Correggio's individuality is so marked, and his mastery of technique was developed at such an early age, that it is impossible to divide his work into distinct periods, as is done in the ease of Raphael. His art, like Michelangelo's, is a steady growth, which was little subject to in fluence. His earliest works are those executed before 1514, of which, according to the researches of Morelli, there are five in all. A characteristic example is the earliest of them all, a charming "Madonna" in the Uffizi in Florence. She sits enthroned in the clouds, with two angels making music on either side. The general disposition of the picture resembles Mantegna's, but the execu tion and the delicate transitions from light to shadow, the soft, round figures, and the dreamy. magical tone are characteristics of Correggio. The two paintings mentioned above as showing the influence of Leonardo also belong to this period.
In his large altar-piece for the Franciscans of Correggio (1514), now in Dresden, the painter appears before us with a style already developed. The "Madonna" sits on a high Renaissance throne with two saints on either hand. The most interesting figure of the composition is Saint Francis, whom she is blessing. He seems the incarnation of the happy and gentle spirit that softened and changed the :Middle Age. A min her of other works of a religious nature belong in the period of 1514-1S, among which is the charming "Zingarella" of the Naples Gallery.
The frescoes in the Convent of San Paolo (1518) form an epoch in Correggio's career, for they were his first monumental efforts, and with them he may he said to have begun the school of Parma. They reveal him as a master of mytho logical representation, the peer of Raphael him self. On the principal wall of the Abbess's chamber is the figure of Diana returning from the chase, in a car drawn by white stags. The ceiling is decorated with a trellis-work of vines, from which peer sixteen little cupids, hearing attribute: of the chase—the most bewitching fig ures imaginable. Lower on the walls are six teen lunettes filled with the mythological figures, like The Fates, The Graces, and Satyrs.
In the cupola of San Giovanni of Parma, Correggio attempted a grander style of composi time (1520-24). This was the first example of a cupola to be treated with frescoes, and Correg gio had no precedents to follow. Ile treated the cupola as if it were the heavens, portraying Christ and the pasties amid the clouds. In the centre was Christ in glory, a specimen of keenest foreshortening. The Twelve Apostles, rapt in deepest wonder, are seated upon the cloud below, and in the pendentives are the four Evangelists 111(1 four fathers of the Church in groups of two —all figures of the utmost nobility of conception. The decorations of the cupola of the Cathedral of Parma (1526-30) are grander still, and con stitute his most ambitious effort. Their subject is the "Ascension of the Virgin." In the upper half of the cupola Christ goes forward to meet the Madonna, who is borne upward by a host of angels. In the lower part stand the Apostles gazing in rapt wonder upon the scene, and be hind them are a large number of beautiful genii with candelabra and the like, as if preparing for a great celebration. The innumerable hosts of the angels seem to float. beneath the Madonna, and the whole picture is animated with ecstatic joy. The color is beautiful and soft—the great fresco has well been termed an apotheosis of color.
These three series of frescoes were his greatest works. But in addition to these Correggio
painted many other pictures during the period 1520-30. The famous "Marriage of Saint Cath erine," in the Louvre, was painted in 1522. It is impossible to conceive more beautiful and ex pressive heads than these, or hands and hair more perfectly painted. Correggio's works of this period may best be studied in the galleries of Parma and Dresden. Foremost among them is a series of five great altar-pieces, the best of which are the so-called "Night" and "Day." The latter, which is in Parma, represents the 'adonna and a very beautiful ?.14agdalen, painted in the full light of the day, which is wonderfully diffused. The famous "Night.," in Dresden (or dered in 1522, but not painted until 1529), is in reality a birth of Christ, in which the light issues from the new-born infant, lighting with wondrous radiance the Madonna, and the faces of the two women and the shepherds, which stand out in vivid contrast to the darkness above. Never were light and shade better han dled than in these two pictures. On the other hand, Morelli has conclusively shown that the well-known "Reading Magdalen" of the Dresden Gallery is no Correggio at all, but probably a work of Adrian von der Werff, a Flemish artist.
The last period of Co•reggio's life was ehiefly spent in painting mythological pictures. Earthly love was the theme he sought, to portray, and nong could portray it better than he. His work is sensuous, but not. sensual. His "Io" and his "Leda" are as innocent and charming as the Greeks themselves conceived them. Perhaps the finest of these productions are the "Jupiter and Antiope," in the Louvre, and the "Danae" of the Borghese Rome.
Correggio's canvases are peculiarly impressive because of his wonderful treatment of light and shade, of which he was the greatest master among the Italians. He generally represents the chief figures in high light, which is vividly con trasted with the surrounding gloom. His colors are soft and harmoniously blended, and the values are accurately given; his carnation is perfect. llis figures arc faultlessly modeled, and with him a picture is no longer a flat surface. Another chief characteristic of his work is the dramatic action of his figures, which is some times so pronounced that their movements seem exaggerated, as was :Lis° the case with those of 'Michelangelo. But in the case of Correg gin the effect is softened by the mystic light which envelops the picture. llis drawing is said to be inaccurate, but, such eases are Cer exceptional. Correggio drew with his brush, so to speak, and the general effect of the pictures is most charming. In the strength of his individuality, in the subjectivity of his pic tures, he is second only to Michelangelo. llis place in the history of art is among the five great Italian painters, with Miehelangelo. Leonardo, flaphael, and Titian. The school of 'Parma which he founded was not of great importance, Parini giano (q.v.) being the only pupil of note. But Correggio exercised great influence upon the Carracei in the following century and was the great model of the Baroque painters.
Consult: Morelli, Critic(/' Studies of Italian foie tors, vol. ii. (London, 1893) ; Heaton, Co• reggio (London, 1882) ; 'Thole, Correggio, in Kiinstler-dlonographien (Bielefeld, 189S) ; Lan thin, lie et •urres rle Gorreggio (Paris, 1S03 20). The best modern works are J. Meyer, Cor reggio, translated by Heaton (London, 1876) ; and Rieei, Antonio A Ilegri (fa Correggio (London, 1896).