Correggio

Correggio, Antonio Allegri (1494-1534), was born at Correggio (whence his name), in Modena. He studied anatomy under Dr. Giovanni Battista Lombardi, who is supposed to have been the model for his Il Medico design, under his uncle Lorenzo and others; and modelling under the sculptor Begarelli. He must have been in easy circumstances, for he used expensive colours, and often painted upon copper. In 1514 he painted an altar-piece (now in the Dresden Gallery), and his Arrest of Christ is a good example of his early style. In 1520 he painted a fresco of The Ascension, and in 1530 one of The Assumption. His Ecce Homo, and Cupid, Mercury, and Venus, both in the National Gallery, are among his best works. At Venice there is Leda, Danae, Vice and Virtue; at Berlin, Leda, and Girls Bathing; at Vienna, Jupiter and Io; Jupiter and Antiope at Paris. For his Zingarella (at Naples) his wife is said to have been the model. Correggio is the chief of the Parma group of the Lombard school, and his distinguishing feature is his management of light and shade.