Girolamo Francesco Maria Mazzola (11 January 150324 August 1540), also known as Francesco Mazzola or, more commonly, as Parmigianino (,[Hartt, pp. 568–578, 578 quoted]
His prodigious and individual talent has always been recognised, but his career was disrupted by war, especially the Sack of Rome in 1527, three years after he moved there, and then ended by his death at 37. He produced outstanding drawings, and was one of the first Italian painters to experiment with printmaking himself. While his portable works have always been keenly collected and are now in major museums in Italy and around the world, his two large projects in fresco are in a church in Parma and a palace in a small town nearby. This in conjunction with their lack of large main subjects has resulted in their being less well known than other works by similar artists. He painted a number of important portraits, leading a trend in Italy towards the three-quarters or full-length figure, previously mostly reserved for royalty.
Early years
Parmigianino was the eighth child of
Filippo Mazzola and one Donatella Abbati. His father died of the plague two years after Parmigianino's birth, and the children were raised by their uncles, Michele and Pier Ilario, who according to
Giorgio Vasari were modestly talented artists.
[Vasari, Giorgio (Bull, George, translator) (1988). Lives of the Artists: Volume 2, pp. 185–99. Penguin Classics. .] In 1515, his uncle received a commission from Nicolò Zangrandi for the decoration of a chapel in San Giovanni Evangelista; a work later completed by a young Parmigianino. By the age of eighteen, he had already completed the
Bardi Altarpiece. In 1521, Parmigianino was sent to Viadana (along with painter
Girolamo Bedoli who was to marry his cousin) to escape the wars between the French, Imperial, and papal armies. In Viadana, he painted two panels in
tempera, depicting Saint Francis for the church of the Frati de' Zoccoli, and the
Mystical Marriage of Saint Catherine for San Pietro. He also worked in San Giovanni and met
Correggio, who was at work on the
fresco decorations of the
cupola.
Work in Fontanellato and travel to Rome
In 1524, he traveled to Rome with five small paintings, including the
Circumcision of Jesus and his
Self-portrait in a Convex Mirror, seeking patronage of the Medici pope,
Clement VII. Vasari records that in Rome, Parmigianino was "celebrated as a
Raphael reborn". In January 1526, Parmigianino and his uncle, Pier Ilario, agreed with Maria Bufalina from Città di Castello, to decorate the church of San Salvatore in Lauro with an altarpiece of the
Vision of Saint Jerome (1526–27, National Gallery, London). Within a year, the Sack of Rome caused Parmigianino, and many other artists, to flee.
Bologna and return to Parma
He resided in
Bologna for nearly three years. At around 1528, he painted the
Madonna and Child with Saints (Pinacoteca, Bologna), then later in 1528, he painted
Madonna con la Rosa (Dresden) and
Madonna with Saint Zachariah (Uffizi). By 1530 Parmigianino had returned to Parma.
In 1531, Parmigianino received a commission for two altarpieces, depicting Saint Joseph and Saint John the Baptist, from the unfinished church of Santa Maria della Steccata. The brotherhood overseeing the church advanced him salary and promised him the supplies and materials; however, by 1535, the project was unfinished. In December, he nominated Don Nicola Cassola, a Parman cleric at the Roman Curia, to act as his legal representative. Parmigianino authorized him to collect the 50 gold scudi from Bonifazio Gozzadini for the Madonna with St. John the Baptist and St. Zacharias.
In 1534, it was decided that the Madonna dal collo lungo (the Madonna with the Long Neck) would hang in the chapel of the family of Elena Baiardi.
Parmigianino had probably expected to succeed Correggio in the favour of the church. However, in April 1538, the administrative offices commissioned initially Giorgio Gandini del Grano, then Girolamo Bedoli, to decorate the apse and choir of the Parma Cathedral.
It is believed that at this time, he became a devotee of alchemy. Vasari hypothesizes that this was due to his fascination with magic. Scholars now agree that Parmigianino's scientific interests may have been due to his obsession with trying to find a new medium for his etchings. As a result of his alchemical researches, he completed little work in the church. He was imprisoned for two months for breach of contract after the Confraternita decided unanimously to ban him from continuing in their church. He was replaced between 1539 and 1540 by Giulio Romano, who also promptly withdrew from the contract.
Parmigianino died of a fever in Casalmaggiore on 24 August 1540 at the age of 37 years. He was buried in the church of the Servite Order, "naked with a cross made of cypress wood on his chest".
Among those closely influenced by Parmigianino were his cousin Girolamo Mazzuoli and Girolamo's son Alessandro Mazzuoli; Pomponeo Amidano; Giacomo Bertoia; and Francesco Borgani.[ The picture amateur's handbook and dictionary of painters, by Philippe Daryl and Paschal Grousset, Londong, 1878.]
Printmaker
Parmigianino was a pioneer of Italian
etching, a technique that was pioneered in Italy by Marcantonio Raimondi, but which appealed to draughtsmen. Though the techniques of printing the copper plates required special skills, the ease with which acid, as a substitute for ink, could reproduce the spontaneity of an artist's hand attracted Parmigianino, a "master of elegant figure drawing".
[Michelle Leicht, "Correggio and Parmigianino", exhibition, Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2001 ( on-line review)] Parmigianino also designed
chiaroscuro , which were cut by other artists. While his print output was small he had a considerable influence on Italian
printmaking. Some of his prints were executed in collaboration with Giovanni Jacopo Caraglio.
Selected works
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Baptism of Christ () – Oil on wood, 197 x 137 cm – Gemäldegalerie, Berlin
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Bardi Altarpiece (1521) – Tempera on panel, 203 x 130 cm; Church of Santa Maria, Bardi
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Saint Barbara (1522) – Oil on Wood, 48 x 39 cm – Prado Museum, Madrid.
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Circumcision of Jesus (c. 1523) – Oil on wood, 42 x 31.4 cm; Detroit Institute of Arts
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Self-portrait in a Convex Mirror (c. 1524) – Oil on wood, diameter 24.4 cm; Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna
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Portrait of a Collector (c. 1524) – Oil on panel, 86 x 94 cm, National Gallery, London
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Portrait of Galeazzo Sanvitale (1524) – Oil on panel, 109 x 81 cm, Museo di Capodimonte, Naples
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Portrait of Lorenzo Cybo (1524) – Oil on panel, 126 x 104 cm, Statens Museum for Kunst, Copenhagen
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Myth of Diana and Acteon (c. 1524) – fresco, Rocca Sanvitale, Fontanellato, Province of Parma
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The Holy Family with Angels (c. 1524) – Oil on panel, 110 x 89 cm, Museo del Prado, Madrid.
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Antea (c. 1524–7) – Oil on canvas, 135 x 88 cm, Museo di Capodimonte, Naples
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Madonna and Child (1525) – Galleria Doria-Pamphili, Rome
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Vision of Saint Jerome (1526–1527) – Oil on panel, 343 x 149 cm, National Gallery, London
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Conversion of Saint Paul (c. 1527) – Oil on canvas, 177.5 x 128.5 cm, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna
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Holy Family with the Infant Saint John the Baptist (c.1528) – National Museum of Capodimonte, Naples
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The Mystical Marriage of St Catherine (1529) – Oil on panel, 74.2 x 57.2 cm, National Gallery, London
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Turkish Slave ( Portrait of a Lady; c. 1533) – Oil on panel, 67 x 53 cm, Galleria Nazionale di Parma
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Cupid Making His Arch (c. 1533–1535) – Oil on panel, 135 x 65.3 cm, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna
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Madonna with the Long Neck (1534–40) – Oil on wood, 216 x 132 cm, Uffizi, Florence
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Portrait of Pier Maria Rossi di San Secondo (c. 1535–1539) – Oil on panel, 133 x 98 cm, Museo del Prado, Madrid
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Virgin and Child with Saint John the Baptist and Mary Magdalene (c. 1535-1540) - Oil on panel, 75.9 × 59.7cm, J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles
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Portrait of Camilla Gonzaga and Her Three Sons (c. 1539–1540) – Oil on panel, 128 x 97 cm, Museo del Prado, Madrid
See also
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Self-portrait in a Convex Mirror (book)
Notes
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Frederick Hartt, History of Italian Renaissance Art, (2nd edn.)1987, Thames & Hudson (US Harry N Abrams),
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Parmigianino, Cecil Gould.
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Parmigianino: The Paintings, Mary Vaccaro.
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Parmigianino: The Drawings, Sylvie Beguin et al.
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The Story of Art, E.H. Gombrich, London : Phaidon Press, Ltd., 1995
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Parmigianino and European Mannerism Kunsthistorisches Museum Vienna in English
External links
