Antonio Allegri would take the name of his home town Corregio, as his own. He was born in the town of his namesake near the city of Reggio Emilia, in the Po Valley in northern Italy, and would eventually become the leader of the Parma School. His fluid and luminous style was characterized by soft expressions and a bold use of perspective, and was a precursor to the Baroque and eventually Rococo. His paintings were both beautiful and elegant and were similar to the emerging Mannerist style.
In 1516 Corregio moved to the city of Parma where he befriended Michelangelo Anselmi, and later married Girolama Francesca di Braghetis. In the year of his marriage, in 1519 he received his first commission for the ceiling of the dining salon of the mother superior of the convent of Saint Paul. The work consists of an oculus, or round opening, with a group of cherubim playfully floating above, marble images below that, with Diana frescoed at the fireplace. The work is reminiscent of the secular frescoes of the Villa Farnesina in Rome.
Like the oculus with the cherubim, Correggio’s work is known to be full of illusions, including the method of sotto in su, or “seen from below.” After completed the Saint Paul frescoes, he painted the Vision of Saint John on Patmos for the dome of the church of Saint John the Evangelist of Parma, which shows a series of receding clouds with a foreground of Christ appearing to descend to the floor, with apostles on the border stretching out. Below the scene are the Four Evangelists, Saints Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. After the Vision of Saint John, Correggio decorated the Cathedral of Parma with another illusion showing the Assumption of the Virgin, ascending to the sky past an infinite series of layers with angels.
Aside from his wonderful ceiling decorations of churches and cathedrals, Corregio is known for his remarkable interpretations of mythological subjects as well, particularly the Loves of Jupiter from Ovid’s Metamorphoses. The series was commissioned by Frederico II Gonzaga of Mantua originally to decorate the Ovid room in his palace, but eventually were given as a gift to Charles V. The series consists of five paintings: Leda and the Swan, Danaë, Ganymede Abducted by the Eagle with its partner painting Jupiter and Io, and Venus and Cupid with a Satyr (seen above). Particularly imaginative and impressive is Jupiter and Io which shows Jupiter taking the form of a cloud to embrace and kiss the nymph Io. The cloud is soft and seems to softly embrace the nymph who in turn submits irresistibly. In the Ganymede painting, Jupiter has taken the form of an eagle and scoops the Ganymede off his feet, who in turn seems to embrace the eagle with love and acceptance of his fate.
Paintings such as the Gaymede as well as his many illusion works seem to foreshadow the Mannerist and Baroque styles with the imaginary replacing natural reality. In truth these styles could possibly have been born with inspirations from Correggio.
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