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Girolamo Francesco Maria Mazzola (11 January 1503 - 24 August 1540), also known as Francesco Mazzola or more commonly as Parmigianino (a nickname meaning "the little one from Parma") or sometimes "Parmigiano", was a prominent Italian
Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic , is a country located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe and on the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily and Sardinia....
 Mannerist
Mannerism

Mannerism is a Art periods of European art which emerged from the later years of the Italian High Renaissance around 1520. It lasted until about 1580 in Italy, when a more Baroque style began to replace it, but continued into the seventeenth century throughout much of Europe....
 painter
Painting

Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface . In art, the term describes both the act and the result, which is called a painting....
 and printmaker active in Florence
Florence

Florence is the Capital city of the Italy Regions of Italy of Tuscany and of the provinces of Italy Province of Florence. It is the most populous city in Tuscany and has a population of 364,779 ....
, Rome
Rome

Rome is the capital city of Italy and Lazio, and is Italy's largest and most populous city, with 2,724,347 residents in an urban area of some ....
, Bologna
Bologna

Bologna is the capital city of Emilia-Romagna in northern Italy, in the Po Valley , between the Po River and the Apennine Mountains, exactly between the Reno River and the S?vena River....
, and his native city of Parma
Parma

Parma is a city in the Italian region of Emilia-Romagna famous for its architecture and the fine countryside around it. It is the home of the University of Parma, one of the oldest universities in the world....
.






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Parmigianino Selfportrait
Girolamo Francesco Maria Mazzola (11 January 1503 - 24 August 1540), also known as Francesco Mazzola or more commonly as Parmigianino (a nickname meaning "the little one from Parma") or sometimes "Parmigiano", was a prominent Italian
Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic , is a country located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe and on the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily and Sardinia....
 Mannerist
Mannerism

Mannerism is a Art periods of European art which emerged from the later years of the Italian High Renaissance around 1520. It lasted until about 1580 in Italy, when a more Baroque style began to replace it, but continued into the seventeenth century throughout much of Europe....
 painter
Painting

Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface . In art, the term describes both the act and the result, which is called a painting....
 and printmaker active in Florence
Florence

Florence is the Capital city of the Italy Regions of Italy of Tuscany and of the provinces of Italy Province of Florence. It is the most populous city in Tuscany and has a population of 364,779 ....
, Rome
Rome

Rome is the capital city of Italy and Lazio, and is Italy's largest and most populous city, with 2,724,347 residents in an urban area of some ....
, Bologna
Bologna

Bologna is the capital city of Emilia-Romagna in northern Italy, in the Po Valley , between the Po River and the Apennine Mountains, exactly between the Reno River and the S?vena River....
, and his native city of Parma
Parma

Parma is a city in the Italian region of Emilia-Romagna famous for its architecture and the fine countryside around it. It is the home of the University of Parma, one of the oldest universities in the world....
. His work is characterized by elongation of form and includes Vision of Saint Jerome (1527) and the Madonna with the Long Neck
Madonna with the Long Neck

The Madonna of the Long Neck , also known as Madonna and Child with Angels and St. Jerome, is an Italian Renaissance Mannerism oil painting by the Italian painter Parmigianino in 1535, depicting Madonna and Child with angels....
 (1534).

Early years

Parmigianino was the eighth child of Filippo Mazzola, a painter also known as Filippo dell' Erbette, and Maria di ser Guglielmo. 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 Vasari
Giorgio Vasari

Giorgio Vasari was an Italy Painting and architect, who is today famous for his biography of Italian artists, considered the ideological foundation of art history writing....
 were modestly talented artists. In 1515, his uncle received a commission from Nicolo 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 a Marriage of Catherine altarpiece
Altarpiece

An altarpiece is a picture or relief representing a religious subject and suspended in a frame behind the altar of a church. The altarpiece is often made up of two or more separate panels created using a technique known as panel painting....
 for Santa Maria at Bardi
Bardi

Bardi can refer to:*Bardi, Italy, a city in the province of Parma, northern Italy*Bardi bush, an Australian plant, Acacia victoriae*Bardi , a shape-changing spirit or a rabid animal in Trebizond folklore who presages a death by wailing...
. In 1521, Parmigianino was sent to Viadana
Viadana (MN)

Viadana is a comune in the Province of Mantua in the Italy region Lombardy, located about 120 km southeast of Milan and about 35 km southwest of Mantua....
 (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
Tempera

File:Duccio The-Madonna-and-Child-128.jpgTempera is a type of artist's paint and associated Art techniques and materials that were known from the classical world, where it appears to have taken over from encaustic painting and was the main medium used for panel painting and illuminated manuscripts in the Byzantine world and the Middle Ages...
, 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
San Giovanni

San Giovanni, the Italian form of Saint John , a name that may refer to dozens of saints.At least 58 comune in Italy are named San Giovanni, and at least 49 more are named San Giovanni... , and hundreds of frazione and smaller villages....
 and met Correggio, who was at work on the fresco
Fresco

Fresco is any of several related painting types, done on plaster on walls or ceilings. The word fresco comes from the Italian word affresco which derives from the adjective fresco , which has Latin origins....
 decorations of the cupola
Cupola

File:Faneuil Hall Boston Massachusetts.JPGIn architecture, a cupola is a small, most-often dome-like structure, on top of a building. Often used to provide a lookout or to admit light and air, it usually crowns a larger roof or dome....
.

Work in Fontanellato and travel to Rome


In 1524, he traveled to Rome with five small paintings, including the Circumcision of Christ and his Self-portrait in a Convex Mirror, seeking patronage of the Medici
Medici

The M?dici family was a powerful and influential Florence family from the 14th to 18th century. The family had three popes , numerous rulers of Florence and later members of the French and English royalty....
 pope, Clement VII. Vasari records that in Rome, Parmigianino was "celebrated as a Raphael
Raphael

Raphael Sanzio, usually known by his first name alone was an Italy Painting and architect of the High Renaissance, celebrated for the perfection and grace of his paintings and drawings....
 reborn". In January 1526, Parmigianino and his uncle, Pier Ilario, agreed with Maria Bufalina from Citta di Castello, to decorate the church of San Salvatore in Lauro
Lauro

Lauro is a town in the province of Avellino, Campania, Italy....
 with an altarpiece of the Vision of Saint Jerome (1526-27, National Gallery, London). Within a year, the Sack of Rome
Sack of Rome (1527)

The Sack of Rome on 6 May 1527, carried out by the mutinous troops of Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, marked a crucial imperial victory in the conflict between the Holy Roman Empire and the League of Cognac ? the alliance of France, Milan, Venice, Florence and the Papacy....
 caused Parmigianino, and many other artists, to flee.

Return to Bologna and Parma

He resided in Bologna
Bologna

Bologna is the capital city of Emilia-Romagna in northern Italy, in the Po Valley , between the Po River and the Apennine Mountains, exactly between the Reno River and the S?vena River....
 for nearly three years. In 1528-29, he painted a Madonna with Saint Margaret and Saints (Pinacoteca, Bologna). In 1528, he painted Madonna of the 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
Saint Joseph

Joseph "of the House of David" is known from the New Testament as the husband of Mary, mother of Jesus and although according to Christian tradition he was not the biological father of Jesus, he acted as his foster-father and as head of the Holy Family....
 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
Curia

A curia in early Ancient Rome times was a subdivision of the people, i.e. more or less a tribe, and with a metonymy it came to mean also the meeting place where the tribe discussed its affairs....
, 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
Giorgio Gandini del Grano

Giorgio Gandini del Grano was a short-lived Italy Painting of the Parmesan school of Painting. He was selected in 1535 to complete decoration of the apse of the Duomo of Parma....
, then Girolamo Bedoli, to decorate the apse
Apse

In architecture, the apse is a semicircular recess covered with a hemispherical Vault . In Romanesque architecture, Byzantine architecture and Gothic architecture Christian abbey, cathedral and church architecture, the term is applied to the semi-circular or polygonal section of the sanctuary at the liturgical east end beyond the altar....
 and choir of the duomo
Duomo

Duomo is a generic Italian language term for a cathedral church. The formal word for a church that is presently a cathedral is cattedrale; a Duomo may be either a present or a former cathedral ....
.

It is believed that at this time, he became a devotee of alchemy
Alchemy

Alchemy , a part of the Occult Tradition, is both a philosophy and a practice with an aim of achieving ultimate wisdom as well as immortality, involving the improvement of the alchemist as well as the making of several substances described as possessing unusual properties....
. Vasari hypothesizes that this was due to his fascination with magic
Magic

Magic may refer to:* Magic , anything that is not explainable by any present laws of science.** Magical thinking** Folk magic, traditional systems of 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
Giulio Romano

Giulio Romano was an Italy Painting and Architecture. A prominent pupil of Raffaello Santi, his stylistic deviations from high Renaissance classicism help define the 16th-century style known as Mannerism....
, who also promptly withdrew from the contract.

Parmigianino died in Casalmaggiore
Casalmaggiore

Casalmaggiore is a comune in the province of Cremona, Lombardy, northern Italy, located across the Po River. It was the birthplace of Italian composers Ignazio Donati and Andrea Zani ....
 on the 24 August 1540 at the age of 37 years. He is buried in the church of the Frati de' Servi "naked with a cross made of cypress wood on his chest".

Works


Parmigianino was also an early Italian etcher
Etching

Etching is the process of using strong acid or mordant to cut into the unprotected parts of a metal surface to create a design in intaglio in the metal ....
, a technique that was pioneered in Italy by Marcantonio Raimondi
Marcantonio Raimondi

Marcantonio Raimondi, also simply Marcantonio, was an Italy engraver, known for being the first important printmaker whose body of work consists mainly of prints copying paintings....
, but which appealed to draughtsmen: though the techniques of printing the copper plates require special skills, the ease with which acid, when substituted for ink, can reproduce the spontaneity of an artist's hand attracted Parmigianino, a "master of elegant figure drawing". Parmigianino also designed chiaroscuro
Chiaroscuro

Chiaroscuro is a term in art for a contrast between light and dark. The term is usually applied to bold contrasts affecting a whole composition, but is also more technically used by artists and art historians for the use of effects representing contrasts of light, not necessarily strong, to achieve a sense of volume in modeling three-di...
 woodcut
Woodcut

Woodcut - formally known as Xylography - is a relief printing artistic technique in printmaking in which an image is carved into the surface of a block of wood, with the printing parts remaining level with the surface while the non-printing parts are removed, typically with gouges....
s, and although his output was small he had a considerable influence on Italian printmaking
Printmaking

Printmaking is the process of making artworks by printing, normally on paper. Except in the case of monotyping, the process is capable of producing multiples of the same piece, which is called a 'print....
. Some of his prints were done in collaboration with Giovanni Jacopo Caraglio
Giovanni Jacopo Caraglio

Giovanni Jacopo Caraglio known also as Jacobus Parmensis and Jacobus Veronensis was an eminent Italy engraver, born at Verona. A pupil of Marcantonio Raimondi, he engraved on Gemstones and medals as well as copperplate, after the works of Raphael, Titian, Michelangelo, and other the great masters....
.

List of works

  • Madonna with the Long Neck
    Madonna with the Long Neck

    The Madonna of the Long Neck , also known as Madonna and Child with Angels and St. Jerome, is an Italian Renaissance Mannerism oil painting by the Italian painter Parmigianino in 1535, depicting Madonna and Child with angels....
     (1534-40, Oil on wood, 216 x 132 cm, Uffizi
    Uffizi

    The Uffizi Gallery , one of the oldest and most famous art museums in the world, is housed in the Palazzo degli Uffizi, a palazzo in Florence, Italy, Italy....
    , Florence
    Florence

    Florence is the Capital city of the Italy Regions of Italy of Tuscany and of the provinces of Italy Province of Florence. It is the most populous city in Tuscany and has a population of 364,779 ....
    )
  • Self-portrait in a Convex Mirror, c.1524; Oil on wood, diameter 24.4 cm; Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna
  • Vision of Saint Jerome (National Gallery, London)
  • Cupid (c.1523-24; Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna)
  • Madonna and Child (1525, Galleria Doria-Pamphili, Rome)
  • Portrait of a Man with a Book (Attributed, York City Art Gallery)
  • The Circumcision (Detroit Institute of Arts)
  • Portrait of a Young Woman (Antea) (Capodimonte Museum
    Museo di Capodimonte

    The Palace and Museum of Capodimonte is a grand House of Bourbon palazzo in Naples, Italy, formerly the summer residence and hunting lodge of the kings of the Two Sicilies....
    , Naples)
  • Holy Family with the Infant Saint John the Baptist (Capodimonte)
  • The Conversion of Saint Paul (Kunsthistorisches Museum Vienna)
  • Saint Roch and Donor (Gamba Chapel San Petronio Bologna)
  • Allegorical Portrait of Charles V (New York)
  • The Annunciation (The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York))


Gallery


See also

  • Mannerism
    Mannerism

    Mannerism is a Art periods of European art which emerged from the later years of the Italian High Renaissance around 1520. It lasted until about 1580 in Italy, when a more Baroque style began to replace it, but continued into the seventeenth century throughout much of Europe....


External links