Correggio

Correggio's Frescoes in Parma Cathedral

Correggio's depiction of the Virgin's Assumption into heaven, painted in the cupola of the Duomo of Parma, is widely viewed as one of the most inventive and influential fresco cycles of the Renaissance. Even so, the very elements that make the work so powerful--its lively iconography and its illusionism--have long been decried by critics for their apparent illegibility and lack of decorum. In the first book-length study of these frescoes in English, Carolyn Smyth counters such negative criticism by taking into account the viewer's in situ experience of the frescoes. In so doing, she offers a new reading that explores the artist's knowing use of figural perspective, the architectural and liturgical context, and the religious significance of the theme.

Aided by new photographs of the fresco, taken by Ralph Lieberman, Smyth leads the reader from the door of the cathedral to the apse, in order to examine the lay worshipper's experience from a series of partial views in the nave and the contrasting vistas of the clergy in the presbytery. As each of these separately revealed sequences of the cycle is discussed, new elements appear and are interpreted. The gestures, figural relationships, activities, and attributes visible from each viewpoint convey specific meanings that reveal, too, the most relevant aspect of the Assumption theme for the participant below. Not only the spatial communicativeness of the painting but also the affective warmth of Correggio's style are seen as means to celebrate Mary's redemptive role and its implications for the Christian audience.

Correggio

This beautifully illustrated book is the first full-scale chronological and critical account of the paintings and drawings of Correggio (1489-1534)--a genius of the Italian Renaissance. The author places the artist in the context of 16th-century Italy and his isolation from fellow artists of the period, examines his particular creative process, and sheds new light on Correggio's patrons. 200 color and 50 b&w illustrations .

Correggio and Parmigianino: Master Draughtsmen of the Renaissance

Masters of the Renaissance

The Renaissance was a return to classical ideas. This was a period of time when humanity itself was experiencing a rebirth of new growth in all fields of human endeavor. The artists of this period were highly creative and were using some innovative techniques new to the time such as linear perspective.

This book is an informative guide of one of the richest periods in art history. It begins with an introduction to the history of art from the Stone Age to the Late Middle Ages. It goes on to describe the cultural phenomenon known as the Renaissance and chronicles some of the advancements of painting, sculpture, and architecture.

Then it gives a look at 18 of the Renaissance's most notable artists: Arcimboldo, Bosch, Botticelli, Bramante, Bruegel, Brunelleschi, Correggio, Donatello, Durer, Fouquet, Giorgione, Grunewald, Holbein, Leonardo, Mantegna, Michelangelo, Raphael, and Titian.

The Age of Correggio and the Carracci: Paintings in Emilia in the 16th and 17th Centuries

Correggio

The Mind of the Artist, Thoughts and Sayings of Painters and Sculptors on Their Art

It is always interesting and profitable to get the views of workmen on their work, and on the principles which guide them in it; and in bringing together these sayings of artists Mrs. Binyon has done a very useful thing. A great number of opinions are presented, which, in their points of agreement and disagreement, bring before us in the most charming way the wide range of the artist's thought, and enable us to realise that the work of the great ones is not founded on vague caprice or so-called inspiration, but on sure intuitions which lead to definite knowledge; not merely the necessary knowledge of the craftsman, which many have possessed whose work has failed to hold the attention of the world, but also a knowledge of nature's laws.

"The Mind of the Artist" speaks for itself, and really requires no word of introduction. These opinions as a whole, seem to me to have a harmony and consistency, and to announce clearly that the directing impulse must be a desire for expression, that art is a language, and that the thing to be said is of more importance than the manner of saying it. This desire for expression is the driving-force of the artist; it informs, controls, and animates his method of working; it governs the hand and eye. That figures should give the impression of life and spontaneity, that the sun should shine, trees move in the wind, and nature be felt and represented as a living thing--this is the firm ground in art; and in those who have this feeling every effort will, consciously or unconsciously, lead towards its realisation. It should be the starting-point of the student. It does not absolve him from the need of taking the utmost pains, from making the most searching study of his model; rather it impels him, in the examination of whatever he feels called on to represent, to look for the vital and necessary things: and the artist will carry his work to the utmost degree of completion possible to him, in the desire to get at the heart of his theme.

"Truth to nature," like a wide mantle, shelters us all, and covers not only the outward aspect of things, but their inner meanings and the emotions felt through them, differently by each individual. And the inevitable differences of point of view, which one encounters in this book, are but small matters compared with the agreement one finds on essential things; I may instance particularly the stress laid on the observation of nature. Whether the artist chooses to depict the present, the past, or to express an abstract ideal, he must, if his work is to live, found it on his own experience of nature. But he must at every step also refer to the past. He must find the road that the great ones have made, remembering that the problems they solved were the same that he has before him, and that now, no less than in Drer's time, "art is hidden in nature: it is for the artist to drag her forth."

Correggio His Life & Work

Il Correggio nella camera di San Paolo

11x12.5", 130 pp., many color and b&w illus.

Ouverture til Correggio. Opus 59. [Edited by Sven Lunn.] Partitur (Samfundet til Udgivelse af dansk Musik)