1503 -1540 · Parma, Rome, Bologna and mannerism

Elongated bodies, artificial grace and virtuosity of drawing make Parmigianino the most refined figure of Emilian mannerism.

Francesco Mazzola, known as Parmigianino after his hometown of Parma, was born in 1503 and died in Casalmaggiore in 1540. Early, he formed in contact with Correggio, whose frescoes revealed to him the flexibility of movement and the softness of light. In Rome, he studied Raphael and Michelangelo and presented his extraordinary Self-portrait in a convex mirror. The enlarged hand in the foreground, the smooth face and the curved piece transformed a technical demonstration into a manifesto of the virtuoso artist. The sack of Rome in 1527 interrupts his stay; Parmigianino then works in Bologna and then returns to Parma. The Vision of Saint Jerome then constructs a religious apparition from diagonals, of stretched bodies and unreal light. Antea imposes a mysterious presence through the richness of the garment, the length of the hand and the frontal gaze. The Virgin with the Long Neck, commissioned in 1534 and left unfinished at her death, pushes this elegance to the strange: impossible proportions, discontinuous space and almost supernatural beauty. Parmigianino does not reject the Renaissance; he transforms its balance into conscious, sophisticated and unstable grace. The "Parmigianino" selection notably compares the Virgin with the Long Neck and Self-Portrait in a Convex Mirror. His reading favors figures.

Parmigianino stretches beauty to the strange: the neck, hand and gaze leave natural measure to achieve mental grace.