Antonio Allegri da Correggio

Variant namesauktoriserad namnform: Antonio Allegri da Correggio Antonio da Correggio

DatesBiographical dates: 1489 - 1534 Dead: dead 1534 Born: born 1489

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BiographyBiography: Antonio 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).

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