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April 13 - April 20,2003 |
In the pursuit of perfect beauty and heavenly grace
Artist Il Parmigianino, aka Francesco Mazzola, is remembered by the Italian city of Parma 500 years after his birth
By Carmela Piccione
Originally Published: 2003-03-23
He was a poet of gestures and looks, who unveiled ambiguity, hidden grace, sophisticated eroticism. He pursued aesthetic gratification that was pleasing to his passionate and revolutionary nature, disturbed by a very modern spleen.
The city of Parma remembers its top artist, Francesco Mazzola a.k.a. il Parmigianino, on the 500th anniversary of his birth with a series of important events that include the first, grandiose international exhibition entitled Parmigianino e il manierismo europeo ("Parmigianino and the European Mannerism"). Until May 15, the National Gallery will display canvasses, paintings, drawings, engravings, documents, and other objects (medals, vases, sundials, coins, jewels, ensigns, cups, cameos and lapis lazuli), alongside the famous Self-Portrait in a Convex Mirror that the artist presented to Pope Clemens VII as proof of his talent.
His dream was to take the place of Raphael, the master he admired for his extraordinary grace and seduction. Francesco Mazzola was born in 1503 and got acquainted with other 'wild' artists such as Pontormo, Rosso Fiorentino, and Primaticcio (who fled to Fontainebleau, at the court of Francis I). Growing in the shadow of his fellow townsman Correggio, he shared his experimental restlessness and rejection of the canon of beauty that had become prevalent in the early 16th century.
"Parmigianino" writes Antonio Pinelli "distilled a more sophisticated canon of beauty, well suited to life in a neo-feudal court that loved to reflect itself narcissistically in the cold armour of its countenance."
Lucia Fornari Stanchi, who chairs the exhibition's science committee, underscores: "Parmigianino's Madonnas look like top models. They have small faces, long necks, thin arms, a detached, possibly proud posture, a sensuous and equivocal look... This is beauty in the mind of the beholder, displaying concentrated elegance, and often ambiguity. While Correggio was tactile, carnal, human, Parmigianino forbade touching."
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