Page:Bryan's dictionary of painters and engravers, volume 1.djvu/49

 ' Assumption of the Virgin,' her form being borne upwards on luminous clouds to heaven, whither she is preceded by the Archangel Gabriel and a joyous clioir of angels, all in the most unconstrained attitudes and action. The Apostles, from below, gaze upwards in ecstasy to view the heavenly drama, and numerous jiuiti, or boy angels, flutter about, looking as though "about to burst open the dome, and fly out into the open air." The entire absence of all religious conventionality, and the purely sensuous hfe exhibited in these paintings, show a bold disregard for traditional treatment. While he was executing these stupendous monu- mental frescoes, Allegri also painted some of his most perfect oil paintings. Chief among these stand ' La Notte,' or 'The Night,' of the Dresden Gallery, commissioned by a certain Alberto Pratoneri of Keggio, in 1522, for the church of San Prospero. This world-famous picture is well known, and need not be described. Sir David Wilkie, who saw it during his travels in 1826, speaks of it as " the most original and poetical of all Correggio's works," and one which " though shorn of its beams from the treatment it has met with, is, in its decay, still not less than an arch- angel ruined." Since his time it has been re- stored in 1827 by Palmaroli, and in 1858 by Schirmer, and it is stated by Dr. Meyer to "be in good preservation, only the azure tints of the high lights having somewhat suffered, and the shadows grown darker." It is chiefly admired for its mar-ellous effect of light, and the poetic idea of making that light emanate from the new- bom babe.

The magnificent altar-piece, in the Panna Gallery, of the Madonna with St. Jerome and the Magdnlene, called ' II Giomo,'or 'The Day,' is another of Cor- reggio's works distinguished for its perfection in the management of light and shade, and the volup- tuous beauty of the Magdalene. Mengs says of this graceful figure, that " whoever has not seen it is ignorant of what the art of painting can achieve." This great painting was executed for a certain Donna Briseide Colla, of Parma, a widow lady, who paid the painter more liberally than any of his other patrons, giving him, it seems, over and above the stipulated sum of 80 scudi, various presents, consisting of " two cartloads of faggots, several bushels of wheat, and a pig." According to Dr. Meyer, Allegri did not disdain to thus receive payment in kind from some of his less wealthy patrons, and possibly it is upon some tra- dition of tliis sort that Vasari's absurd story of his dying under a weight of copper money was founded. The ' Madonna della Scodella,' in the Parma Academy, the ' Madonna and St. Sebas- tian,' and the ' Madonna and St. George,' at Dresden, are likewise considered to belong to this time of highest achievement.

In 1530, Allegri left Parma, and returned to Correggio, having before this (probably about the end of 1528) lust his young wife. He appears to have now made up his mind to settle in his native town, where he lived in a good house in the Borgo Veccliio (probably the one which he had inherited from his uncle). He also bought an estate in November, 1530, for 195 scudi, and in 1533 a few acres of land. About this time we frequently find his name mentioned as witness, he being at one time summoned to witness the payment of the marriage portion of Clara, the daughter of the Lo;d of Correggio, all of which facts prove that be must have been a man of some means and importance in his native city.

Besides Allegri's great rehgious pictures, he painted a number of mythological subjects, for which his style was admirably adapted. The sensuous qualities of his art have full play in such works as the ' Jupiter and Antiope'of the Louvre, the ' Education of Cupid,' in the National Gallery, the 'Danae' of the Borgliese Gallery, and the ' Leda ' of the Berlin Museum. Most of these works were executed, it is supposed, during the last years of the painter's life, but the exact dates are uncertain.

Vasari states that Allegri painted two of these pictures — the ' Leda,' and the ' Danae,' described by him as 'Venus' — for the Duke of Mantua, who afterwards presented them to the Emperor Charles V., and there seems no reason to doubt his inform- ation in this particular. It is probable, however, that Allegri became known to the duke not through the intervention of Giulio Romano, as haa been supposed, but rather through the recommend- ation of Veronica Gambara, the second wife of Giberto of Correggio, who was a lady of great learning, and who founded an Academy in Cor- reggio. A letter dated September 3, 1528, is extant from this lady to her friend Beatrice d' Este, Duchess of Mantua, inviting her to " come and see the chef d'ceuvre of the ' Magdalene in the Desert,' just finished by the Messer Antonio Allegri. It astonishes all who behold it." The cause of Allegri's death at the early age of 40 is unknown. It was probably sudden, for he had entered upon a new commission shortly before. He died on the 5th of March, 153-1, and was buried the next day in the Franciscan church at Correggio, a simple wooden tablet marking the spot. In the 18th century, when his grave was sought for, it could not be found, though a skull purporting to be his is preserved in the Academy of Modena.

Allegri's art was thorouglily individual. Vasari rightly calls him jnttore singolarisdmo, but by the sensuous character of his painting he is more nearly allied to the school of Venice than to the severer intellectual scliools of Padua or Florence. Perhaps what nostly distinguishes his style from that of every other master, is his delicate perception of the minutest gradations of light and shade. His chiaroscuro has been praised by artists as simply perfect. It sheds a wonder- ful atmosphere of liglit and delight over all his works, and his figures seem literally to live in radiant glory. Allegri's Madonnas are beautiful, joyous mothers, endowed with every human charm ; but with none of the spirituality that I'aphael infused into the old ascetic type. He departed, in fact, as far as the Venetian masters from the old religious ideal, and like them made a-sthetic perfection his sole aim.

I'resco paintings in the nunnery of San Paolo. 1518. St. John ; fresco above a doorway in San Giovanni. Frescoes in the dome of San Giovanni. 1521 — 1522. Frescoes in the dome of the cathedral at Parma. 1526 —1530. Sladonna della Scala ; fresco now in the Academy at Parma. The Annunciation ; fresco formerly in the church of the AununEiata in Parma ; recently restored and removed from the wall.