- NameAntonio Allegri da Correggio
- Sexmale
- Variant namesAntonio da Correggio
- Nationality/DatesItalian, born 1489, dead 1534
BiographyAntonio Allegri was named after the town of
his birth, Correggio. He possibly learnt the basic
skills of painting from his uncle, the painter
Lorenzo Allegri, and from the Modenese artist
Francesco de’ Bianchi Ferrari. His first real
inspiration was Andrea Mantegna. Leonardo da
Vinci’s delicate sfumato technique and the enamelled
colours of the Bolognese school were also
strong influences for Correggio as he formed his
highly personal style. Around 1517–19 he may have
spent time in Rome, immersing himself in the art
of Raphael and Michelangelo. His first important
commission was the ceiling of the Camera della
Badessa (c. 1519) in the convent of San Paolo in
Parma, assigned to him by the abbess Giovanna
Piacenza. Correggio’s best-known works are the
illusionistic frescoes in the domes of San Giovanni
Evangelista and Parma Cathedral, executed
from 1520 to 1530. The domes served as models
for future generations of painters. In addition to
the frescoes, Correggio executed altarpieces and
devotional works, together with mythological
and allegorical paintings. The Adoration of the
Shepherds, the Notte (Gemäldegalerie, Dresden),
was commissioned by Alberto Pratoneri in 1522
for his family chapel in San Prospero, Reggio
Emilia, while the Virgin of St Jerome, the Giorno
(Galleria Nazionale, Parma), is from 1523. The
series on the Loves of Jupiter was commissioned
by the Duke of Mantua, Federico II Gonzaga,
as a gift for Emperor Charles V. These deeply
sensual paintings are in two pairs of pendants:
Leda (Gemäldegalerie, Berlin) and Danaë (Galleria
Borghese, Rome), and Ganymede and Io (both
Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna).