Girolamo Francesco Maria Mazzola, also known as Francesco Mazzola or, more commonly, as Parmigianino, was an Italian Mannerist painter and printmaker active in Florence, Rome, Bologna, and his native city of Parma. His work is characterized by a "refined sensuality" and often elongation of forms and includes Vision of Saint Jerome (1527) and the iconic if somewhat anomalous Madonna with the Long Neck (1534), and he remains the best known artist of the first generation whose whole careers fall into the Mannerist period.
Paintings by Parmigianino
Madonna with the Long Neck (1530)
The Madonna with the Long Neck (Italian: Madonna dal collo lungo), also known as Madonna and Long Child with Angels and St. Jerome, is an Italian Mannerist oil painting by Parmigianino, dating from c. 1535-1540 and depicting Madonna and Child with angels. The painting began in 1534 for the funerary chapel of Francesco Tagliaferri in Parma, but remained incomplete on Parmigianino's death in 1540. Ferdinando de' Medici, Grand Prince of Tuscany, purchased it in 1698 and it has been on display at the Uffizi since 1948.
The painting depicts the Virgin Mary seated on a high pedestal in luxurious robes, holding a large baby Jesus on her lap. Six angels crowded together on the Madonna's right adore the Christ-child. In the lower right-hand corner of the painting is an enigmatic scene, with a row of marble columns and the emaciated figure of St. Jerome. A depiction of St. Jerome was required by the commissioner because of the saint's connection with the adoration of the Virgin Mary.
Vision of Saint Jerome (1526)
The Vision of Saint Jerome of The Madonna and Child with Saints is a painting by the Italian Mannerist artist Parmigianino, executed in 1526–1527. It is in the collection of the National Gallery, in London.
The work was commissioned on 3 January 1526 in Rome, by Maria Bufalini, wife of Antonio Caccialupi, to decorate the family chapel in the church of San Salvatore in Lauro. The contract mentioned "Francesco Mazola de Parma" and one "Pietro" with the same name, perhaps Parmigianino's uncle Piero Ilario Mazzola. The elongated shape derives from its original destination as part of a triptych, the side panels (never painted) of which would have represented The Immaculate Conception (to which the chapel was dedicated) and the Saints Joachim and Anna.
Self-Portrait in a Convex Mirror (Parmigianino) (1523)
Self-Portrait in a Convex Mirror (c. 1524) is a painting by the Italian late Renaissance artist Parmigianino. It is housed in the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, Austria.
The work is mentioned by Late Renaissance art biographer Giorgio Vasari, who lists it as one of three small-size paintings that the artist brought to Rome with him in 1525. Vasari relays that the self-portrait was created by Parmigianino as an example to showcase his talent to potential customers.
Antea (Parmigianino) (1600)
Antea (also known as Portrait of a Young Woman) is a portrait painting by the Italian Mannerist artist Parmigianino. The painting is in the collection of the Museum of Capodimonte in Naples.
The work is mentioned in 1671 as part of the Farnese collections in the Palazzo del Giardino. In the late 17th century, the painting was moved to the Ducal Gallery in the Palazzo della Pilotta in Parma. It has been in Naples since 1734, aside from a short period in 1816-1817 at Palermo. During World War II it was moved to Montecassino, where it was stolen by the occupying German forces and brought to Berlin, and then to the Austrian salt mines of Altaussee, from where it returned to Italy in 1945.
Turkish Slave (1533)
Turkish Slave (Italian: Schiava turca), also called Portrait of a Young Woman, is a painting by the Italian Mannerist artist Parmigianino. The painting was executed around 1533. It is housed in the Galleria nazionale di Parma.
The title derives from the misinterpretation of the sitter's headwear as a turban. It is in fact a typical headdress of noblewomen of the time called a balzo, with examples appearing in numerous contemporary portraits. She is wearing a chemise under her elaborately sleeved dress called a guimp and is holding a feather fan used as a flywhisk.
Cupid Making His Bow (1536)
Cupid Making His Bow (c. 1533–1535) is a painting by the Italian late Renaissance artist Parmigianino. It is housed in the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, Austria.
The work appears in the inventory of Francesco Baiardo in Parma, who was a friend and patron of Parmigianino. Late Renaissance art biographer Giorgio Vasari writes that Baiardo had commissioned the Cupido che fabbrica di sua mano un arco.
Portrait of Lorenzo Cybo (1524)
Portrait of Lorenzo Cybo (1524) is a painting by the Italian late Renaissance artist Parmigianino. It is housed in the National Gallery of Denmark, in Copenhagen.
The painting is mentioned by late Renaissance art biographer Giorgio Vasari as among those that Parmigianino executed during his sojourn in Rome. Lorenzo Cybo was a captain of the papal guards and a brother of cardinal Innocenzo Cybo, and at the time was 23/24, as specified in an inscription in the lower part of the painting: "Laurentius Cybo Marchio Massa atque Comes Ferentilli anno M.D.XXIII". The date 1523 is generally considered to be a mistake of the unknown man who added the inscription, since at the time Parmigianino was still in Emilia.
The Conversion of Saint Paul (Parmigianino) (1527)
The Conversion of Saint Paul is an oil painting on canvas of 1527 by Parmigianino, now in the Kunsthistorisches Museum, in Vienna.
It was seen in the house of Giovanni Andrea, a major figure in Parma, by both Giorgio Vasari (1550) and Lamo (1560). On Andrea's death in 1566 the work left Parma and is known to have been in Madrid in 1608, where it featured in the collection inventory of Pompeo Leoni. It moved to the museum in Vienna in the 18th century and was first exhibited to the public in 1912.
Portrait of Galeazzo Sanvitale (1524)
Portrait of Galeazzo Sanvitale (1524) is a painting of the condottiero Gian Galeazzo Sanvitale by the Italian late Renaissance artist Parmigianino. It is housed in the National Museum of Capodimonte, Naples, Italy.
Parmigianino worked for a short period at the Sanvitale family court in their "Rocca" (palace-fortress) in Fontanellato (in what is now the province of Parma). The work, dated 1524 on the rear, was executed during his stay there, before he moved to Rome the following year. He also executed the Stufetta of Diana and Actaeon and a cycle of frescoes in the private room of Paola Gonzaga, wife of Gian Galeazzo Sanvitale.
The Circumcision (Parmigianino) (1523)
The Circumcision, a painting by the Italian Mannerist artist Parmigianino of the common subject of the circumcision of Jesus, was executed around 1523 and is now in the Detroit Institute of Arts, Michigan, United States.
Giorgio Vasari, the late Renaissance biographer of artists, described a depiction of the Circumcision by Parmigianino. However, his description does not match the Detroit painting: he described a series of characters holding torches and walking which do not appear in this work.
Lucretia (Parmigianino) (1540)
Lucretia is an oil on panel painting of Lucretia by Parmigianino, from 1540. It was originally in the Farnese collection, and now is held in the Museo nazionale di Capodimonte, in Naples.
It is usually linked to "a canvas of Roman Lucretia, which was almost divine and one of the best works seen from his hand" mentioned in Vasari's Lives of the Artists as Parmigianino's final work, adding that at the time of writing "it has been stolen and nobody knows where it is".
Madonna of the Rose (Parmigianino) (1529)
Madonna of the Rose is a 1530 oil on panel painting by Parmigianino, now in the Gemäldegalerie in Dresden.
It was originally painted for Pietro Aretino, but during pope Clement VII's spell in Bologna from December 1529 to April 1530 for Charles V's coronation it was instead given to the pope. The work is generally thought to have been completed by March 1530, when Parmigianino went to Venice with senator Ludovico Carbonesi to buy pigments for a later work, the unfinished frescoes for the San Maurizio chapel at San Petronio back in Bologna, personally commissioned by Charles V himself. Preparatory studies now in the Devonshire Collection at Chatsworth House show a kicking Christ-child.