is noteworthy to note David Ekserdjian’s suspicion that it is a painting originally on panel then carelessly brought back to canvas
but on examination such an operation would not appear
Ancient reports want the work first present in Casalmaggiore
and then hoarded by the usual Francesco I Duke of Modena in 1646
the canvas reappears chronologically in 1889 in Milan
when here it was purchased from an English lady by Henry Thode himself (born in Dresden in 1857 and died in 1920 in Copenhagen)
who considered it positively and then donated it to the Städelmuseum in Frankfurt
other distinguished scholars examined it and balanced among various uncertainties due to its poor state of preservation; finally recognition prevailed
already confirmed by Quintavalle in his L’opera completa del Correggio (1966)
It is not our intention to enter into the decisive question of autography
we accept; on this particular occasion we are rather concerned to reevaluate the subject by pursuing the creative cycle of Allegri
who proves himself capable of continuous research and innovation in all phases of his activity: a research driven by the irrepressible and ingenious creative induction
to participate in the subject from within his soul (from that which is “quod intimius
quod profundius” we might say) that is
to that Gospel moment he later brought back to the painting
which was decisive on the human-theological level with respect to the great event of the Incarnation of the Word
We believe that a spiritual analysis is necessary given the exceptional theological density of the subject played out
Allegri chooses the theme of the mutual presentation that takes place between St
But such mutual agnition of the two holy children
follows the ineffable one that occurred in the meeting of the two pregnant Mothers at the moment of Mary’s visitation to Elizabeth
Then the son of Zechariah shuddered in the womb of Mother
and at that moment he was sanctified by the will of Christ
It is thus a matter of repetition and confirmation-in the light of nature and within the embrace of creation-of the already occurring presence of the Forerunner and Redeemer in real human history
Admiring the pictorial resolution one seems to hear Correggio’s intimate throb
consonant with so much happening over which breathes the invisible breath of the Father who is in heaven
Mary sits on a proda that mystically signifies the heart of creation
just as the Incarnation stands at the heart of history and in the fullness of time
placid and fertile as the song of Isaiah intends them
whose vision reaches deep down to the mountain of God (El Saddài) rising powerfully toward heaven: it is the holy mountain of Abraham and Moses
It curiously has an outstretched top: here
who was well acquainted with Dante’s mystical Bismantova Stone
also the bearer of a divine statution on the Church
which almost balances with the Face of Mary
assures that even by a path fraught with trials - per aspera dunque - one deservedly reaches heaven
It is certainly certain that Correggio never painted a religious subject that did not have an anagogic sense
This we say in the face of widespread traditional art criticism that pins almost only on forms
and the sky growing brighter and brighter in the distance
to the process of work and fulfillment that is the duty of each of us: a process that John and Jesus will illustrate to the people in their educational preaching
The saplings that fill the foreground are a perhaps unique solution among Renaissance masters
and they cannot fail to refer symbolically to the places from which the two prophetic children came: John whose name means “gift or grace of the merciful God” was born in Ain Karim (“vineyard watered by an everlasting spring”)
and Jesus who bears the name “God saves” comes from Nazareth
whose root means “sprout” (and so Pilate would statute it
The execution of the Casalmaggiore Madonna is pushed around 1522 by the drawing discovered by Popham
This is an important date since we must not forget that Correggio with his family had been received into the Benedictine Order in the previous year (1521) on his own great merit
after having frescoed the dome of San Giovanni in Parma
obtaining the enjoyment of all the spiritual benefits of the Order itself
He therefore meditated and prayed with painting: it will suffice to recall his intense closeness to Gregorio Cortese in the luminous years at San Benedetto in Polirone and in Rome
The dating to 1522 thus comes about thanks to a drawing discovered by Arthur Ewart Popham that connects with the cycle of the San Giovanni frieze
but it also marks the felicitous milestone achieved by Correggio after the beautiful series of Madonnas with Child and St
which punctuates his second decade of the 16th century like a dense prayer book
The drawing sketch in the British Museum stands on the verso of a small two-sided sheet largely devoted to the frieze of the nave of San Giovanni Evangelista in Parma
was pointed out by Popham in 1957 and was carefully considered by David Ekserdjian in his 1997 Allegrian monograph
The Frankfurt canvas represents an admirable goal in every sense
The liberties of the angelic infants in the dome of St
John’s we find here in the loose movement of the two biblical cousins
a special laude is due to the figurative arrangement of the painting
which moves in almost spherical spatiality
where every posture is in harmonious counterpoint and where the movement of limbs and heads traces a network of cross-references that ends suavely in the mutual indication
and even in these small hands everything is harmony
returns from the right-hand putto in the oval above the Minerva on the fireplace wall in the well-known St
Lovers of formal quotations will still be able to go back to the “Madonnas” closer in time
but above all to the resounding anthology of children in the Camera della Badessa and the nude angelic putti in the nubilous lap of the Cupola di San Giovanni
all the way to the Madonna del Latte and the Madonna della Scala: thus they will find all Correggio’s marvelous mastery of the tenderness of bodies and childlike movements in the years close to our painting
But we cannot overlook Mary’s essential role in the economy of Redemption
It is Our Lady who personifies the unfolding of the time of the Good News
and we see that she herself composes the relationship between the St
she forms the theological link in the conjunction of the two Testaments: Mary
who with her body was the Ark of the New Covenant
looking expressly at us brings to Jesus the Cross of redemption
If we then notice that the little cousin is the one most embraced by Mary
and is of slightly pingier proportions than Jesus
this firmly signifies the relevant and indelible value of the ancient Covenant
We have thus wished to reevaluate a pictorial work by Correggio that has the substance of the masterpiece
and we have done so on the yardstick of the Augustinian recommendation toward every work: namely
to consider “quam vim habeat et quidvÄ• significet.” Certainly in the figurative process there enters with evidence that factual translation which involves the loquela of forms
his precedents and his professional culture
Antonio Allegri arrives at the “Madonna of Casalmaggiore” after having executed at least eight other tablets on the same theme and several Madonnas with Child: the painter’s hand sought alternate postures and other embraces
among them the unspeakable one - for sweetness and grace - that is the glory of the Prado in Madrid
Now we are in the ineunte third decade of the 16th century and Correggio takes leave
from the theme that so long fascinated him
In Cremona between December 2023 and January 2024
on the occasion of an exhibition entitled Lost & Found
organized at the city’s Diocesan Museum
a small selection of works from the antiquarian market was presented to the public
echoes the compositional scheme of the so-called “Madonna of Casalmaggiore,” painted by Antonio Allegri
around 1522 and today identified by some critics with the work preserved at the Städelmuseum in Frankfurt
Comparison of the two paintings reveals the existence of a clear link: the Virgin and the two children are arranged following the scheme of the German original
which in turn is linked to an autograph drawing by Correggio kept at the National Gallery in London
The poses and gestures are the same even if some differences can be recognized: in the “Madonna di Casalmaggiore” appears the detail of the thin reed cross held by the child in the foreground
The privately collected tablet lacks this key detail and the Virgin’s right hand is also depicted in a different pose than the original
The Frankfurt version is also characterized by an elaborate construction of the landscape surrounding the central group: the grotto that can be seen behind the St
John is the result of a precise perspective and naturalistic study that is influenced by Lombardian painting between the 15th and 16th centuries
In the painting exhibited at the Diocesan Museum in Cremona
the same care is not found in the description of the landscape
which seems to have been done quickly and roughly
Also due to a less than optimal state of preservation
the grove behind Giovanni is now an indistinct mass of shrubs
which given its small size may have been made to satisfy requests related to the devotion of a private individual
shows that he had the opportunity to study Correggio’s original or related preparatory drawings
our artist almost goes so far as to “pay homage” to Correggio’s creations by taking them up with great precision
distinctive features emerge that make it easy to identify her hand
The sharp and rigidly outlined profiles of the nose and brow arch
as well as the excessively bulging and protruding eyes
The choice of colors in cool but at the same time vibrant tones
as seen in the almost pearly complexions of the characters and the Madonna’s robe of a ringing pink
mark this master’s approach to the manner
shifting the painting’s dating to the second half of the 16th century
The critical fortune of the panel now in a private collection is yet to be investigated; in fact
no documents referable to this painting are known to date before the early 19th century
one has to wait for Father Pungileoni’s valuable essay on Correggio
published in two volumes between 1817 and 1818
to find a first and fundamental documentary foothold
At that date the priest shows that he was very familiar with the painting
even in the opinion of the professors of the Accademia di Disegno in Parma
was undoubtedly considered to be an original work by Allegri
in addition to the faithful description of the subject
which leaves no doubt as to its correct identification
the dimensions of the panel are also given
which coincide with the version in question
that the painting had previously been owned by Biagio Martini (1761 - 1840)
but that at the time of writing the essay on Correggio
the work was already in the collection of Sir John Murray
more than a century after the release of Father Pungileoni’s work
during an exhibition held at Villa Favorita of the Schloss-Rohoncz collection
the name by which Baron von Thyssen’s prestigious collection was previously known
there are two works attributed to the hand of Allegri
the second of which is precisely the tablet we discuss here
The brief description of the work reports the presence of a larger version to be identified with the Frankfurt original
Also reported is the favorable opinion regarding the authorship of our work by prominent scholars such as Detlev von Hadeln
Also briefly documented is some collector information subsequent to the painting’s landing at the Murray Collection that occurred following its purchase in Parma in 1816
Our copy of the “Madonna and Child with St
John” in just over a century had in fact passed through the Beckett - Denison collection first and later to the Scottish collection of Sir J
Following the passages on the antiquarian market
which need to be investigated more carefully
it appears that the painting then passed through a Sotheby’s auction in London to an Italian collector before coming to the present private collection
The panel thus remains an important starting point for the study of the fortune of the Casalmaggiore Madonna model
and it will be necessary to investigate some of the aspects
we must talk about Giorgio Vasari (1511-1574) and remember his dual vocation
a steady and mathematical eye in architecture
and the creator of magnificent urban settings
To this manifold dedication in the world of forms he associated
a vast capacity for investigation of the phenomena of art
so much so that it led him to a comprehensive analysis of the centuries recent to him and the phenomena coeval with him
pouring into it a serious endowment as a historical collector and a brilliant faculty as a writer
To give order to the prospection of so much matter he chose the system of Lives already tried in ancient Greece and renewed
the parallel coupling of individual personalities and set himself a viable chronology
and with geographical choices that would be helpful in understanding the various stylistic schools
from tramando and more proximate testimonies
from direct observations of works and from other sources came the Lives of the most excellent painters
drafted as biographies but contempered by historical notes
and even by infiorative anecdotes that are not always credible
called torrentiniana came out with extraordinary success in 1550 and prompted him to valuable expansions until the 1568 Giuntina edition
which also emphatically earned him the title of Poet.This premise serves us to emphasize Vasari’s knowledge of a universe of authors that impressed even in his own day
and which remains as the first indispensable mirror of a comparative history of Italian art
Giorgio aretino’s critical lume is constituted by a selectivity that has a textual spillover of relevant effectiveness
so much so that the direct quotations that are grasped from his prose are still largely splendid and decisive today
The second part of the Lives ends precisely with Luca Signorelli’s death
which ideally delivers the last perfection of art to those who followed
The third part is therefore dedicated to those excellent masters who were able to rise and lead themselves to the supreme perfection
It opens in Lombardy with lavvincente vita di Leonardo
and then passes by sensory affinity to that of Giorgione da Castefranco
After this the author makes a confession and warns that he does not want to leave Lombardy without having touched the excellent and beautiful genius of Antonio da Correggio: in fact
Vasari’s encounter with lAllegri turns out to be a jolt
almost a syncopation of stupendous marvel that holds back the most feeble commentator and stops him before an absolute
where the cause of this great finder of any difficulty is unknown to him
Vasari tries to propose to the reader an attempt to compare Correggio with the greats but abruptly resolves the case with a hyperbolic sentence: Tengasi pur per certo che nessuno meglio di lui toccò i colori
né con maggior vaghezza o con più rilievo alcun artefice dipinse meglio di lui
tanto era la morbidezza delle carni che egli faceva
e la grazia con che e finiva i suoi lavori
A statement of supremacy that leaves one astonished to this day
and well we know who the greats of the mid-Renaissance were
The Tuscan painter-writer then harps on the whole of Antonio’s uncertain professional life on phrases above the stave (as they say) stating that he achieved perfection in fresco and oil works with infinite praise and honor (fig
He credits him with being the first to practice the modern manner in Lombardy
He then leans particularly-he who was of the trade-on the hairs so graceful in color and with finished cleanliness drawn and conducted that better than those cannot be seen (fig
Finally he leaves his pen almost suspended in the sky and proclaims: but because among the excellent men of our art every thing that is seen of his own is admired as divine
We now know that Correggio received from painters and scholars in the 17th and 18th centuries
considerations and incenses of moved recognition as a master of space
Certain more attentive critics in the twentieth century have contributed to his growing appreciation as the Master of Domes and Graces: mention especially of Roberto Longhi and Cecil Gould
and then the contribution of David Alan Brown (1973) who rightly placed him as the lassuntore of Leonardo’s word and the lofty continuer of his legacy
David Ekserdjian in his celebrated monograph (1997) hinged Correggio’s lopus with order and rightness
Lucia Fornari Schianchi and Roberto Tassi have greatly expanded the understanding
in addition to more advanced studies of documents and works
has reserved a surprise of an extremely modern nature: spectacular
in its own way sympathetic and full of clangour
The big bang came from none other than Dario Fo
but (let us not forget) trained at the Brera Academy of Fine Arts according to his vocation as a brilliant painter and draftsman
tarnished by time but enchanting in grace and sweetness (fig
3); the elderly owners declared with simplicity that it was a gift that had come from England for one of their grandfathers
and locchio frecciante of the national Dario enthusiastically confirmed it; not only that
but he took the small wood with him and personally brought it to the friend Pinin Brambilla Barcilon
the prodigious restorer engaged in the painstaking illimitudine of the restoration of Leonardo’s Last Supper
Pinin was in turn fascinated by the artist’s hand and devoted to the painting a loving care of extreme wisdom (2004): thus all the trepidation of the face of the SantAgata concerning on the pate of martyrdom her severed breasts returned to effuse that mystical light that is the pictorial prodigy of Correggio’s visions (fig
Brambilla Barcilon emphasizes the specific mastery of the artist by saying that the woman’s face and hair are characterized by an extremely meticulous and refined execution
recalling the process through the constant overlapping of thin transparent veils and how the face in particular came out with its softness
Dario Fo proclaimed that for him limmagine was the face of Jeronima (Girolama)
the very young and beloved bride of Antonio Allegri
He expressed this declaration in an effervescent TV show and published it in an almost unbelievable book that he brought out shortly thereafter(Il Correggio che dipingeva appeso al cielo
5) where appropriate comparisons appear (fig
the imaginative histrionic man wanted to see the kiss of Girolama and Antonio under the vaults of the dome of Parma Cathedral (fig
the kaleidoscopic Nobel laureate even saw Jeronima in the paradise of the same dome
thus glorifying earthly love and heavenly love (fig
To stick to the painterly development of the Emilian genius we must see
what female type he applied to his paintings in the early stage of his career (figs
dense dumanity .she is beautiful: duna beauty that exudes love
empathy with the subject and with the model
so much so that Dario Fo speculated that it could be a portrait of the painter’s young wife
have openly associated themselves with these judgments
It is incontrovertible that from the moment Correggio brings his bride and first child to Parma (1523)
his female type becomes sweeter and more molten in the face
often and strongly recalling the morphology of SantAgata (Figs
16 and 17): this up to the Madonna of the Bowl and up to the enchanting profile of the nymph Io
abandoned to the beatifying embrace of Jupiter (Fig
The figure of santAgata thus turns out to be the prototype for the creation of the many other female figures of the maturity
To deal with a work by Correggio requires above all the ability to identify with the artist’s soul and to have understood
with a long contemplative and reflective consonance
his ethical and spiritual character: that is
those reasons of the heart that accompanied him everywhere and allowed him marvelous pictorial openings always imbued with deep inner truths
This is how one can frame his own life: with his choices to shun the great centers and the Courts
with his refusal to professionalize his exceptional qualities in direct portraiture
And altogether it is necessary to perceive that rich and profound theological culture that constantly imbued his thought: a culture of total Christian humanism
made festive by the global understanding of theffascinating beauty of the human body: the inconsumable wonder of the entire creation
Without the possession of this premise it would be useless to speak of Correggio’s works
each of which as Vasari says is believed to be a divine work
Dum venÄ•ris was the constant call of a medieval responsory asking God for light: “when you come ..
then you will give us light.” It was an invocation of expectation.In this time stricken by crisis and virus we are called to deep cogitation
even in the field of memory and artistic culture
On that Easter the funeral bed was composed for the body of the supreme artist
and at the head of the bed was placed the great canvas of the marvelous Transfiguration
The coincidence between the making of the greatest masterpiece and the sudden departure of the genius indelibly marked that month and year
Even the recent exhibition on Raphael at the Scuderie del Quirinale started from the momentous moment of Sanzio’s death
If we were to look again at the great panel
we could esteem its upper part as the extreme and supreme manifesto of the whole prodigious affair of the Italian Renaissance: nothing could have been more noble
Here Raphael gives us the incomparable stigma of the values of Renaissance humanism: classical
The trembling assigned by Bembo to Mother Nature(rerum magna parens)
heartfelt that with Raphael’s death she herself might have died
gives us the measure of human capacity when through art she was able to translate those values into figures
there is a kind of law (well known later to the Leopardi of theInfinite) by which the absolute itself generates disquiet
The lower part of the Transfiguration thus became the legacy of uncertainty that Raphael’s pictorial rise was forced to lay down as the “compitum aenigmaticum” in the history of art
In the same days in which Rome and the whole of culture mourned the death of the Urbino genius
in a small town in the Po valley another painter was gazing at a newly plastered dome first hand
which seemed to be waiting for a pictorial dressing up there
inhabited only by the faint atmospheric glow
This was the newly completed ecclesiastical hall of the monastery of the Benedictine Fathers in Parma
finished after a complete reconstruction following a distinctly basilican and Renaissance design
At the intersection of the two major spaces rose a dome
certainly “more Roman,” stimulated by the masterful prediction of the new St
Much has already been written about Correggio’s resounding invention with respect to the concave
almost ovoid invaded dome that stood well walled up there
and even lacking a lantern to filter the light of the beautiful Lombardy sky into it
We all know of the painter’s inexpert negation of the material envelope and the shocking substitution ripping open the divine empyrean
open in infinitum and sprinkled with the golden light
Here one can recall the illustrious and fascinating pages of Mengs
must be analyzed in its visual components: the haeteria and clouds
the tireless motile ferment of the childlike spirits; and of course the descending presence of Christ in human figure
surrounded by the infinite and unfathomable angelic depth
John who now catches with his eyes the longed-for call of his friend Jesus
Many things have been explained about this composition
as well as about the technique likely applied by Correggio
which involves the incredible wisdom of foreshortening along with the careful use of the astrolabe: the instrument of the heavens
as Geraldine Dunphy Wind illustrated in a memorable essay
Here we would like to accompany the visitor to realize how the presential priority of the mystical scene the painter has assigned it to the imposing and physical lap of the Apostles
There is no doubt that the eleven bodies of John’s companion saints are eminent within that “locus intrinsecus” that we identify as paradise
We would like together to understand this particular choice
We know how from the ancient oriental icons up to the mosaics and frescoes of the Middle Ages the heavenly court appears many times all around the figure of Christ triumphant in the heavens; but the great mutation of the Renaissance had strongly humanized the relationship between the Lord and those whom He Himself had chosen for the propagation of the faith
involving in this also the biblical prophets and patriarchs
how three brilliant protagonists of this new season have stretched out the crown of those whom we shall call the interlocutors of the Incarnate Word
a vital and binding bond that flows throughout the years in artistic exercises and is transfused (see the Vie des formes of the great Focillon)
can subtract himself from his own historical time and native land
here it is that Correggio’s creative outburst in the dome of San Giovanni Evangelista in Parma
also needs the relative spatio-temporal justifications
must be found in the earlier Masters and apply to the rising climate (which bears several names) of that multifaceted and brilliant phenomenon called the Italian Renaissance
with an axiom we could say that “if no one could paint like Giotto before Giotto,” no one then after him could paint without his legacy
In the case of Correggio to only one name before Allegri we must substitute
at least the three high ones of those who left unavoidable works between the end of the 15th century and the first two decades of the following century: Leonardo
Certainly the Stanza della Segnatura and the vault of the Sistine Chapel for Correggio
In them the 24-year-old painter from the north found
in addition to a series of impressive anagogical data
the register of the postures and faces of the “men of Christ.” In Raphael’s Dispute of the Blessed Sacrament
the upper assembly around the throne of Jesus offered him a quiet
Michelangelo’s sequence of Prophets and Sibyls showed an alternating and subsulting roiling of spirits; but each of these isolated within the marble stipulations of its own scanno
but insufficient to be simply reported in any other context
Here is the critical point: their overcoming
The finding on the part of the “painter of the north” that new flight that would lead to the certain subsumption of the highest notes of what has been rightly called “the Christian humanism of the Renaissance,” omitting altogether the simple imitation of a belt of spirits
but must participate with evidence in a glorious and preteruman moment
So Allegri sets aside the Olympian eloquence of the Disputa
in Santa Maria della Pace he takes intimate pleasure in the sinuous
ringed references of Raphael’s Sibyls
faced with the eternal texture of Michelangelo’s prophetic motions and glances on the vault of the Sistine Chapel (inalveolated within the most gigantic pictorial architecture of ordered and superb stones ever intended in the history of art) the young Antonio perceived the detachment from the divine intrision and the unreached bliss of the protagonists of waiting and redemption
A most important problem of expressive content
At this point we must pin ourselves down to concern the intensity of Correggio’s youthful formation on the truthful escort of David Alan Brown’s (1983) basic thesis; we must go back to Leonardo and the intimate poignancy he was able to give to the characters of his researches
and above all we must review the dialectical responsory of the Apostles-convites at the Last Supper in Milan (1495-1498)
where each personal character is remarked and vibrates with an inner feedback for the momentous moment that is taking place
The great mural painting in the Dominican Convent of Santa Maria delle Grazie truly appears as an anthology of the motions of the soul that are addressed to Jesus
Correggio is brought yes to compose the action of the Evangelist’s encounter-call but
he cannot fail to comprehend the whole divine epiphany that follows
The presence of Jesus is the presence of the resurrected
and therefore the “place” that surrounds him must be that of eternal happiness
and of spiritual joy that supremely imbues those who accompany him
sublimated by the marvelous and calm status of the enjoyment of the beatific vision
is the paradisiacal condition chosen by the painter
who shortly before had already stupendously resolved the Room of the Abbess
with the revolving procession of innocent spirits within the Garden of Eden
The great gathering of the Apostles on the clouds in the dome of St
John’s is similarly a mystical “convenerunt in unum” that is reified in the monumental figures of the Eleven
divinely called to welcome the elderly John in his transit to heaven
and that has a raison d’être (and thus appearance) in the pure if cyclopean presence of bodies
What then is the justification for this circuitous chorus
surrounded by the ethereal clouds but so powerful as to supplant all function
It is the immersion of human life in blissful eternity
Here the apostolic characters must not have expressions of anxiety or doubt
but neither of pompous satisfaction since all grace comes from God
Correggio adheres intimately to such balance
which obliges us to a high and committed critical feedback
Correggio is well aware “that the mystery of Christ lies shrouded in the silence of the eternal ages,” and that every human appearance of the Word is a parousia of love and glory
conceives the presence of Jesus descending from heaven as an eternal act that implies the same infinite majesty of God
If we wanted to decrypt the scene of the dome in temporal
and then from heaven the elevated coming of the other Apostles above him: at this point they form a crown of expectation
the highest etimasia in the history of Christian art for the coming of the Word
We thus want to return to the reason for this artistic meditation
The three greats of the Renaissance (Leonardo
Michelangelo and Raphael) leave a very rich cosmographic legacy
which surfaces in human expressions in courtly or dramatic forms
but still suspended on the question of eternity
is the one who plunges into eternity by solving ideational and executive problems that regenerate in this dome all Italian painting on the trembling acme of a creative continuation that seemed impossible
It is the dome of San Giovanni that is the admirable document of this vital transition
The subject of the painting carries with it a character that we might call imprecise with respect to the usually stated event
the Nativity according to the Gospel accounts
since on the holy night the relative Elizabeth could not have been there
presents itself as a mystical assumption of the entire childhood of Jesus by foreshadowing the events and (more broadly) the bond that He will have with His precursor cousin
up to the Redemptive Mission for all humanity
Usually Correggio is very precise in sticking to events and paying scrupulous attention to sacred scripture
Here the painter has exhibited a manifold and very rare painting on the theme of the Incarnation and Redemption that makes us reflect on his intense theological maturity
Bonaventure says by standing in the midst of the earth worked salvation
this scene takes place in an advanced night: here is Correggio’s convinced fidelity to the certified events
and here is an early proof (very close experimentally to the little Judith of Strasbourg) of a vast scene recorded on the swing of darkness
It is a choice that launches the career of the brilliant painter on the effected light-shadow dialectic
eventually reaching the apex of naturalistic possibilities and new wonders in his maturity
Throughout the painting one can in fact bring in meticulous observations of details bathed in half-light but real and carefully arranged
was laid in a manger (Luke 2:6-19); it truly appears in the painted scene
under the canopy on the right that shelters the donkey
but in this Correggio version we see Jesus on the ground
a truthful sign of the coming of the Word in the human context and an indication of a precise choice of poverty
He lies on top of a symbolic thickness of ears of wheat and is laid in the middle of a large-scale but very gathered white sheet that reaches up to wrap around his head
The ears of wheat refer directly to the Eucharist
and the sheet visibly refers to the shroud of the tomb
There is thus recalled here the entire Gospel afflatus of the Passion and Resurrection
with the sweetest face contemplates the Child while holding her right hand enclosed in her cloak
and this concealment aroused Cecil Gould’s perplexity at the time
but Correggio follows with pious and participatory acumen the limpid text of St
who writes that Mary “kept all these things in her heart”: here the veiled hand over her heart confirms that this is truly an event filled with mystery
almost in a dialogical attitude with his little cousin; his presence for certain reveals the biblical role of the Forerunner
but he powerfully proposes the last act of the ancient Jewish Covenant that will now leave the leadership to the new universal Covenant: a total palingenesis of time worked for us by the divine will
signifying the penumbra of the ancient centuries coming to their end
along with a number of interesting considerations
has rightly pointed to a Mantegna-like reminiscence of the Allegri
who is linked to his Mantuan master by a not-so-distant focus on the theme of senectus
But the encounter between the two mothers and their little ones is the evidence of the painting
which contains the reality of scriptural substance
We must emphasize how in the face and image of Mary (beautiful virgin coming out of the rustic shelter and taking herself among the cooperating ruins of an ancient majestic domus
or a Roman imperial monimentum ) Correggio seems to have caught the invocation of the Spirit in the Song of Songs
who invites with quivering intimacy the desired one: ..
Here is the admirable creation of Mary’s breathing face turned to the Babe: a true meditation where the young Allegri distances himself from any masterful model that has preceded him and concentrates in a form of love
The whole figure of Mary is a masterpiece of linear and chromatic balance
hinging on the red-humanity of this mother’s robe that the light from above bathes on her face and pressing hand
Exactly in the space between the two mothers who impersonate the biblical delivery
a second plane opens up that is pregnant with meaning: next to the aeolian column (which will later be used again by Allegri as a sign of the constancy of classicism in history) stand two shepherds alone to whom a young angel gliding harmoniously points the way to enter with Jesus
This choice is reminiscent of the future mandate Jesus will give to his disciples and witnesses (Lk
The figure of the angel is singular and sweet
The necessary annotation concerns the small number of witnesses called first by the heavenly messengers: Correggio carefully dispenses with the numerous presences we always find in other paintings of tradition
since he chooses an intimate and subdued conversation between the angel and the human hearts of the two shepherds: dum medium silentium tenet omnia
In this way we concerning can also participate in the angel’s teaching that marks the passage
which is spiritually the easy way to Christ
The Allegrianinventio of the little gate (which no gospel mentions) reminds us that in Jewish antiquity the approach to God could take place only once a year and only for the High Priest
who had to cross at Passover the veil of the Temple and enter the Holy of Holies at the Ark of the Covenant; the Correggio instead posits a flowing passage that allows the humble
an approach that will be total in Christian history
Truly beautiful is the loquela digitorum of the heavenly creature
to which the elderly shepherd responds analogically
and here Correggio is certainly mèmore than Leonardo in the Virgin of the Rocks: the angel marks the Savior with the forefinger of his right hand
and the man (who in Jewish society was the rejected one) similarly imitates the gesture with his middle finger
due to a culture as profound as it is profound and certainly mindful of the spiritual-symbolic prosody of the Byzantine and medieval foundation
where every character and every gesture is imbued with eternity
The two darting little angels with pointed wings dance above Mary and Joseph; they seem to assure us that the little sleeping creature on the white cloth really comes from heaven
as also confirmed by those golden rays in their natural yet precise and suave unreality
Cecil Gould says that the rays descend from the star that always accompanies the Nativity (here outside the painting)
is the soft light that irradiates Mary and the other characters at the waning of this holy night that is dying
We must dwell on the two little angels; they are among the first nudes in Renaissance painting to appear suspended in space as real
rotating freely in an open physical encasement and varied in their mimicry attitudes of authentic children: early
studied and beloved evidence of movements absolved by the law of gravity
An earlyness that Correggio here deliberates with art unfettered but rich in acute study of the children: quick
pursued and blissfully resolved in the shady auras of the loco
Even in such resolution this painting is crucial and innovative
an instrument of travel that will accompany him another time in Allegri’s paintings; at first glance it seems strange that he does not notice the presence of the two guests and does not receive them as is appropriate
especially since the birth of the Child took place amidst unfortunate difficulties and Mary had to be helped in everything
But this is precisely the point that opens wide the entire value of the painting to a grandiose mystical significance
Joseph’s attitude recurs especially when it is intended to indicate that he is dreaming
In the Gospels he is the one who receives in a dream God’s commands: after the Annunciation take Mary as your wife; He who is to be born comes by the Holy Spirit (Mt 1:18-23) and after the visit of the Magi soon
Correggio in this panel that it is therefore insufficient to call “Nativity” flaunts the entire first part of the divine design of the Incarnation
The painting includes how Herod’s order to kill the children has already been issued
The two soldiers on the proda are placed to guard the border crossing
the sky swirls in heavy clouds beyond the dark mountain reminiscent of Dante’s Pietra di Bismantova; over there stretches the sea (the only time Correggio paints the sea)
and beyond flickers the outline of the imaginary city of Pharaoh
Here is the totality of the raw story of the coming of the son of God to the dwelling place of men: poverty
the delivery of the word to the Forerunner
An evangelical-theological synthesis that willingly engaged the young painter from Lombardy
Allegri goes far beyond the schemes still in force in the first decade of the sixteenth century and assigns to pictorial art the freedom to be highly compendious
On the executive level here Correggio also evolves: from the fulcrum of Baby Jesus he assigns at least four radial directions to the viewer’s gaze penetrating the different spaces that revolve around the pivot of the classical column
which sports an elegant anthemion (its decorated collar) in the body of the capital
The arrangement of structural-architectural elements is as elaborate as can be: on the right
leaning fortunately against the powerful Roman wall; then the massive brick mole perhaps pertaining to a curial building
with the empty niche with a statuary vocation
but abandoned and shadowy; then the well-modulated column
a clue to a now-collapsed “orders” facade; to the side
a collaborating fornix among disconnected members
the grand naturalistic-luministic poetry of trees shaken by a wrathful wind
which thrilled the sympathetic eye of Eugenio Riccòmini in a vivid Courbettian comparison
Here watch over the restless guardians of Herod
Here is Correggio’s pictorial and mystical tablature; here is the accompanying score along the stages of the story: Jesus is born when classicism has already fulfilled its task and from its ruins a new civilization is about to be born
together with the lyrical-pictorial chant that “compact visual symbolism,” that exegesis of the sacred narrative that has sprung from the conversations Allegri always held and cared for with monks
Behind Saint Elizabeth’s back is repeated the diagonal of a very steep proda connoted by trees and two bushy masses
carefully defined with the naturalistic love that would always pour from Correggio’s paintings
umbellifers and some grasses: the usual botany of the Po Valley humus
The complex texture of the divine event is thus greeted with the dense semantic simplicity that would constantly accompany Correggio on his serene and luminous journey
observes that the center of the composition of this Nativity is not well understood
the suspended problem of which nevertheless interests him with care
Allegri in this panel does not respect the strict Gospel sequence of John where Pilate
repeated that he found no guilt in him and presented him to the High Priests
Correggio gathers in this extremely dramatic moment the very presence of Mary
and frames a sum of inner feelings that make this work a supremely mystical painting
There appears the whole saving will of Jesus with the surrender of himself to every insult
every torment and finally to the final Sacrifice of death on the cross
Anthony’s pious soul - whom Vasari himself qualifies as a “most good Christian” - rejects the obvious verism of a bleeding body
just as Pilate himself had declared him to be
accompanied by his gaze as an offering victim
and with those sweetest hands that had just before fulfilled the Eucharistic donation
The theological call that Correggio accomplishes by placing the Mother beside the same hillock where the Son appears is certainly the expression of Mary as the Coredemptrix: the biblical
sacramental reality that the Church has always proclaimed
slide anxiously over the parapet of the Praetorium
David Ekserdjian’s note on this detail is very beautiful
Correggio’s entire painting is therefore not simply a devotional picture
but rises to the powerful role of a theological document
the figure presenting the scourged Christ to the agitated crowd in the courtyard remains to be decrypted: who is he
and what does “behold the man” mean
The simplistic answer fits the Gospel text: it is Pilate
But that figure does not correspond to a high Roman military officer
well-dressed man with a well-groomed and solemn beard
wearing a rich turban embellished with a gem
it is true that other painters have clothed the Caesarean governor in their national costumes
as the young scholar Gian Paolo Lusetti observes in an oral presentation
but Correggio could not have reported such a choice in the context of an event that the painter wants to maintain in all its soteriological
The writer’s opinion is that Allegri switched roles and entrusted the demonstrative cry that here becomes almost triumphal to a Pharisee
The painting is mystical and is deployed on three planes: the one closest to us involves the supreme love that envelops Jesus-victim
of the Roman palace that yields to the tumult of the mob: on this line stands the bumptious satisfaction of an accuser: “this is how we have reduced him.” In the middle stands the sacred Victim
The writer understands the singularity of his own proposal
but wishes to set forth some considerations that would exclude Pilate from the role of the truncated presenter
let us remember that Correggio was very familiar with Roman military dress: he had been able to record it directly in his travel(s) to Rome
And then we must emphasize Pilate’s own repeated
intense opposition to the condemnation of Jesus
his explicit recognition of innocence; even the “extrema ratio” of scourging had allowed it to save Jesus from death (scourging never preceded crucifixion in Roman judicial custom)
And here it would be worth noting that the Coptic Christian church from the earliest centuries has held and venerated Pilate and his consort Claudia Valeria as saints
In the undoubted anagogical value of the painting
it is possible that Allegri veridically switched roles
In the central plane of Allegri’s panel
already “patiens” because of the extreme pain of his divine awareness
stands the outstretched and darker face of a soldier; this profile with its intensely questioning and almost moved gaze is that of the Centurion who later
at the moment of Jesus’ death on the cross
“Truly this man was the Son of God” (Mk
Bibliographical notes</strongAndrea Muzzi
The expression of grief in some of Correggio’s works in the 1920s in Dialogues of Art History
what if the beloved granny of your village fed you a pastry made of your favorite next-door neighbor
She would turn their flesh into soap and dried their blood to use in tea cakes
She was the first recorded female serial killer in Italy
She had attempted suicide twice before adulthood
and had her future foretold to be devastating
after Cianciulli married a man her parents’ disapproved of
That is where she built her reputation as a doting mother and kind neighbor
She assisted those around her when necessary and was a trusted elder
Cianciulli grew overprotective of her remaining children
and Giuseppe enlisted himself into the war
She could not bear the thought of losing her son to the bloodthirsty war
Cianciulli then became convinced that the only way to save her son was to make human sacrifices
Cianciulli was known in her community as a loving mother and kind neighbor
but Cianciulli may have been a fortune teller herself
or was a trusted elder and community members often sought out advice from her
Cianciulli committed her first murder in 1939
Faustina Setti was her first and oldest victim
Setti had come to Cianciulli for counsel on finding a fit husband
Cianciulli told Setti there was a man waiting for her in Pola
Italy and instructed Setti to prepare for her departure
Cianciulli also told her to write plenty of letters and postcards to send to friends and family once she arrived in Pola
upon which Cianciulli took the opportunity to kill her
“An Embittered Soul’s Confessions,” confessing to how she disposed of Setti: “I threw the pieces into a pot
and stirred the whole mixture until the pieces dissolved in a thick
dark mush that I poured into several buckets and emptied in a nearby septic tank
I made lots of crunchy tea cakes and served them to the ladies who came to visit
but Cianculli may have received Setti’s life savings
Cianciulli’s second victim was also a familiar face to the killer
Cianculli spun a story that there was a teaching job for Soavi abroad
Cianciulli once again instructed Soavi to write letters to family and friends
Soavi met Cianciulli one last time before her departure
killed with an axe and was turned into tea cakes
and paid Cianciulli 50,000 lire to help her find a way to the big city
Cacioppo wanted the hustle and bustle of city life
instructed Cacioppo to write letters to her friends and family before she left
Cacioppo visited Cianciulli’s home for the great news
Cianciulli said in her statement to police: “[Cacioppo] ended up in the pot
when it had melted I added a bottle of cologne
and after a long time on the boil I was able to make some most acceptable creamy soap
I gave bars to neighbors and acquaintances
Cianciulli not only made Cacioppo into sweets
Cacioppo was the only victim to be made into soap
her sister-in-law was the last person to see Cacioppo alive before Cianciulli murdered her
Her sister-in-law saw Cacioppo enter Cianciulli’s residence
The sister notified the police immediately
Cianciulli at first admitted no guilt to the crimes
Stricken with grief at the thought of losing her son
she immediately admitted guilt and confessed to every aspect of the murders
Cianciulli was reported as showing no remorse
Cianciulli corrected the prosecutor one time
which I used to skim the fat off the kettles
which was so badly in need of metal during the last days of the war.”
Cianciulli was found guilty and sentenced to 33 years
The fortune teller from before was correct
Her body was returned to her family for the burial
except for the murder weapons — including the pot she used to boil down her victims
The instruments of murder were given to the Criminology Museum in Rome
Italy and can be seen on display to this day
critics and historians claim Cianciulli’s first two victims as lonely
Their families weren’t alarmed at their disappearance
Cianciulli’s time was drastically different from our own
There was no way to quickly contact a loved one
Cianciulli would never have been able to commit her murders today
She was certain that she needed to perform human sacrifices to save her children
she was eventually admitted into asylum and received treatment
This edition has also been made into a video series on Youtube
It is the constant merit of Finestre sull’Arte to awaken attention to many extraordinary works of our figurative civilization that
are not normally brought to their actual value and the high admiration they deserve
We therefore set out along these lines by proposing a curious and interesting examination of the unfinished Allegory of Virtue that Correggio likely began in 1521 for Isabella d’Este Gonzaga
We know that the canvas was in Rome as early as 1603 as recorded in an Aldobrandini inventory
This attestation of excellent appreciation
as is the rapid transfer from Emilia to the papal city
The Aldobrandini collections were none other than those of the reigning pope Clement VIII
and the search for Correggio’s rare and highly prized works came from the Carraccan wave that had illuminated Rome with Hannibal and his
This Allegrian proof lacked - in the long history of criticism - the attention it was due
The painting is now in the Doria-Pamphilj Gallery in Rome
proclaiming it a “superb autograph.” We are dealing with a kind of very long arch resting on two pylons centuries apart
and the work seems to us worthy of special examination.We wrote an earlier essay on Allegories for Isabella
and we refer to that for many observations: see the January issue of this year in Finestre Sull’Arte
We repeat here that the marquise of Mantua asked Antonio Allegri for the two canvases to complete her new Studiolo in Corte Vecchia and paid for them in 1522
These two paintings were to seal the tenacious pictorial theory that already existed in the earlier paintings
and give its closing demonstrations on the grave effects of Evil (Vice)
We also recalled that the triumphant and crowned figure must presumptively indicate Isabella herself
The final two canvases shine today in the Louvre Gallery
It is very likely that Correggio transited through Mantua in the spring of 1521 and here had the indispensable approaches with the marquise
well known for her punctilious demands on painters and the mythic-symbolic evocations that were to dot every work she wanted
It would be most interesting to have a film on the savory and learned verbal skirmish between the two; if anything
accompanied by the sketches of the 30-year-old master
already glorious of the heavenly fresco of the dome of San Giovanni in Parma
but fate does not grant us such technical recoveries
In order to follow the genesis of the work in question we see an early graphic proof
namely a striking double tracing drawing of the central figures
where in the recto we immediately glimpse the act of the coronation and where we can catch significant details
It is not out of place to imagine the marquise’s keen interest in the canvases that were to consecrate her culture and especially her personality at the pinnacle of the Studiolo
it is difficult to say how Isabella repeatedly put her tongue and finger into the progress of Antonio’s work
She imposed the tempera technique on the intemperate Allegri
who did not refuse and who made a first trial “in corpore vili,” as they used to say: that is
laying out an essay that was already very convincing
It remains to be speculated whether this first trial
conducted in lean tempera over a thin layer of sanding of the canvas
was abandoned for technical reasons; in fact
Correggio treated the polite sanding of the fabric in several layers and switched decisively to fat tempera
But the technical reason does not seem decisive
Out of lively curiosity we might think that “the unfinished” was laid out in Mantua
and that Her semantic insights then guided
the final version of “Virtue.” It is likely that the two Allegories now in the Louvre were later painted in Parma
We will try to follow an alternation of thoughts between the “superb autograph” of the Doria Pamphilj
which we will call “the unfinished,” and the final version in the Louvre
It will be like discovering the exculpatory conversation between Isabella and Antonio: she all bent on the series of definitions
Let us begin with technical observations and immediate figuration in the now Roman proof
Correggio spreads the preparation of plaster and glue
smoothing it out nicely; but the too-white background would have obliged him to excessive chromatic gradations; and here is a second orangey spread
not unmindful of a more neutral Raphaelesque procedure
This warm background will greatly help the tones and color fusions; for us-in other cases-it will help in the attributions and dating of certain Allegrian works
direct and smug toward the crowning genius
who will then turn to establish a relationship
We can then continue our comparative analyses
Comparing the unfinished canvas with the complete one in the Louvre
we notice that the central figure of Wisdom in the first painting holds a more upright
more dominant position; if we recall the graphic diagram we published last January we see that the exact center of the pictorial field is obtained by marking the two large diagonals
which generate the focal point at their intersection but also two sharp equilateral triangles as the lower and upper fields
in the final Louvre version the central point falls exactly on the mouth of Wisdom thus emanating a series of meanings of thought and heart
The lowering of the figure is justified in comparison with the previous draft by responding to the virtuous need to place Wisdom as the ideal protagonist and more in tune with the semantic grouping of the figures surrounding her
Thus it can turn its eyes outward by connecting to the space of the observer
and overall the scheme allows more breathing room for the three magnificent figures of the Theological Virtues that burst from above in a multidirectional way to complete the Isabellian sylloge
The laurel wreath becomes more ostentatious
whose supporting genius has a gentler face
and the paludamenti of the Great Virtue offer Correggio a chromatic polyphony of a true masterpiece
realize the very careful processes of refinement between the two versions
The pictorial modeling of the Unfinished Doria-Pamphilj is strongly monumental in character with resentful overhangs and with spatial eddies around the figures: this is why the Roman canvas is presented with a value that we would call independent
The descriptive conversion that the Louvre canvas achieves transitions to a gentle and
The iconographic echoes lean almost all on the Camera di San Paolo
on an earlier and grandiose poemical demonstration also registered - as now the Allegories - on the mythic-biblical semiotic admixture
In such admixture Correggio was undoubtedly sublime and extraordinary master
If we look at the peana of praise applied to the figure of Virtue-Wisdom we find first in the Unfinished the attribution to her of the golden “capigliara,” a kind of real crown with rays of light
there appears a shell with a pearl in the center placed on the head of the Protagonist: this conferment
we find above the forehead of Diana standing out in the Chamber of St
and in the same environment in three highly symbolic female figures placed in the lunettes
We invite everyone to these careful observations
Again from the Minerva of the Chamber of St
and that spotted fur of the quiver carried by the putto
which we find in the legging of the Wisdom in the Louvre
seated to the right of Wisdom (for us on the left) is already provided with almost all attributes and will be faithfully brought back
while between the powerful legs of this first version the head
are confused in energetic execution; then in the accuracy of the finished canvas we see the shield with the Gòrgone
its abnormal body with the twisted tail and the two different paws: the claw and the goat hoof (τερας)
Correggio accurately evokes Athena’s shield with the Gorgon effigy on the outside and the beast on the inside
It is right to dwell on the latter choices
since for Isabella d’Este evil is indeed multifaceted: the goat in particular has a negative valence among all peoples
and is to be exorcised in any case; here Virtue crushing it with her foot echoes in evidence the role of the Woman of the Apocalypse who conculcates the dragon
In the Roman canvas beautiful is the feminine gesture of taking off the majestic helmet as a sign of victory; again here the symbolic group to the left of the Lady (for us on the right) is sharply defined : the seated woman is already a “cingana” and the very viscous child is dealing with a sphere that is certainly terrestrial since it rests on the ground; he is naked because he is a “newcomer” marking the newly discovered world
In the final version the woman measures with a compass - note - the earthly globe pointing to distant spaces with her other hand
Still a look at the background of the two paintings is necessary
the foreground proda is hurried and dark; behind the figures Correggio has laid out for the most part that second preparation that appears to be waiting for completion
and it is difficult to discern in this wide chromatic backdrop an architectural parastas
straggling out of the ochre-orange preparation
stands out almost prodigiously the winged flying figure we shall denote as the Faith; beside it some careful signs are the traces of a continuation already cogitated
spreads a river among the mountains with a lyrical landscape effect; the sky is of clear luminous aurora
while the upper part was perhaps already destined for a vegetal reappearance
Here is the great value of the Roman tempera
which - out of curiosity - is called “a concert of women” in ancient inventories
With this canvas Antonio Allegri departed from Mantua
laden with all the semantic-defining instruction that the Este marquise had given him
and went on to complete one of the most articulate and most reworked works of his career
In the Allegory of Vice he harmoniously found an exceptionally expansive naturalistic enclosure
but in the Allegory of Virtue he exalted the character of Isabella
superbly set the Solomonic columns of Wisdom (another beautiful connection with the vegetation of St
but-above all-he gave the Italian Renaissance the sovereign stigma of artistic significance
Let us close with an invigorating comparison
We commemorate here the fifth centenary of an event that might seem minor but offers to the anthology of Renaissance wonders a double gem incomparable in beauty and intellectual significance
This is a contribution of the Friends of Correggio Association
A somewhat narrative premise is needed in order to bind the certain historical data with the hypothetical connective that can make a real
Lady (and not by mere title) of the Mantuan State
found herself around the year 1520 with the rather considerable age of 46 years tried by numerous pregnancies
travels and the recent long pilgrimage to Sainte-Baume near Marseille (1517) to venerate in person the grotto and the memory of Saint Mary Magdalene
made her directly invested in the affairs of state
the complex artistic construction site for the renovation of the old part of the Palace engaged her in person on a daily basis
she decided to move her Studiolo and the “Grotto of Antiquities” from the uncomfortable rooms of the old castle of San Giorgio to the more pleasant place of the Corte Vecchia on the first floor
in the heart of the marquis’ representation
The Studiolo had become famous for the presence of paintings by Mantegna(Il Parnaso eppoi Il Trionfo della Virtù e la cacciata dei vizi); by Perugino(La Lotta tra Amore e Castità ); and by Lorenzo Costa(Isabella d’Este incoronata nel mondo di Armonia and finally Il Regno del Dio Como)
Already these titles outline for us the extended theme of the struggle between good and evil
without wanting to hide a winning personal protagonism of Isabella herself
The sources for the princely patron’s multiple and complicated lucubrations were drawn from an extensive literature in ethical terms and with chosen mythographic roots
but translated into exaggerated particularisms
demanded and poured out on the succubus painters
Let us not forget that in the new arrangement the passage between the Grotto and the Studiolo was adorned by two portals of which Gian Cristoforo Romano’s
also appears to be paginated by the same motifs
The open tree-lined courtyard then bore a tall epigraph
where Isabella declared herself “niece of the Kings of Aragon
daughter and sister of the Dukes of Ferrara
wife and mother of the Marquises of Mantua.” What we might call the “new identity room” received an honorary majolica tile floor and a magnificent gilded wooden ceiling
The paintings we have listed were arranged on the long sides of the room
but the new exit wall left two vertical spaces at the sides of the door; from them came Isabella’s thought for a paradigmatic conclusion to the long theme
the noble Estense had made herself a banner (verdially “triumphal and pious”) of every virtue: whose ringing dianas composed upon herself the feminine ideal of the Renaissance
Wisdom was to be celebrated and Vice relegated to humiliating failure
Our narrative now aims to follow the Lady’s quest to complete the figurative decor of the Studiolo: to choose a painter who would work with larger figures than the constrained ones in the previous series and who could powerfully and gracefully imprint both the final admonition of the insistent ethical preaching of the walls and the solemn celebration of the noble patron as the moral instructor of an entire society
For many months she had been receiving admiring praise for the works of that distant pupil of Mantegna whom she had known as a young fresco painter at the Master’s Chapel (and who had then sent her that “Cristo giovenetto di anni circa duodeci” never painted for her by Leonardo) and now brought to Parma
Certainly the glittering Camera that Antonio had frescoed for the abbess of St
Paul’s with an admirable mythological and biblical interweaving had intrigued her
John the Evangelist had elicited unparalleled choruses of incense
announced to her that “the grand master of art” had begun for her a magnificent
and dense portrait: a real treat for the eyes and the soul
The Marquise Gonzaga lost no time: she sent a cavalryman
Thus in the incipient spring of 1521 the thirty-year-old Allegri
animated by his recent marriage and full of enthusiasm for the progress of his career
resumed from his native place the well-known path to the Polirone: he saw again the monks of his 1513 undertaking
from them he had again the friendly ferry from the Gorgo on the great river
andppoi he looked out over the lakes of the Mincio catching sight of the towers of San Giorgio
During the two or three days of her stay in Mantua here
one of the most intense and fascinating conversations of art that history could recall took place: Isabella and Correggio dueled over culture in search of the final Allegories for the Studiolo cycle
The Estense put on the table all her semantic
radiated in the innumerable details of the proposed plot; and Correggio (who certainly did not reject the scheme) implanted in contrast his prodigious
albeit all entrusted to a few substantial figures
But before turning to our semantic analysis we think it is good to turn to the fascinating subject
preserved in the Doria-Pamphilj Gallery in Rome
which is undoubtedly an early effort by Correggio on the subject
left unfinished it is said probably for technical reasons but perhaps because of that impulse of continuous solicitation that always urged the painter to “see himself in the work” and thus to try again
as we can recall in the shuffling between sketches
tablets and drawings on several other creative occasions
The presence of another proof already in Palazzo Altieri
There is ample discussion of this in the essay “LAllegoria della Virtu
Doria-Pamphilj”: technical and critical notes by Diego Cauzzi
and Claudio Seccaroni; which can be found in the Proceedings of the 2008 Study Conference at the Associazione Amici del Correggio
It says: Correggio’sThe Allegory of Virtue in the Doria Pamphilj Gallery arouses particular interest for two reasons
The first lies in the incompleteness of the work
which allows for a better understanding of the genesis and the manner of proceeding held by the painter
triggering conjectures about the reasons for the interruption of the work and revealing the starting nudes
which was already employed in the Middle Ages
registering a special frequency in the Po Valley area
in the very world from which the young Correggio moved
To arrange in a canvas of no great size (149 x 88 cm) the Three Theological Virtues
the reference to the Four Cardinal Virtues
which only the genius of the artist succeeded in solving with impetus and refinement
that in front of a painting our eye first rests on what is in the center
In our case by tracing the two diagonals of the painting the central point of the whole composition falls on the mouth of the beautiful Woman who has for us an expression of great loving-kindness: the protagonist is in fact shown as the Allegory of Wisdom; to whom (more than likely) Isabella d’Este Gonzaga wanted to be likened
The “Virtue par excellence” from which her sisters emanate
and Correggio (in certain dialogue with the Marquise) depicts her as the Minerva of the Romans
She is not here exactly like the Athena of the Greeks
for she has laid her shield adorned with the terrifying Gòrgone on the ground
and has taken off her feathered helmet surmounted by a Sphinx
a symbolic figure of fierce “dullness” that can only be overcome by study and sagacity
The leg of the goddess is finely adorned with a schiniere covered by the spotted cloak flap of a feline
culminating below the knee with an eerie human head: the flap could be of lynx skin
intellect and vigilance over man because of its keen eyesight
It should be recalled that Correggio in the Camera di San Paolo had used a similar fur for the quiver carried by a putto on the east wall
and he would take up the mode on the same dart sheath in the sumptuous erotic painting
Cupid and a Satyr (1526-28) now in the Louvre
Isabella for her part wanted to wear an equally spotted fur coat in the late portrait she had painted by Titian
Thus we caught a round of assonances that should be symbolic and not accidental
Another thematic connection with the Chamber of St
Correggio maintains in the ideal superimposition of the figure of Wisdom herself
who here presents herself as Minerva but who lately impersonates Mary
the “Sedes sapientiae” of the Christian faith
the symbol of wisdom that in the shape of a sphere adorns the sword of the Fortress
is traditionally the image of Mary crossed by the heavenly light of her Son remaining Immaculate
The evangelist Luke reports the episode where Mary found her 12-year-old son
in the temple in Jerusalem disserting with the doctors of the Law
arousing wonders in them: among those cedar pillars stood the very one who was the supreme wisdom
we should not overlook the angelic figure hovering over the central one: the laurel wreath it bears connects perfectly with Wisdom
but the palm branch (a symbol of martyrdom and victory) should be referred to the one who suffered martyrdom par excellence by achieving victory over death: Christ
the pillar of conjunction between earth and heaven
Certainly Allegri first elaborated in his conversations with Isabella such difficult-to-represent concepts
and then in his painting he created the high figurative symbols proving himself capable of being cultured and ingenious
We know that the square symbolizes the four elements of creation: air
instead of using four figures to represent the Cardinal Virtues
makes a striking and admirable synthesis in a single maiden who carries four symbols: Prudence
signified by the serpent that stands on her head; the bite of Temperance in one hand and the sword of Justice in the other
where the importance of this virtue always being crystal clear is exposed by the vivid pommel that adorns the end of the sword
which is why the maiden keeps it tame underneath
Returning to the Wisdom painting and having drawn its diagonals
we have graphically defined two equilateral triangles juxtaposed vertically
In order to obtain them we believe that Allegri finely studied the two geometric patterns “of perfection” that were absolutely adequate to the mà ntical roles of the figures to be inserted in them
In the upper triangle pertaining to Heaven (or better yet Paradise since the artist used a blazing burst of golden color) are placed the Three Theological Virtues
equipped with wings and well defined in their clothing by their typical colors: Green for Hope
Paul says it is the most important and it is on this that we will be judged; in eternal life Faith and Hope will no longer appear
while what will remain will be the good accomplished
These three Virtues hold two musical instruments: a lyre and a golden trumpet
the lyre was a symbol of the cosmic harmony that united heaven and earth; to make the lyre vibrate was to make the world vibrate and tame the beasts: as we can see in the painting the Dragon being mastered by Wisdom
which in the great celebrations associated heaven and earth
in the Christian sphere is found represented
the moment when the apocalyptic Beast will be finally defeated
the trumpet is not stretched out to play but is turned backward
held by Faith and even more firmly by Charity
which does not want to make known the good bestowed
Before the terminal flaring of the instrument
that appears to play a bùccina
a loud sounding shell that stands for the Word
Also important is the dominant and supreme glow that envelops and propels the Theological Virtues: one is struck by the exceptional strength of this divine flash that holds a force of eternity and does not fade into the earthly atmosphere as it does in other Allegrian works dilated between heaven and earth
is a demonstration of the end point of the exercise of vices in mortal life: the body
actor and source in its time of sensual enjoyments
is now weak and helpless against the results of them
man is bound to the same tree of life that appears as a fatal arbor; he is therefore helpless while the three Furies
These turn in counterpoise to the senses already used to enjoy: sight
The stretching out of the entire coloring makes this Allegory an achievement of full creative bliss: here the nudes triumph
Correggio’s beloved bodily nudity gathered in an almost “in a circle” composition that offers the mastery of screwed but totally graspable postures
and that barely subtends that luminous circle of bodies whose pivot is the now vanquished male member of the ancient wrestler and that includes (note) the recent split of the branch above his head: a stern sign of stinging reproof
From the tree hang leafy shoots of a fruitless vine
We had cited the Camera di San Paolo as Correggio’s first masterpiece of cultural breadth in Parma and now
at the conclusion of the semantic analysis of this painting for Isabella’s Studiolo
we can confirm how there are several elements in common that also corroborate the chronological proximity of the two works: the interweaving of the bamboo canes
A skillful thread of forthright allegrian flavor
Some conclusions that appear here are already present in Giuseppe Adani Correggio
For biblical-mythological analogies see by Renza Bolognesi Correggio
Important closer or specific works on Isabella and her Studiolo
While the magnificent exhibition Rinascimento a Ferrara. Ercole de’ Roberti and Lorenzo Costa - and there shine masterpieces of the highest rank in the context of the golden age of Italian humanism - it will not be inappropriate to grasp the personality of a particular protagonist of the life of the northern courts
A figure who was not exactly minor if we decrypt documents
and if we consider his receipt of esteem and familiarity with the lofty names of the nobility and arts of his time
Leonardo included.We are talking about Count Nicolò II da Correggio (1450 - 1508)
and moreover capable of translating the figurative inventions of his incessant inner theater into dazzling realities of festivals
tournaments; and into symbologies of hunts and banquets
Endowed with a well-established classical and mythological culture
he was capable of scattering creations that were sometimes ephemeral but necessary to the social life of his time: for this he was continually sought after and welcomed by rulers
portrayal is as the creator and director of the “Month of April” in Schifanoia
Let us see a chronological and related profile of him
a comital court of the Empire whose titular family already played a role in the political events of the Po Valley Middle Ages
but also a respectable cultural presence with which Azzo da Correggio kept Francesco Petrarch as a guest for three years
and where Count Galasso published the Historie Angliae (the Chivalric History of England) offering it to Filippo Maria Visconti in 1444
A court that was already linked through very definite marriages with almost all the noble families of northern Italy and was about to become related to none other than the Princes of Brandenburg
daughter of the prestigious Niccolò III d’Este
most extensive marquis of the lands of Ferrara and count of Rovigo; but this union
met with the misfortune of his death; a death that anticipated the birth of his first-born child: this was 1450
who had the right of withdrawal of the dowry
retaining the title and rights of Count of Correggio
grew up and was educated together with his cousin Ercole I (who was to become duke) and was joined by Borso’s extroverted spirit
Nicholas II’s courtly education was thorough and intense: along with arms
and the new customs of the nobility were assimilated with enthusiasm; at the age of twelve he obtained the right of the falcon in hunting parties
and in the meantime he related to Pellegrino Prisciani
and his other cousin and peer Matteo Maria Boiardo
who admired him greatly and called him “a gentle spirit and of crowning virtue.” The young count thus began-with vivid genius-to charm the ladies and quant’altro gravitated around the Estense castle
It is a supportable opinion that the idea of making a Salone of unusual size in Schifanoia originated with the Count of Correggio as Master of Dances
in order to obtain the beautiful space of the meetings of couples
quadrilles and teams in the rhythmic cross dances
which from time to time brought the ladies and knights - always interchanged - under the various zodiac signs
The Salone di Schifanoia was in essence the first of the kind of unified space environment that other courts would later want to have for music and call “the Hall.” Here in Ferrara
Prisciani thus had the wonderful ease of laying out the serial metaphors of the Months and Decans
painted with ardor by the masters of the court
which were matched by the happy events and the various virtues or fortunes of Borso d’Este: as we still largely observe today
A consultancy that we might call “transporting,” between Prisciani’s imaginative texts and the mantic figurations of the fascinating mural megalography
was certainly given by Count Nicolò with his theatrical vocation
his brooding culture pregnant with mythological allegorism
and with the conjunctive ability between parietal patterns and dancing movements that only a director of genius could possess and convey
The reason for this certainty of ours has a simple answer: let us ask ourselves who in the most dazzling month
arranged it all and now leads the grand celebration
You see him with folded arms watching the lovers and observing the order of the whole symbolic magnificence of “his” month of loves
All this takes place just before 1470 by the admirable hand of Francesco del Cossa
A historical proof lies in the fact that in 1472 the Count of Correggio married Cassandra Colleoni
one of the daughters of the famous condottiere
and it is no coincidence that the great Bartolomeo “dalle tre possanze” receiving in 1474 King Christian of Denmark on behalf of Venice succeeded in realizing that contrived series of banquets
balls and tournaments that have remained famous in the history of the Serenissima
and that required a truly talented director
in order not to slip into a historical excursus
it will suffice here to recall some actions that linked our Nicolò to the pulse of the Renaissance
As a scholar of ancient literature and mythology he came to recreate the Italian theater with the famous performance of the “Fabula de Cefalo” held on January 21
1487 (carnival period) in the courtyard of the Castle of Ferrara
where the acting of the costumed characters on the stage
and the use of pictorial backdrops first occurred
Chronicles say that after the tragic ending of Procri’s death all the ladies wept; then the bold author took the stage and announced that the goddess Diana had granted the bringing back to life of the maiden beloved by Cephalus
and had the new ending performed with resounding success
Such things happened in the court of Hercules I
who wanted to dine in the chambers while his painter de’ Roberti frescoed the instories of Cupid and Psyche
the Count of Correggio was in demand by other Renaissance courts
With the approval of the Duke’s cousin he was often in Milan to organize the receptions and processions of the “two carnivals” (the Christian and the Ambrosian
he said); he was director and costume designer to Leonardo
by whom he was highly esteemed and of whom he became a friend: to the Tuscan genius
we do not know whether in originals or copies
but he took them with him for the careful emblematic drafting he intended to do in his palaces in Correggio
Ercole d’Este insistently called on him for his own parties and for certain diplomatic representations
Nicolò traveled to Italy and France; Ercole I sent him to Paris to look after the education of his son Alfonso
and from there he described the admirable “courtesies” of royal ceremonies around Charles VIII
Our Lord had found time to take part in the “Polesine War” between Ferrara and Venice (1482-1484) where he was taken prisoner by the Venetians; but then it was above all in the Ferrara environment that he experienced that temperament of new architecture and town planning that made him a friend of Biagio Rossetti
helping him find materials for his little house in Via della Ghiara
during his presence in the ducal lands of Reggio
reciprocated with a probable passage from Correggio
where he left the project for the new palace of representation of the local lords and where he gave the scheme for the extension of the Borgo Nuovo
in which the admirable meters of the Herculean Addition are still experienced today
As a special member of the d’Este family
the Count of Correggio was always welcomed and revered in the life of the Ferrara court; on the occasion of the inter-parental conspiracy of 1505 he acted as the ultimate peacemaker for the benefit of ducal continuity
and Alfonso I assigned him the splendid Palazzo di Giulio
enlivened by the most beautiful urban garden in Ferrara: it is the present Palace of the Prefecture of the city
we must remember Nicolò’s very close relationship with his cousin Isabella d’Este Gonzaga
who admired him exceedingly and called him insistently to Mantua
For her he designed a famous knot dress and gave advice of courtly character to no end; to her he introduced young Correggio to be admitted to Mantegna’s studio
and for her he organized shows and tournaments of arms
In Nicolò’s very dense correspondence with Italian nobles
the letters with Isabella stand out: among them a moving hyperbole is the one where the Nostro
congratulates himself on the birth of a little girl at the Gonzaga court and says “I would like to wait for her to dance with her in the Sala.” Shortly after his death Isabella with great regret remembered him as “the most atilated et de rime et cortesie erudito cavaliere e barone che ne li tempi suoi se ritrovasse in Italia.”
of Our protagonist see “Nicolò da Correggio and court culture in the Po Valley Renaissance,” edited by Antonia Tissoni Benvenuti
Also other publications by the same editor
Catching the eye in the Great Refectory of the San Benedetto Po monastic complex is undoubtedly the Last Supper by Girolamo Bonsignori (Verona
a monumental work that returned after more than two centuries to its original location
An event that thrilled the citizens of the village in the lower Mantua area
as a masterpiece that summarizes an important piece of the history of the Polirone community
but also attracted visitors from all over Italy on the occasion of the exhibition in which the great painting became the protagonist
it sparked a renewed interest in studies and analyses of works related to the area.The exhibition project is part of the celebrations that Mantua wished to dedicate to one of the artists who made the greatest artistic contribution to the city
the pupil of Raphael (the Urbino artist’s five-hundredth anniversary of his death falls) universally known for having created in Mantua’s Palazzo Te one of the most evocative and impressive settings of Mannerism and of the entire history of Italian art
The artist is honored with no less than two exhibitions
and as already stated with the San Benedetto Po review
since he was the architect of the renovation of the Polironian complex during the 16th century
With a clear detachment from blockbuster exhibitions
curator Paolo Bertelli reiterated in the introduction to the exhibition catalog that The Sixteenth Century at the Polirone is “an opportunity for San Benedetto Po to reclaim its past once more
to make recoveries of works of art and restorations.” An opportunity to start a new season of studî
in conjunction with the exhibition Dal Correggio a Giulio Romano
a title that among other things echoes the subtitle of the current exhibition
and the related volume edited by Paolo Piva and Egidio Del Canto
In curator Bertelli’s intentions there was an exhibition with study
And indeed this has led “to the renewal of the setting of the Refettorio Grande
to the enhancement and rediscovery of many works
to a campaign of non-invasive analysis on the paintings
to the restoration of some works on display and to the publication of a dedicated volume,” as well as to the return of Bonsignori’s Last Supper
makes explicit the idea of the completed exhibition itinerary
manifesting the extremes (in the literal sense of the term) of the arrangement itself: on the back wall stands out the fresco attributed to Antonio Allegri
although there are those who say it was also done by Bonsignori: the fresco frames the imposing Last Supper
Also by Correggio is the splendid organ casement that has returned to these places after a long time
while the first work that kicks off the exhibition is a Portrait of Giulio Romano attributed to Federico Zuccari (Sant’Angelo in Vado
refers to the portrait preserved at Palazzo Te that Titian (Pieve di Cadore
and where Giulio Romano is depicted as a court architect while showing the viewer the design of a building still unidentified today
the work in the exhibition depicts only the close-up of the artist
a contract bears witness to the agreement made on “dì 3 de zenaro 1541” through which “messer Iulio Romano promises
et obliga al monastero de Sancto Benedecto de Mantua far li sei quadri”: six altarpieces
five for the side chapels and one for the high altar
The altarpieces were supposed to be painted by his own hand
putting all his skill and studies into practice
but the only remaining altarpieces of these were executed
Thus L’incontro della Vergine con santa Elisabetta alla presenza dei santi Giustina
L’Incoronazione della Vergine con i santi Placido e Mauro
and Madonna col Bambino tra i santi Ambrogio e Bernardo are exhibited here
in collaboration with Girolamo Mazzola Bedoli (Parma
the high altarpiece depicting theAdoration of the Magi
now in the Louvre following the Napoleonic spoliations; to this group would also have to be added the St
also attributed to the workshop of Giulio Pippi
According to these pictorial accounts therefore the agreement was not formally fulfilled and visitors can take note of this in front of the only works that resulted from the contract
these are works whose attribution has been debated because of the rather precarious condition they were in before the recent restoration
especially with regard to theEncounter; still awaiting restoration
as can be seen in the lower part of the painting and in the robes of Mary and Christ
now housed in All Saints’ Church in Mantua
but evident in Mary’s posture and face is the reference to the Madonna depicted between Saints Ambrose and Bernard and the influence
of Correggio’sCoronation of the Virgin for the central group
The Saint Peter Saved from the Waters is the subject of a chronological debate: it has long been considered a late 18th-century copy of an original by Giulio Romano
but diagnostic investigations have uncovered pentimenti (the presence of which would cast doubt on whether it is a copy) and a 16th-century tablecloth as support
The cloth would thus be dated to about 1542
Another contract on display in the exhibition thanks to the loan of theState Archives of Mantua is the one signed on September 8
1514 between Correggio and Benedetto da Cremona
reverend of the basilica of San Benedetto Po: according to what is written in the document
a testimony of great importance for Allegri’s activity in the Polironian complex
Correggio undertook to paint the wings and the podium
of theorgan of the abbey church by the following Easter
only part of these stipulated works have come down to us
since the balcony and a leaf depicting Moses with the ark have been lost
while on the occasion of the exhibition the other organ leaf
the one depicting David bringing the Holy Ark back to Jerusalem
belonging to a private collection in Turin
the canvas was attributed to Correggio by Giovanni Romano between 1997 and 1998
In the foreground the procession follows David clutching the Holy Ark: the iconographic reference to the Triumph of Caesar by Andrea Mantegna (Isola di Carturo
1506) in the Royal Collection is remarkable
David Ekserdjian in his catalog essay delves into Antonio Allegri’s Polironian activity
starting precisely with the organ door: there is evidence of the fundamental role that Mantua played for the beginnings of his career (think of the frescoes in Mantegna’s funeral chapel inside the church of Sant’Andrea)
In the city he produced two canvases for the Studiolo of Isabella d’Este
and the commissioners of some famous masterpieces are also linked to Mantua: theEducation of Love in the National Gallery and Venus
Cupid and a Satyr in the Louvre for Count Nicola Maffei
and it was Federico himself who commissioned the Loves of Jupiter as a tribute to Charles V of Spain
Lanzi ’s Storia Pittorica mentions the “young Mantegni ”and in particular one Carlo del Mantegna: “It is believed that Carlo had a part in the works of the palace and the chapel referred to above,” that is
“and in others that are ascribed to Mantegna; among which are two instories of the Ark in the monastery of San Benedetto in Mantua
where the manner of Andrea is seen again somewhat enlarged
although of less beautiful forms.” Actually that Carlo by Mantegna
the artist depicted as already stated the procession with two oxen pulling the chariot on which the ark of the covenant is placed; on the left
David with a crown on his head and in his hands a psaltery; on the right
a man dressed as a Jewish priest looks behind him and holds a scroll and a flowered staff; behind both
The organ casement is placed in direct comparison with the large fresco on the back wall of the Refettorio Grande
almost as if to participate in the debated attribution issue that still oscillates between Correggio and Girolamo Bonsignori
the same artist who painted theLast Supper received in the fresco
accompanied Correggio to Rome in 1513 for study and updating
after the Polironian monastery had already acquired Bonsignori’s Last Supper
and together they designed the theme of the fresco: an imposing temple in the manner of Solomon’s Temple and with Bramantean inspiration
domes; within this architecture he introduces prophets
two statue-like monochromes depict Abraham agreeing to sacrifice his son Isaac and Melchizedek offering bread and wine to the Lord
was inspired by the Last Supp er by Leonardo da Vinci (Anchiano
1519) in making his Last Supper placed within the fresco discussed above
Although at first glance the two works are very similar
if we analyze the details well we realize the many differences in the figures
the figures depicted appear much closer together than in the Da Vinci Last Supper; behind them we notice a more majestic architecture
just as the meandering floor is more precious
On the table (note also the legs of the same much more massive and decorated) are counted many more glasses and cruets and pieces of bread than in the Leonardo work
This is a perfect theme for the setting for which the painting was intended
where the monks devoted themselves to communal meals
And it was precisely the monk Gregorio Cortese who wanted this painting as part of his renovation of the Polironian complex
Until the end of the eighteenth century it is attested to have been in the refectory and until the second French domination at the Polirone; later it appears in a list of works destined for the Count d’Espagnac ’s palace in Sassuolo and then it arrived in France where it remained for several decades
In Italy it is documented in 1927 at theAbbey of Vangadizza in Badia Polesine and is still kept here today
although it also suffered a fire and subsequent restoration
to the left of the fresco and theLast Supper
it has been said that Correggio’s organ door is on display
to the right are some drawings by Giulio Romano
in a further reference to the extremes of the exhibition’s subtitle
one depicts David and Bathsheba at the bath
one of the octagons of the Loggia of David in Palazzo Te: Bathsheba
is covered with a cloth by one of her servants after bathing in the fountain of the garden where she stands; at the window
David with the crown on his head is informed by another man about the maiden’s identity
The work testifies to the preponderant role Giulio Romano gives to drawing and his enchanting skill in technique
Completing the exhibition is a selection of works
created in the sixteenth century in the post-Julian period
From the Venetian school is the Madonna and Child by Paolo Farinati (Verona
a painting in a private collection that depicts the sweetness with which the Child looks at his mother and caresses her face and the Madonna holding her child on a pillow
The same theme is portrayed in sculpture by Antonio Begarelli (Modena
a Modenese artist who was commissioned in the 1440s to create terracotta statues for the Polyronian complex
In this case the Madonna is standing over a monstrous reptile-like being and holding the Child
seems to want to wriggle away unlike in Farinati’s painting; probably the demonic being refers to the defeat of evil through Christ’s sacrifice
Begarelli later made some 20 statues for the Polirone to be placed in the niches of the nave and portico depicting saints
and in fact the review also includes a visit to the Basilica to invite the public to admire the splendid statues created by the artist that look like marble
so meticulously executed were they and technical skill; in some cases
the sculptor added gold leaf finishes and touches of color to give greater realism to the statues
Another aspect to remember was the flourishing activity of the scriptorium attested in the exhibition by codices with Girolamo dai Libri ’s miniatures from theDiocesan Historical Archives
It is an exhibition that touches on all aspects that contributed to the importance and greatness of the Polirone in the sixteenth century
it is a well-curated exhibition from the point of view of content
as is also demonstrated by the exhibition catalog itself
in which several essays are offered that delve into topics such as Correggio’s and Bonsignori’s activities in Polirone
the Juliesque renovation to the monastic complex
and the sixteenth-century artistic context in these places
Each work is also accompanied by a fact sheet
an essential element for a good understanding
An exhibition that achieved the return of two important works to their place of origin and gave due glory to Giulio Romano as the artist of the eternal San Benedetto
I present here a semi-ignored documentary by Giuseppe Bertolucci about Father Attilio’s visit to Correggio’s dome in the abbey church of San Giovanni
Parma during the work I carried out in reviewing the restoration of the frescoes carried out between 1988 and 1990 (Bruno Zanardi).In the early 1980s Parma was becoming a small capital of restoration in Italy
Tired of the inefficiency of the local superintendencies - the restoration of Correggio’s frescoes in the dome of the cathedral had been going on for about ten years without anyone ever getting on the scaffolding that occupied the entire Presbytery of the church - the Curia of Parma
in the person of the then Vicar General of the city’s diocese
a man of great organizational skills and of ’equally great certainty of the Church’s rights over its own patrimony as opposed to those of the state bureaucracy
on the advice of the then president of the Pontifical Commission for Sacred Art in Italy
asked two former directors of the Central Institute for Restoration
for their willingness to serve as consultants for the restoration of the entire Baptistery of Parma: stone facing and antelamic sculptures of the interior and exterior of the monument and Romanesque-Byzantine decoration of the dome and niches
A remarkably complex intervention that was entrusted to the writer
fresh from his studies at an Icr that was still the undisputed point of reference in the world on that subject
and who had just begun the restoration of the reliefs of the Trajan Column
that had put me in direct contact with the Scuola Normale of Pisa and with some of the best minds then running through the world of conservation and the history of ancient art and beyond
From the superintendent of the Imperial Forums Adriano la Regina
And here another protagonist of that brief and fortunate cultural moment in the city of Parma comes into the picture
My meeting with a then young food industrialist
founder of “Parmacotto,” who agreed to do one of the first sponsorships of artwork restoration
to finance an overhaul of the restoration of Correggio’s dome in the abbey church of San Giovanni
At that point it was a matter of choosing who should write the text that illustrated not so much the intervention on the frescoes
A choice that was made by the youngest and most cultured of our generation
saying that perfect would be to ask for a text from a historian of culture before even art
and a pure writer so that he would operate a linguistic innovation of art criticism
But also one of the important Italian poets of the twentieth century
was asked (through Pietro Ricciardelli) to tell his son Giuseppe about his relationship with Correggio of Parma in a short film
Marco Rosi also generously financed those two texts and Giuseppe Bertolucci’s “short film.” Texts and film remained essentially unknown in the art-historical culture of the second half of the twentieth century because of the jealousies of superintendents
and because of the great controversy that immediately surrounded the initiative of the Curia of Parma to have two renowned experts
to see themselves dispossessed of “bureaucratic exclusivity” over the artistic heritage
that the restoration of the Baptistery had been preceded by a project
carried out first by testing in a “sample area” the work to be done and the time and cost required to carry it out
That the estimated money needed to restore the entire Baptistery of Parma
the Romanesque-Byzantine decoration of the dome
the portals and the stone face of the exterior and whatnot were the same as those paid by the municipality of a neighboring city to Parma to restore a large fountain with an important 16th-century bronze sculpture at its center
funding approved by the local superintendency
The documentary in which Attilio Bertolucci climbs the scaffolding and comes face to face with Correggio is reproduced here
And here I add a small tribute to Eugenio Riccomini
longtime superintendent in Bologna and Parma
Link to see the documentary: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c0E9uwinTDc
where in each of the past years we have been able to admire reviews always of high value and exceptional organizational effort
This year the subject is still of a single name and concerns a religious character
who (in strict evangelical dictate) participates only in the three essential moments of the Redemption obtained by Christ: the Crucifixion; the Deposition with relative mourning and burial; and the Resurrection
and only in the third episode does Magdalene have a moment of conversation with Jesus
even ignoring the woman’s previous events
and then her life after the divine encounter
the Saint of the overflowing love for the incarnate God has garnered a most intense secular devotion among the people of the faithful
a continuous meditation in monasteries and cloisters
and finally a sum of figurations in Christian art that impresses for quantity
diffusion and imitative cómpito offered to the asceticism of every soul.Great audacity and great confidence
was to have chosen Magdalene as the solitary protagonist of a museum itinerary that in the very long encroachment of the Forlì complex was to offer a multiplicity of cues
that could make the theme constantly hold up and keep awake the interest of the average people who have so far poured annually to the Romagna city a truly remarkable presence
The articulation into ten subjective chapters reveals the ideal effort of the organizers
but in practice it does not detract from repetitiveness and knows bends of fatigue
The Catalog remains the field of the remarked volitional dedication here bestowed full-handedly by the authors of the entries; and it also offers the reproductive sequence of the works that Silvana editorial has sustained with undiminished skill
which composes a sort of small monodic encyclopedia as a point of reference that will surely remain in the artistic and religious bibliography
The exhibition slips slowly from an exemplary incipit to the fading out of the “Legenda,” and then devotes itself (rather than to a mystical return of great force) to a chronological succession of art history that often seems an end in itself and cannot not end in the inevitable twentieth-century weakness
where the sacramental force of Magdalene’s values slips into all too obvious and bodily losses
from which the Saint is redeemed neither by the powerful full-ass Manzùnian presentation nor by the iconographic fragility of other recent artists
What is missing from the litany sequence of weeping or penitent Magdalene
One very important thing related to the exemplary
namely that rise to the forefront with respect to the truth of the Resurrection and Christ’s directly received investiture to announce it to the Apostles
The Church does not refrain from declaring Mary of Magdalene “apostle of the Apostles,” as the highest principal title of the spread of the Good News
which entails “sending far away,” makes manifest the very nature of the Church and should have stimulated a semantic iconography that-we acknowledge it-is very difficult to find
but can be induced by the translational meanings of certain images of the Church in the world
remains the mother of the scattering of Christ’s word
We are helped here by a marvelous painting by Correggio
where the distinguished old man who was consciously engaged in the translation of the Bible from Hebrew to popular Latin (the Vulgate) wants to present his work to Jesus himself in order to obtain his approval
Correggio’s stupendous drafting follows the pious belief that St
Jerome spent many years in the Bethlehem Grotto to carry out the fundamental act of translating Scripture in the company of a tame lion but with the assistance of an angel
The saint asks the angel to call Jesus and the latter returns as a Child to his native grotto lovingly carried by his mother
observes the Book and blesses it with a precise gesture
Correggio’s painting is about an act that is historically universal for humanity: the moment where the Word of God
already locked up for a small people in the scroll that St
passes to the entire ecumene: in the background in fact the herald sets out from the city
It is a totally apostolic meaning and here is justified the radiant presence of the Magdalene
so abandoned to immense and loving trust in God
called her the “unique figure de la pintura.”
Here is the painting where she who was weeping is now bathed in sweetness
The Madonna as well is filled with tenderness and the angel smiles admirably
would find serenity and joy” (Vasari)
Truly the spreading of the divine Word deserves the absolute presence of Magdalene
At least the Baroque copy of “il Giorno” could have appeared to close this momentous exhibition
The Association’s eyes did not tire of scrutinizing small auctions and adventitious bargains that in some way concerned Correggio (Antonio Allegri
so recently a copper of curious interest glided into the Po Valley town
The visibility of the painting and its whimsical frame
began to raise questions and require further investigation
so much so that it was decided to involve a genuine primary restorer who could render the full truth about a subject so rare and so finely reproduced
It is in fact the copy of the Madonna of the Basket
an Allegrian masterpiece that Vasari called “bello a maraviglia” whose original is on a panel measuring 34 x 25 cm
it restores to us a moment of the artist’s intimate freedom in his shining years (1525-26) when he meditated on the inexperienced theme of working on the Holy Family during his exiled stay in Egypt
It is necessary to pause for a few moments to consider how some of Correggio’s small religious panels immediately enjoyed wide notoriety and a large number of copies
perhaps unparalleled: a lively approval not only among the people but intense among the painters
who understood how Correggio’s language
contained instead an extraordinary height of style and brand new communication skills
Our Lady of the Basket is one of these: Mary’s work basket
Joseph’s striving in the background compose a sweet family atmosphere that makes the central scene as spontaneous as possible despite the difficult and “contemptuous” posture
We see the Mother stretching out the arms of the Child
and the infant Jesus almost realizing the purpose of his incarnation opens to bless
and the rediscovery of the Sant’Agata di Senigallia
exhibited between 2018 and 2019 in the Marche city and in Correggio
A great amount of studies that finds therefore an adequate arrangement in this book
strengthened by a rich and complete iconographic apparatus.Leafing through the thick volume
one will find that it lacks the rigorous systematics that is typical of scientific treatises: it will be difficult
to find insights into the debates around the dating of the works
or complete records on the transfers of ownership (although there is also no shortage of moments of greater verticality: for example
when talking about the aforementioned Saint Agatha
or the Portrait of a Gentlewoman from the Hermitage in St
Adani convincingly explains these absences: first
it would have been a matter of re-proposing data already acquired
the author’s precise intention is to produce a more open and almost colloquial essay
without renouncing the scientific rigor that befits such a work
le opere is thus to be read above all as a monograph of didactic and educational value
organized with great clarity according to a chronological arrangement of the stages of Antonio Allegri’s career
The one proposed by Adani is thus a sort of guided journey through Correggio’s production: a journey that combines moments in which the treatment becomes more pressing (but where he does not skimp on references to the conspicuous bibliography on the artist)
The reader realizes this right from the first two chapters: the beginning of the itinerary coincides with Correggio’s training: this is now one of the most frequented territories of the artist’s career
and consequently Adani dwells on the early stages of Correggio’s production just long enough to provide the reader with an overview
obviously accurate (with fact sheets devoted to individual works
the approach is different for the next chapter
devoted to a single episode in Correggio’s art
namely his presence inside the monastery of Polirone in San Benedetto Po
the longest chapter in the book after the chapter on the Parma works of 1519-1521 and the chapter on the period 1522-1533
and the need therefore arose to give an account of the latest acquisitions on the Polirone enterprise
comes on the heels of Correggio’s trip to Rome
imagines as accomplished by the painter both to fine-tune a more tenacious “conquest of the modes and compositions of painting,” and to mentally prepare himself for the refectory wall at the Polirone: “a task,” the author writes
“that caused a sort of special anthology to accumulate in the travel notebook of the still young artist
who (let us not forget) was accompanied by the learned Gregorio Cortese
had in mind to call Raphael to fresco the entire wall: having failed in his intention to call the Urbinate
he would resolve to make up for it with a “Parrhasius futurus” identified precisely in the young Correggio (then about 25 years old: he was six years younger than Raphael)
who frescoed the wall on which Girolamo Bonsignori’sLast Supper was later installed (an unusual choice
that of inserting an oil painting inside the wall
The chapter on the Polirone fresco then goes on to analyze the theological and iconographic themes of the wall
functional to emphasize certain aspects of the decorative program
capable of renewing his Mantegna training by looking to the Venetian painting of Bellini
Montagna and Cima da Conegliano as well as to the Umbrian painting of Perugino
that it is the portrait of Veronica Gàmbara
Adani confirms in the book a date at the end of 1520 in agreement with David Ekserdjian: Correggio
is documented in his hometown from October of that year (the time of his return from Parma where he waited for the realization of the frescoes of the dome of San Giovanni) until March 17 of the following year (moreover
“allowed him the careful preparation and repeated poses necessary for the execution of the portrait
which was required of him by the family and political circumstances of the countess; she
after the death of her beloved husband Giberto X [which occurred in 1518
had in fact provided for the request for confirmation of the imperial recognition of her state with the young emperor Charles V
aimed at obtaining the principal investiture for her own minor children
The announcement of the document’s arrival set in motion a fervent preparation by the court of Correggio for the related celebrations
and the Imperial Diploma in fact arrived on December 16
1520 specifying Veronica’s own role as Regent until the eldest son Ippolito came of age.” These circumstances
would justify the execution of the portrait and also motivate its majestic character and exceptional size
Among the most interesting moments of the book
the reconstruction of the Triptych of Mercy (executed for the church of Santa Maria della Misericordia in Correggio)
which was singularly supposed to contain also a terracotta Madonna and Child and which in the upper part saw the presence of a Christ the Redeemer in Glory now in the Pinacoteca Vaticana and recognized as a Correggio autograph in 2008 by Giuseppe Adani and Rodolfo Papa: here
Adani reaffirms its attribution to Correggio
an absolute novelty in the volume is the proposal to identify the Magdalena leggente from a private collection as the last painting by Antonio Allegri made in 1533 on commission from Isabella d’Este: the book gives an account of the discovery for the first time
and Adani anticipates that a study entirely devoted to the painting is forthcoming
which will be the result of a decade of studyî and to which Marzio Dall’Acqua
Adrián Egea and Antonio Guerra will contribute
the Works only a few brief anticipations are given
postponing everything until the next publication
since the issues to be addressed are very extensive
There is then a way to reiterate Correggio’s autograph authorship of the Pieta in the Museo Civico di Correggio
a work attributed to the artist initially by David Alan Brown
and then exhibited (also there as an autograph) at the major 2016 Scuderie del Quirinale exhibition curated by David Ekserdjian
and of the Young Man Escaping the Capture of Christ
a painting first proposed as a Correggio work in 2013 by Elisabetta Fadda and Nicholas Turner and also featured in the catalog at the 2016 exhibition
the dating to 1530 as the beginning of the frescoes in Parma Cathedral is convincingly affirmed on the basis of Cristina Cecchinelli’s studies: a dating that
should now enter definitively into a monograph specifically dedicated to this greatest undertaking of the artist
on the Mantuan period in the service of Isabella d’Este
on the cycle of the Loves of Jupiter and on the other frescoes in Parma
ending with some brief chronological notes and a reference bibliography
including volumes that have made the history of scholarly literature on Correggio and the latest acquisitions: the sections thus more “palatable,” so to speak
are flanked throughout the book by more popular occasions for the reader who wants to approach Correggio’s art in order to understand that greatness reiterated by Adani in the opening
the Works comes out on the important occasion of Parma Italian Capital of Culture
a title the Emilian city will boast of in 2020 and again in 2021: an event that
despite the fact that Parma was to Correggio
what Rome was to Raphael (this is what Giuseppe Adani also asserts in the book)
especially since Parma was at the time a city of just sixteen thousand inhabitants
but nonetheless was able to follow up on artistic endeavors of exceptional importance
since 2020 marks exactly five hundred years since the execution of the San Giovanni Evangelista frescoes (one of Correggio’s fundamental masterpieces
reproduced in all school textbooks of art history)
The excellent book thus comes to fill a little of the Correggio gap that even RAI Cultura is now actively addressing
to anticipate future developments on the studies around the artist: Giuseppe Adani anticipates
that the news has been discovered that Bernardo Cles
commissioner of the Romanino Loggia in the Buonconsiglio Castle
had tried to get Correggio to do some work in the castle
it will be noted that the book omits Correggio’s graphic production: for the author
a “regret” due to editorial needs
but also the stimulus for a future dedicated publication
is an artist on whom the attention of critics is very much alive and who will still be able to reserve many surprises in the future
highly esteemed and much in demand at the courts of the Po Valley; poet and dramatist
was the one whom his cousin Isabella d’Este Gonzaga stigmatized with the famous phrase: “the most apt knight and baron per rime et cortesie de li tempi sua.” This friend of Leonardo’s had grown up in his maternal ducal family in Ferrara and had become deeply attuned to Biagio Rossetti
the shaper of a city’s motions and the builder of courtly palaces set firmly on divine proportion
but all of which slipped into curious open desinences
such as obvious necessities of common living
thus moving away in modernity from the blocks of closed Tuscan architecture and related abstractions
In this way we have named the second father of our Portal
to whom Biagio directly gave the perfect form
the lightness of enchantment and the flowing score of a sculptural epilogue
evoking an ideal world of symbols and myths amidst glowing armor
The admirable bi-ordinal setting of the artifact
in the “divine” proportionate ordering of its measures
by extension confirms the entire Rossettian architecture of the Palace as an exceptional project of the author outside the city of Este
and makes peaceful the arrival of the stoneworkers on that Venice-Ferrara line from which Istria stones and other marbles also arrived by waterways
The Portal of the Palace of the Princes in Correggio is the work of the first decade of the sixteenth century
elaborated around 1507 and led to its placement together with the colonnades with rich capitals
There are in fact two dates by which the project and at least much of the work had to be completed: in 1506 Antonio Lombardo moved his workshop from Venice to Ferrara (but he had previously been working here on the grand portal of the doctor Castelli and receiving other rich income from the court)
It is easily conceivable that the Correggio count
a beloved cousin of Hercules I and now of the new duke Alfonso
may have had solicitous relations with Antonio Lombardo
corroborated by Rossetti’s superb design
Thus the commission for that Portal that was to go far from the ducal city stood alongside the celebrated engagements for the “alabaster diti chambers” and for the numerous candelabras and plaques that are still to be found in Ferrara’s palaces and churches: after all
We do not know whether most of the structural and sculptural work took place in Ferrara or in Correggio
but it is certain that an important wing of Antonio’s large workshop had moved here in force
Observations on the architectural partitions of the great marble apparatus show a firm external trilithic setting
where the long pilasters that are kept within the canonical proportion of 1 to 7.5 rest on pedestals of restrained momentum and on perfectly connected basic plinths
The dadoes flaunt in relief the ancient Roman eagles
as perfect insignia of the local fiefdom’s belonging to the lands of the Empire: at present they are rather abraded
but in his visits Charles V must have laid his eyes on them with real pleasure
The pilasters support elegant capitals where the Corinthian model is restrained in a flat Renaissance version
evoking the two “Scuole grandi” of St
Mark’s in Venice - both Lombardesque in the late 15th century - and also the interior facades of the Ducal Palace
here too in Correggio the exterior members of a finely pictorial character offer sculpture fields of sliding and specially designed preciousness that appear entirely connatural and ingemmant
predetermined elements of the entire design
The solemn entablature is all about the sculpted frieze
contained within the very fine beaded architrave and the light
The west facade of the Princes’ Palace receives the full sun from the noontide
in the early hours of which the caressing light enhances the half-relief modeling of the long ornaments
the thickness of which is also calculated on architectural dimensions
The prominence of the forms at times thrusts toward a virtual tuttotondo
and at times settles into the details like a stiacciato of accurate detail: a living richness then
The general layout of the sculptural apparatus follows distinct parts
make their decorative elements rise from virtually bronze bases
and proceed vertically: they thus become two splendid candelabras placed on either side of the entrance as signs of utmost honor to the incoming guests; at the impost of the archivolt they are sealed by cubic capitals
semicircular band flaunts a festive sequence of plant festoons and cups
by way of coronation for the acceding nobles
above the eagles at the dice that closely resemble those on the Ferrara pillars of San Cristoforo at Certosa
start their figurative discourse from above: a knotted cord at a flower
holds down an astonishing series of heraldic feats and declarative initials
Before dealing with the overall anthology of sculptural terms
it is good to observe the extensive frieze of the entablature where the coat of arms of the noble house of Da Correggio with its horizontal bands stands out in the center
but without the imperial intertiate and the coat of arms of the Brandenburgs
as will happen immediately afterwards in the painted frieze of the Sala del Camino (1508)
Nicolas II’s theatrical culture constantly surfaces in the design of the Portal
and the Count of Correggio foresaw distinguished visitors not only for nobility of lineage but also for lofty intellectual gifts
the Court Palace then welcomed such personages as the Dukes of Ferrara
and on the other hand - guests of Veronica Gàmbara - Ludovico Ariosto
The various realizations of significant furnishings of the noble palaces were at that time memorized in written reports and sent from court to court: therefore
their projects were very studied both for general significance and in the many details
often surprising and decipherable to the learned
Let us now come to the iconographic and semantic richness of the four emblematic sequences that form the most sonorous and solemn canticle of this Portal: the two candelabras and the two pendants
We must state at once that in the vast Renaissance area of the Adriatic slope what we might call the “lectionary of ornate symbols in sculpture” is present
besides in the Venice of the Lombardos - who appear to be its most copious sources - also in Bologna (the Porta Giulia of the Palazzo Comunale
in Urbino (the Cappella del Perdono and the door jambs of the piano nobile)
in other cities and most notably in Ferrara where some tópoi are found in the Palazzo Costabili and in several monuments of the Addizione
we start with a multiple and almost perturbing presence: at the height of the visitor’s face and hands
four glabrous and spirited faces cry out with loud mouths; two stand in the inner pillars and two in the outer ones
They would be called exaggerated Erinyes: the two outer ones disheveled and winged; the two inner ones shaggyly radiate and crowned with a violent foliate cast
Given the general amiability of the whole figurative apparatus they should have only a powerful apotropaic function: the host was thus immunized from all negative possibilities and insured from all possible ills
The two inner candelabras proceed nobly by arranging cups
and find an exculpatory term of theatrical character in the triad "càntaro or crater - mascherone - eagle with open wings." On the masks
we can recall their ancient theatrical use
but their more recent genesis comes from Romanesque sculpture where modern critics call them green men (woodland apparitions) but which must be better interpreted as “bystander spirits,” inspirers and protectors of undertakings (two in fact stand within a crown)
The sequences of the outer pilasters are larger in size and are totally framed by a ring of “flower-like” worked orbicles with the constant and very precise use of small holes executed “violin-like” (the sculptors’ string drill)
These two pendant registers contain at a proper height the arrowed plaques with the large
This is the declaration of sodal friendship toward allies and welcome guests
and of assured fidelity in the imperial sphere
from the top down to the assured cry of the Furies
interrupted only by the tasty fruits of an ideal victory
the characters of which are not at all of battle
as was the custom at the Courts on special occasions
equipped with wings and desinent in zoomorphic figurations are such as to arouse exciting thoughts
Leonardo lent himself to these transfigurations at the court of Milan
by that great theatricalist who was Nicolò II da Correggio
And that Nicolò transported its examples and atmosphere
with the help of an excellent Lombard master
into “his” Portal there can be no doubt
This masterpiece remains as the highest example of sculptural-decorative proclamation in the Adriatic area and in the first decade of the Italian sixteenth century
Nicolò for the Palazzo di Correggio also took care of the capitals
but he was especially committed to the Porta Magna
the one that at the top of the staircase gave access to the Salone d’onore
also furnished with elaborate ceilings and painted bands manifesting special vocations
will have to undergo a special study starting with its very material
which - for now - seems to be strong stucco
Of it we are interested in the primitive form and the very unique molded frieze
The closing invitation is therefore a trip to Correggio
Special thanks to our friend Giancarlo Garuti
LAUDERHILL
Local 10 News worked with Travelocity to secure a viewer a refund from a hotel she claimed was unsanitary and bug infested
administrative assistant at property management company HavenBrook Homes
made a reservation at the Inverrary Vacation Resort through Travelocity
"They were willing to accommodate me while I was having some plumbing issues in the residence where I am now," Johnson said
"We go ahead and we check in the hotel and it went from 100 to 0 real quick," Johnson said
"I walked in (and) we had roach bait showing." She also claims by the following morning her son had bed bug bites on his back and legs
After sending pictures of the bed bug bites and room conditions to Correggio
Correggio contacted the hotel to demand a refund for the six nights she booked at $902.43
she called Local 10 News investigative reporter
The mattresses hadn't been changed out in what could be years," said Johnson
"I wouldn't wish anyone's stay to be that horrible
READ: Consumer Complaint Form
"I got to that room and it wasn't much better," she said
Johnson decided it was time to check out less than 24 hours after the family checked in
He was itching so bad he stayed out of school," she said
"I did call the (hotel) management and asked them if there was something better they can provide me with or something they can do
and they weren't willing to help me at all."
really think someone should help [HavenBrook Homes] get their money back," Johnson said
Travelocity did issue Correggio a $902.43 full refund
despite the hotel's refusal to acknowledge the complaint
After the hotel did not respond to emails or phone calls from Vazquez
she showed up at Inverrary Vacation Resort and asked to speak with management
The only hotel staff member willing to address the complaints was a man who identified himself as Maurice
"Ma'am there's no bed bug issue," Maurice said
"We usually try to refund our guests if they are not happy." He also said he would check on the status of Correggio's refund and asked her to wait in the lobby for him
hotel guest Katie Fischer approached Vazquez and invited her up to see her room
"What the heck is that?" said Katie Fischer as she pulled back the sheets of the bed
I don't know." The trip to South Florida and hotel stay were a significant expense for the single mother from Boston who felt devastated that her young daughter was staying on a property she described as "disgusting."
"I was reading the reviews after the fact and I was like
'why didn't I really research this before?'" Fischer said
READ: Lodging Inspection Report
Online reviews for the Inverrary Vacation Resort document complaints similar to those of Johnson and Fischer
Of the 363 people who reviewed the hotel on TripAdvisor
On Expedia
the hotel received 2.1 out of 5 stars and included reviews titled "One of the most awful experiences I've ever had," "Worst Hotel," and "Do not stay here."
"Unfortunately, I didn't read the reviews. (I) wish I had, but I didn't," Johnson said. She only looked at the hotel's website.
it makes you feel like you're going to get something spectacular and it's going to be very nice," she said
the hotel markets itself as "the only all-inclusive resort in South Florida."
and have fun in one low price," the home page description states
Fischer told Local 10 News when she arrived at the hotel is when she was informed they must pay an additional fee for wristbands in order to receive the "all-inclusive" perks
The "all-inclusive" claim may not be the only piece of possibly misleading information on the company's website
The homepage lists "Fort Lauderdale" as the city of the hotel
however the street address is located in Lauderhill city limits
Many of the online reviews include warnings against the food offered at the hotel
the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation placed an emergency license suspension on the hotel's onsite restaurant after a routine inspection
The inspection report listed five violations
including the observation of live roaches in the kitchen
"Observed 10 roaches in the sink and drain area under the sprayer hose by the dish machine
6 roaches in the small drain area to the left of the dish machine…2 roaches on the floor under the sprayer hose by the dish machine…2 roaches on a shelf on the cook's line where spices are stored..,1 roach on a shelf at the end of the cook's line where soiled wiping cloths are kept…1 roach running across the floor on the cook's line."
READ: Full health report
"If it is reported we do exactly what every hotel does or any establishment does," Maurice said
they come in and do what they are supposed to do and we get the problem resolved."
Three of the remaining violations concerned the restaurant's poor treatment of "potentially hazardous foods," or items that are time or temperature sensitive
In 2010, Local 10 Investigative Reporter Jeff Weinsier filed a "Dirty Dining" report on the hotel's restaurant.
The restaurant reopened on July 16, 2014 following an ordered clean up and re-inspection
Follow Christina Vazquez on Twitter @CallChristinaTV
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New lighting system for the Camera di San Paolo in the former Benedictine monastery in Parma.The famous rooms were decorated between 1514 and 1519 with magnificent frescoes by Correggio and Alessandro Araldi commissioned by Abbess Giovanna da Piacenza.The new lighting will allow visitors to more easily admire the details and details of the works through LED technology
a German company specializing in architectural lighting
io ci sto!" in collaboration with the Museum Pole of Emilia Romagna and the Superintendence of Parma and Piacenza
“Culture and art are indispensable elements for the promotion of our territory
io ci sto!“ has decided to support projects that contribute to the qualitative improvement of the city’s cultural and tourist offer; the lighting project of the two Chambers of the Abbess’s apartment is part of this path
allowing the best possible enhancement of this jewel of our artistic heritage.”
Source: Parma daily - Ansa
Sabrina is a song steeped in artistic references
to let a message seep out that conveys disillusionment and discouragement but
the three protagonists of the original song
are the colors of the German flag: Germany is the country of origin of Einstürzende Neubauten
Each verse of the song is dedicated to one of the three colors
with which certain characteristics are associated
Red andgold convey positive images: the former is associated with "the dying sun "(the dying sun in the original)
the vitality of “the blood pumping in the heart”(the red of which we bleed
literally “the red of which we bleed”)
it is the color of a “stain on the sheets”(the morning sheet’s surprising stain
the “surprising stain on the sheets in the morning”) loaded with erotic references
or it is the cheerful red of a cabernet(the red of cabernet sauvignon)
as well as the precious and sparkling red of a ruby(a world of ruby)
We do not know what exactly was the image the German band had in mind
given their extensive art-historical culture (which leaks out not only from the songs: the cover of one of their albums
features a still life by the Dutch Ambrosius Bosschaert) it comes naturally to imagine that the band members must have had depictions of myth in mind
the color of memories and remembrance (a particularly fortunate period is
according to a myth that originated in classical antiquity and had considerable success even in the German area
would have been an age of great prosperity
peace and harmony (in the song: "it’s not as golden as memory / or the age of the same name")
According to Einstürzende Neubauten statements
the lyrics of Sabrina revolve around a question: what color can be assigned to sounds
The song is clear: the two lines it ’s not that red and it ’s not that gold
exclude that red and gold are the right colors
But at the same time a wish is made: I wish this would be your color
in the adaptation by Immanuel Casto and the Soviets
is translated literally (“I wish this would be your color”) and that reveals all the melancholy of the text
and the sparkle of red and gold: the only possibility is that of a somber blackness
reminiscent of MaleviÄ’s Square
the "cold furnacein which we stare"(the cold furnace in which we stare: probable allusion to Germany’s terrible Nazi past)
a fairy tale told on a starless winter’s night(it is a starless winternight’s tale)
The reference to Russian painter Kazimir MaleviÄ’s Black Square is particularly interesting
his intent was very clear: to completely reset previous artistic experiences
to lay the groundwork for an avant-garde language that could aspire to become the art of the future
A language that was to result in the “supremacy of pure sensibility in the figurative arts”: hence
the name"Suprematism" given to the movement of which MaleviÄ was the father
the year of the Russian revolution that changed the country’s fortunes
the painter still had confidence in the future
but this confidence began to wane when the regime began to lash out at him and his art
deeming it ideologically incompatible with the demands of the new establishment
in 1930 the artist was arrested and interrogated
in order to avoid further heavy repercussions
MaleviÄ was forced to return to a figurativism in line with the political dictate of the Soviet Union
The “black square” mentioned in the song thus conveys distressing meanings: it can be understood as a symbol of hope in the future destined
Black is ultimately the color that "suits you well"(it suits you well) to the reality of the present
the title of the song bears the name of a woman
It is interesting at this point to try to understand the video clip: the protagonist is a monstrous minotaur who tries to adorn himself with a red lipstick and a gold one but
realizing that these accouterments cannot mellow his bestial nature
One of the turning points of the video occurs when Blixa Bargeld
the lead singer of Einstürzende Neubauten
enters the scene: completely dressed in black
he begins to wash his hands under the eyes of the minotaur
The entire video can be interpreted as a continuous allegory: the minotaur is a creature associated with brutality and feral instincts
as was the case in Pablo Picasso’s art
An emblem of violence and destructive force
in Picasso the minotaur was nevertheless a being undermined by fragility: in fact
his own violence ended up winning him over and reducing him to such a state of blindness that he was forced to be guided by a little girl
Sabrina ’s minotaur is also a fundamentally fragile creature: it is possible to see in being a personification of Germany (and probably owes the name of the song to this: the nation is seen as a woman trying to make herself more beautiful)
trying to redeem herself from her dark past
comes in the form of a disturbing figure dressed in black
and the minotaur realizes that the shadows of the past have not been entirely erased: the creature is thus
and the final consequence can only be bitter weeping
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The nymph Io is pursued by the god Jupiter. It's a transformation scene. We see him having sex, with a mortal woman, via a disguise. And sometimes he's a swan, or a bull, or a shower of gold. But in this case he manifests himself in a more extreme form. He does not become any kind of solid. Jupiter changes into a cloud.
And immediately the question of sexual intercourse is a more doubtful issue. For can a body and a gas make love? Is this god really in contact? Or again, take the other side of this relationship. How can the woman make her response? Io is more or less directly facing her lover, but she seems to be lost in her own private dreams of pleasure.
The nymph lacks full reciprocal consciousness. True, you can't say that she is actually asleep, anymore than the Fisherman's Wife is asleep. Her right hand is posed. Her left foot is propped onto the ground. Her limbs are arched and her contours have vivid serpentine curves. She is full of sensation.
But her body is flopped over this pile of earth and sheet, and her left arm is merely supported on this pillow of cloud. Her eyes are half closed. Her mouth is half opened. Her head is falling back. Her face suggests an ambiguous state. And how far it goes is hard to say. Passive, submissive, languid, sedated? There is no pressing or active desire. She makes herself – at most – available.
And then there is the god. He is unable to make physical contact. You might suspect this man to be taking a hard advantage of this soft half-hypnotic condition. On the contrary, he is himself softened. His body is surrounded with mist or steam or ghost. Whatever his solid skin might be, it cannot caress hers.
The veiling grey cloud holds his right hand within it, and doesn't make any impression on, any grasp on, the woman's waist. Likewise, Jupiter's head seems to be hovering deep in its cloud, looming from the air, without any meeting of mouth and face. This ghost is an outer spirit. The inner man doesn't emerge into touch. It is a strange materialisation.
So this is a non-act of sex. It is a paradoxical situation. This man and this woman, both naked, could hardly be more close. And on the other hand, they are utterly separate. Their positions imply a total intimacy. Their actions are helpless, empty. Their kiss, their embrace, their possible penetration are nowhere. They lie in dreams of impossibility.
Or perhaps in the painting there is one strange moment of obscenity. The nymph's flesh reveals it. It becomes a point of hard touch. Look at her right foot, and how it pokes out from behind her left thigh. It is puzzling to say where it comes from, or whether it is connected to the rest of her body at all. It just emerges there. It sticks up in isolation. And it has a place and a shape and an angle that suggest something clearly phallic.
The male body could obviously never show it, but a substitute can do this job well, and with a shock, a subtlety, that even Hokusai can't equal. It feels very rude.
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Kunsthistorisches Museum Art in Parma in the 16th Century The exhibition entitled Correggio and Parmigianino
Art in Parma in the 16th Century displays roughly one hundred paintings and drawings from some of the most prestigious museums in Europe; all of which are dedicated to the finest art produced in Parma in the sixteenth century
a.k.a.Parmigianino are two of the most important artists of the Italian sixteenth century who transformed the city of Parma into a major artistic center through their brilliant work
Although it would impossible to have a complete understanding of their art without visiting Parma
a stroll through this marvelous gallery shows you the city through their eyes
Through Correggio’s mythological paintings
which had a huge influence on artists and inspired Parmigianino
his skill in portraying emotion is evident
In the famous Madonna and Child and the Mystic Marriage
Correggio manages to fully capture the joy and the pain that his subjects possess
The collection puts particular emphasis on Parmigianino’s spectacular achievements in the field of portraiture by including the well-known Turkish Slave Girl and his first work
If you are in Rome while this exhibition is on display
it will be well worth your time to pay a visit and experience some real Italian Renaissance art
Till June 26th Via XXIV Maggio, 16 Sun-Thurs 10:00am-8:00pm; Fri & Sat 10:00am-10:30pm Entry Fee: € 12.00 scuderiequirinale.it
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Slide 2Learn To Make Gelato in an Authentic Roman Gelateria
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The long-vacant Boca Raton Executive Country Club was destroyed by fire this morning in a massive blaze that sent up towering plumes of smoke that could be seen for miles.
Frank Correggio, a spokesman for Boca Raton Fire Rescue, said the fire in the Hidden Valley neighborhood began shortly after 8 a.m.
"The roof is completely gone, and the place is gutted," he said.
Only a shed and a separate bathroom were left standing, said Correggio.
Well after noon firefighters were still pouring water on the smoldering structure, added Correggio.
The country club closed in July 2006 amid some controversy over the ultimate use of the 55-acre property and a chain link fence that the property's owners, Kolter Communities, had errected around it.
The Hidden Valley Boca Homeowners Group Inc. objected to the look of the fence, and some residents were unhappy over tentative plans that called for the 18-hole golf course to be redeveloped for town houses and single-family homes.
The cause of the fire remains under investigation, Correggio said.
Surviving lunch guest describes how deadly sickness set in after mealLIVE
AEST = Australian Eastern Standard Time which is 10 hours ahead of GMT (Greenwich Mean Time)
ABC NewsGallery unveils Correggio masterpieceShare Gallery unveils Correggio masterpieceTopic:Visual Art
Record purchase: Madonna and child with the infant Saint John the Baptist
Link copiedShareShare articleThe National Gallery of Victoria (NGV) has unveiled its most expensive acquisition on record - an Italian Renaissance oil painting costing more than $5 million.
The piece - Madonna and Child with the infant Saint John the Baptist - had been hidden away in a private collection in Switzerland for more than a century.
It is believed to have been painted in roughly 1515, by Antonio Allegri, who painted under the name Correggio.
It was bought for $5.2 million at Sotheby's London auction last month with the funds donated by NGV trustee Andrew Sisson.
It is the highest priced acquisition in the gallery's 150-year history.
NGV director Gerard Vaughan says the work was lost to history soon after its completion.
"This is a new discovery. Until a few months ago, nobody knew it existed," he said.
"It came out of a private collection in Switzerland where it has been for over a century."
Gallery director Gerard Vaughan (L), and trustee Andrew Sisson unveil the artwork (ABC News: Stephanie Corsetti)
Dr Vaughan says it is the only authenticated Correggio sold on the auction market in half a century and possibly the last which could ever be purchased by a public gallery.
"This is an incomparable masterpiece," he said.
"Correggio is one of the key artists whose work defines High Renaissance painting - the others being Leonardo, Raphael and the young Michelangelo."
He says the $5.2 million price tag is well worth it.
"A number of directors of international institutions have spoken to me about it since, and have said they expected it to go for double what we paid for it," he said.
"That seems to be the view, and we're rather hoping that a few people thought 'oh that's more than we can be bothered raising'."
The work will be put on immediate display before it is taken down for restoration works next year.
CNN and the BBC World Service which is copyright and cannot be reproduced