CORREGGIO, ANTONIO ALLECRI DA (c.1494 1534). An Italian painter, so called from his birthplace, a small town near Modena. We are less informed about his life than about that of any other of the chief Italian painters. Accord ing to the traditional as given by Vas ari and the local historians, Co•reggio was hum ble and poor, and passed his life in drudgery. He made an unhappy second marriage. and died un der distressing circumstances. But in contempo rary documents it appears that his parents were tradespeople in comfortable circumstances, that be inherited property from his uncle, and was well paid for his work. For his frescoes in the Cathedral of Parma alone he received a thousand gold ducats, besides materials. Tf he did not seek the courts of princes, where he might have gained high prices, it was because of his financial and moral independence.
Allegri's earliest years were passed in his na tive town. The lords of Correggio at that time maintained a number of artists and scientists at their Court, and it was in this atmosphere that the young artist grew up. It is generally be lieved that lie acquired the rudiments of paint ing from his uncle, Lorenzo Allegri, an unim portant local painter. It is also supposed that he was a pupil of Francesco Bianchi-Ferrari at Modena, hut late research has pointed out that this is unlikely, because his earliest work bears no resemblance to Bianchi's. Moreover, the lat ter died in 1510, when Correggio was not over sixteen years old. On the other hand, it is likely that he learned and optics, in which he excelled, from Giambattista Lombardi, head of the academy at Correggio. lie seems ere this to have attracted the attention of Lady Veronica Gambara, of Correggio, shout whom the scientific and artistic culture of the little Court centred. A probable tradition represents him as having gone with her to .Mantua during the plague in 1511. Certain it is that his first works show the influence of Andrea SIsntegna, particularly in his taste for mythological subjects. his love for illu sions of perspective. and in the beautiful nude figures of children and genii which abound in his works. It is also likely that he studied under Lorenzo Costa (q.v.), who was at that time head of the school of Mantua, and perhaps under Dosso Dossi (q.v.), who was for a time in Mantua. In earlier works we also find traces of the influence of Leonardo da Vinci. This influence appears in the handling of light and the modeling of figures, and is par ticularly evident in two paintings now consid ered to be early works of Correggio, viz. a "Iloly
Family," in the Malaspina Gallery, Pavia, and a "Madonna," in the Museo Artistico of Milan, both of which were formerly in possession of Milanese families. But it is not necessary to assume, as Ricci. the chief authority on Correg gio, does, that he must have therefore studied in Milan. He may have become acquainted with Leonardo's work in some other way. A similar supposition is made by 'node, that because of certain resemblances of Co•reggio's in the Convent of Paolo, Parma, with Raphael's in the Farnesiana and elsewhere in Rome, the for mer must therefore have visited Rome in 1517 15. Even granting this resemblance, which is not generally conceded, this conclusion seems unwarranted. An artist of Correggio's merit could not have visited Rome in 1517 without at tracting some attention, and Vasari's relations with the artists in Rome were such that Vasari eould not have been misinformed when he made the statement that Correggio never visited the Eternal City. Correggio united in himself the tendencies of all the Lombard Schools—of Man tua, Milan, Bologna, and Ferrara—hut it is un warranted to infer that he studied in all of them.
In 1513 lie returned to Correggio, and in 1514 he signed a contract to paint an altar-piece for the Franciscan church in that town. In 1518 he removed to Parma in response to an invita tion to decorate with frescoes the chamber of the Abbess of San Paolo. In this city he passed the greater part of his remaining life and paint ed his greatest works; here also he founded his school. Besides numerous easel works and altar pieces, he was engaged from 1520 to 1524 in painting the frescoes of the cupola of San Gio vanni in Parma, and from 1526 to 1530 he adorned the great cupola of the cathedral. In 1530, probably because he was displeased with the criticisms of this last great masterpiece, he returned to his native town, and there passed the remainder of his life in peace and quietness. under the patronage of Veronica Gambara, occu pying himself with mythological subjects. He died on March 5, 1534. Ile was married in 1520 to Girolama Merlini, a maiden of seventeen. She may have been the inspiration of three of his most charming, Madonnas, which seem to have been suggested] bydomestic scenes. She bore him four children, of whom a son and a. daughter survived. This son, Pomponio, was a painter, but, unlike his father, a very mediocre one. Girolama died in 1529.