During a progress thus gradually pursued, and by an artist who in every new production succeeded in surpassing himself, it is difficult to fix the precise epoch of his new style. I once saw in Rome a very beautiful little picture, representing, in the background, the taking of Christ in the garden; and in the fore part, the youth Joseph, who, in the act of flying, leaves his mantle behind him; the original of which is in England, and a duplicate at Milan, in possession of Count de Keweniller; the picture at Rome bore in ancient character the date of 1505, indisputably false. A more correct one, however, is to be found upon that of the Marriage of St. Catherine, in possession of Count Brull, late prime minister to the king of Poland, which is every way corresponding to the other, remaining at Capo di Monte; it bears the date of 1517. It is probable, that in this year, when the artist was just twenty-three, he had already sufficiently mastered his new style, from the fact of his having about 1518, or 19, produced in Parma the picture which is still in existence at the monastery of St. Paul. This, after various disputes, has recently been acknowledged to be "one of the most grand, spirited, and laboured productions that ever proceeded from that divine hand;" and it has been illustrated with its real epoch, from an excellent little work of the celebrated Padre Affò. Such a work, indeed, confers a benefit upon history. He there explains the manner in which Coreggio might have imitated the ancients with such advantages only as he found in Parma; and endeavours to account for the difficulty presented to us in the silence of Mengs, who, having beheld this very picture, omitted to mention it among Antonio's other works. We are relieved, also, from another difficulty in respect to the manner in which a piece representing the Chase of Diana, abounding with such a variety of loves and cupids, could have been painted for a holy monastery, accompanied by those profane representations distributed throughout the same chamber, in various circular pieces, such as the Graces, the Fates, the Vestals; a naked Juno, suspended from the heavens, in the method described by Homer, in his fifteenth book of the Iliad; with other similar objects, still less becoming the sphere of a cloister. But our wonder will cease when we reflect, that the same place was once the residence of a lady abbess, at a time in which the nuns of S. Paolo lived unguarded by grates; in which every abbess sought to enjoy herself; held jurisdiction over lands and castles, and, independent of the bishop, lived altogether as a secular personage, a license in those days extremely general, as is justly observed by Muratori, in his "Italian Antiquities," tom. iii. p. 332. The above work was a commission given by a Donna Giovanna di Piacenza, who was then the superior of the monastery; and whatever degree of learning we meet with in the painting, and in the devices or conceits, was, most probably, communicated to the artist by Giorgio Anselmi, a celebrated scholar, whose own daughter belonged to the same establishment. But we must not allow ourselves to proceed further in our notice of a dissertation, assuredly one of the most profound and ingenious that we ever recollect to have read. The pictures are about to be engraved by the hand of Signor Rosaspina, after those of S. Giovanni, in which the learned Abate Mazza is at present so laudably engaged, no less to the advantage of the arts than of his own reputation.
The vast undertaking, so finely executed by Coreggio, at S. Paolo, obtained for him so high a name, that the Padri Cassinensi invited him to engage in the equally extensive one of San Giovanni, entered upon in 1520,[20] and completed in 1524, as we find mentioned in the books. There, also, in addition to several minor works, he decorated the tribune, which being afterwards removed, in order to extend the choir, and rebuilt, was repainted, as we shall notice elsewhere, by Aretusi. On the demolition of the tribune, the picture of the Incoronation of the Virgin, the leading subject in the fresco, was saved, and is now exhibited in the royal library; and various heads of angels, which in like manner escaped the same destruction, are preserved in the Palazzo Rondanini at Rome. There are, now, in the church of San Giovanni, two pictures in oil, placed opposite to one another, in one of the chapels; one, a Christ taken from the Cross; the other, the Martyrdom of St. Placidus, both painted on canvass made for the purpose, like some of the pictures of Mantegna. On the exterior of one of the other chapels is a figure of St. John the Evangelist, executed in the noblest manner. And, finally, there is the grand cupola, where the artist represented the Ascension of Jesus to his Father; the apostles looking on in mingled veneration and surprise; a production in which, whether we regard the proportion, and the shortening of the figures, the naked parts, or the draperies, or gaze upon it as a whole, we must alike confess that it was an unexampled specimen of the art, in its kind; the terrific Judgment of Michelangiolo,[21] not having then assumed its place in the Vatican.
Astonishing, however, as such a production must be allowed to be, it will still be found to yield the palm to another, which the hand of Coreggio alone could have rendered superior. This is the celebrated Assumption of the Virgin, in the cathedral of Parma, completed in the year 1530. It is indisputably more ample; and in the background the figures of the same apostles are reproduced, as was customary, expressing feelings of surprise and piety, though in a manner altogether different from the former. In the upper part is represented an immense crowd of happy spirits, yet distributed in the finest order, with a number of angels of all dimensions, all full of action; some employed in assisting the flight of the Virgin, others singing and dancing, and the rest engaged in celebrating the triumph with applause, songs, torches, and the burning of celestial perfumes. In all, the countenances beam with mingled beauty, hilarity, and triumph; a halo of light seems to envelope the whole, so that notwithstanding the piece is much defaced, it is still calculated to awaken such an enchantment of the soul, that the spectator almost dreams he is in elysium. These magnificent works, as it has been observed of the chambers of Raffaello, were calculated to promote the dignity of his manner, and led the way to that height of perfection he attained in the difficult art of working in fresco. To estimate it aright, we ought to approach near, to mark the decision and audacity as it were of every stroke; the parts, that at a distance appear so beautiful, yet effected by few lines; and that colouring, and that harmony which unites so many objects in one, produced, as it were, in sportful play. The renowned artist survived only four years, subsequent to the completion of the cupola; without commencing, during the interval, the painting of the tribune, for which he had pledged himself, and received part of the remuneration, which was afterwards restored to the revenues of the cathedral by his heirs. It has been conjectured, that the conductors of the works must, in some way, have given him offence; since the artist Soiaro, on being invited to paint at the Steccata, objects to it in the following terms: "Not wishing to remain at the discretion of so many different heads; for you know," he continues to his friend, "what was said to Coreggio in the dome." Now this, it would appear, must have consisted of some expressions derogatory to his talents; probably some words which one of the artificers is said to have applied to the diminutiveness of his figures: "Ci avete fatto un guazzetto di rane." "You have presented us with a hash of frogs." Words from a workman, for which Coreggio might easily have consoled himself, as they did not express the opinion of the city of Parma.
He died, however, about four years afterwards, at his native place, before he had completed his undertaking; and without leaving any portrait of himself which can be considered genuine. Vasari's editor, at Rome, produces one of a bald old man, little agreeable to our ideas of Coreggio, who died at the age of forty. It is taken from a collection of designs by the Padre Resta, which he entitled, the "Portable Gallery," and which both the Cavalier Tiraboschi and the Padre della Valle mentioned as having been lost. Nevertheless it exists in the Ambrosian collection, and contains, among other designs, one which Resta, in the notes added thereto, declares to be the family of Coreggio, consisting of the portrait of himself, his wife, and his sons; altogether forming one female and three male heads, poor, and wretchedly attired. But it betrays evident marks of its want of genuineness, and not the least in the description of the family; inasmuch as Antonio is known to have had one son and three daughters, two of whom appear to have died at an early age. The portrait remaining at Turin, in the Vigna della Regina, engraved by the very able Valperga, bears an inscription, in part obliterated by the cornice. Still I contrived to decypher the words, Antonius Corrigius, f—(that is, fecit), one of the first arguments for not admitting it, as some have done, to be a head of Coreggio. A further one may be derived from the inscription itself being written in large letters, and in a space occupying the whole length of the canvass, a method occasionally adopted to explain the subject of the piece, but never the name of the artist. There was another portrait sent from Genoa into England, with an inscription upon the back, indicating it to be that of Antonio da Coreggio, drawn by Dosso Dossi, which is to be found in the memoirs of Ratti. I have no sort of ground for asserting such a signature to have been introduced several years subsequent; a plan which was, and still is frequently adopted, by an accurate imitation of the ancient characters; I would merely observe, that there was also a distinguished painter in miniature, of the name of M. Antonio da Coreggio, who traversed Italy about the time of Dosso, and whose merits I shall treat of hereafter. Of the portrait taken of Coreggio, by Gambara, in the cathedral of Parma, it would here be improper to speak, otherwise than as an idle popular rumour. In conclusion, therefore, I am inclined to admit the seeming truth of what is advanced by Vasari, that this noble artist entertained no idea of transmitting his likeness to posterity, not justly estimating his own excellence, but adding to his numerous other accomplishments that of a remarkable modesty, conferring real honour upon our history.
The latest and most perfect style of Coreggio has been minutely analysed by the Cavalier Mengs, in the same manner as he examined that of Raffaello and of Titian. And in this famous triumvirate he accorded to him the second rank, after Raffaello, observing, that this last depicted more exquisitely the affections of the soul, though inferior to him in the expression of external forms. In this, indeed, Coreggio was a true master, having succeeded by his colouring, and yet more by his chiaroscuro, in introducing into his pictures an ideal beauty, surpassing that of nature, and at the same time attracting the admiration of the most learned, by an union of art and nature in its rarest forms, such as they never before beheld. And such admiration, and such applauses, were in particular bestowed upon his St. Jerome, preserved in the academy at Parma. Algarotti declares, that he was inclined to prefer it to any other of his productions; and to exclaim in his heart: "Tu solo mi piaci!" "Thou alone pleasest me!" Annibal Caracci himself, upon first beholding this picture, as well as a few others from the same hand, declares, in the letter already cited to his brother Lodovico, that he would not even exchange them with the St. Cecilia of Raffaello, which is still to be seen in the city of Bologna. And it may be truly said, that the same art that had been carried to such a pitch of sublimity by Michelangiolo; to such an exquisite degree of natural grace and expression by Raffaello; and from Titian received such inimitable perfection in its tones of colouring; displayed in Coreggio such an union of excellences, as in the opinion of Mengs, carried the whole of these to their highest point of perfection, adding to all their dignity and truth his own peculiar elegance, and a taste as captivating to the eye as to the heart of the spectator.
In design he exhausted not all that depth of knowledge, so conspicuous in Bonarruoti; but it was at once so great and so select, that the Caracci themselves adopted it for their model. I am aware, that Algarotti considered him to be somewhat incorrect in the expression of his contours; while Mengs, on the other hand, defends him very warmly from such a charge. Truly, there does not appear the same variety in his lines as is to be found in Raffaello and the ancients, inasmuch as he purposely avoided angles and rectilinear lines, preserving, as much as lay in his power, an undulating sweep of outline, sometimes convex and sometimes concave; while it is maintained, that his grace results, in a great measure, from this practice: so that Mengs in uncertainty appears at one time to commend, and at another to excuse him for it. He is lavish of his praises on the design of his draperies, on whose masses Coreggio bestowed more attention than on the particular folds; he being the first who succeeded in making drapery a part of the composition, as well by force of contrast as by its direction; thus opening a new path which might render it conspicuous in large works. In particular, his youthful and infantile heads are greatly celebrated; the faces beaming with so much nature and simplicity, as to enchant, and to compel us, as it were, to smile as they smile.[22] Each separate figure may be pronounced original, from the infinite variety of foreshortenings he has introduced; there is scarcely a single head that is not seen from a point of view either above or below; not a hand, not a whole figure, whose attitude is not full of an ease and grace of motion, beyond example. By his practice of foreshortening figures upon ceilings, which was avoided by Raffaello, he overcame many difficulties still remaining to be vanquished after the time of Mantegna, and in this branch of perspective is justly entitled to the merit of having rendered it complete.
His colouring is allowed to correspond beautifully with the grace and selection of his design, Giulio Romano having been heard to assert that it was altogether the best he had ever seen; nor was he averse to the Duke of Mantua giving the preference to Coreggio above himself, when about to make a presentation of pictures to the emperor Charles V. Equal commendation is bestowed upon him by Lomazzo, when he pronounces that, among the colourists, he is to be considered rather as unique than as rare in point of merit. No artist before him ever bestowed so much attention upon his canvass, which, after a slight covering of chalk, received his colours, both in point of quantity and quality, as we have before stated, from a lavish hand.[23] In the impasto, or laying on his colours, he approaches the manner of Giorgione, in their tone he resembles Titian, though in their various gradations, in the opinion of Mengs, he is even more expert. There prevails likewise in his colouring a clearness of light, a brilliancy rarely to be met with in the works of others; the objects appear as if viewed through a glass, and towards evening, when the clearness of other paintings begins to fade with the decay of light, his are to be seen as it were in greater vividness, and like phosphoric beams shining through the darkness of the air. Of the kind of varnish for which Apelles has been so commended by Pliny, we appear to have no idea since the revival of the art, or if, indeed, we at all possess it, we must confess our obligations to Coreggio. Some there have been who could have liked more delicacy in his flesh tints; but every one must allow, that according to the age and the subjects he had to deal with, he has succeeded in varying them admirably, impressing them at the same time with something so soft, so juicy, and so full of life, as to appear like the truth itself.
But his grand and mastering quality, his crowning triumph and distinction above all other artists known to us, is his thorough knowledge of lights and shades. Like nature herself he does not present objects to us with the same force of light, but varied according to the surfaces, oppositions, and distances; it flows in a gradation insensibly increasing and diminishing, a distinction essential in aërial perspective, in which he is so great, and contributing finely to the general harmony. He observed the same principle in his shades, representing the reflection of colour upon each, in so delicate a degree, that though using them so abundantly, his shadows are always varied like nature's, never monotonous. This quality is eminently conspicuous in his night-piece in the Dresden gallery;[24] and in his Magdalen, there seen reposing in a cave; a small picture it is true, but estimated in the purchase at twenty-seven thousand crowns. By the use of his chiaroscuro he not only gave superior softness and rotundity to his forms, but displayed a taste in the whole composition, such as had never been witnessed before. He disposed the masses of his lights and shades with an art, purely natural in its foundation, but in the selection and effect altogether ideal. And he arrived at this degree of perfection by the very same path pursued by Michelangiolo, availing himself of models in clay and wax, the remains of some of which are said to have been found in the cupola at Parma not many years ago. It is also currently reported, that while employed in that city, he engaged the assistance of the famous modeller Begarelli, whom he conducted thither at his own expense.
Though excellent in all, in other portions of his art he cannot be pronounced equally excellent. His conceptions were good, but occasionally they betrayed a want of unity, representing as he did one and the same story in different parts. Thus in the fable of Marsyas, in the Palazzo Litta at Milan, his contest with Apollo, Minerva consigning him over to punishment, and the punishment itself, are distributed into separate groups. The same kind of repetition will, I think, be found in the story of Leda, executed for Charles V. in which the swan is twice brought into view, proceeding by degrees to familiarize himself with her charms, until in the third group he wholly possesses her. In fact his inventions, for the most part, are like the strains of Anacreon, in which the young loves, and in sacred themes the angels, are introduced under the most agreeable forms and actions. Thus in the picture of S. George, they are seen sporting about the sword and helmet of the saint; and in S. Jerome an angel is engaged in shewing our Lord the book of that great doctor of our holy church, while another is holding under his nose the uncovered vase of ointment belonging to the Magdalen. Of his powers of composition we have a proof in the execution of the cupola, already so highly commended, in which it appears as if the architecture had been formed for the effect of the painting, so admirably is this last adapted, and not the production for the place. He was fond of contrasts, no less in whole figures than their parts; but he never arbitrarily affected them, or carried them to the extravagant degree we have since beheld, in violation of all decorum and truth. In force of expression, more particularly upon tenderer subjects, he stands, perhaps, without a rival or an example; such is his Magdalen just alluded to, as she is seen bending to kiss the feet of the Holy Child, with a countenance and action expressive of all the different beauties, scattered over the works of many other artists, a sentiment more fully expressed by Mengs: of this picture we may truly say with Catullus, "Omnibus una omnes surripuit Veneres." Grief was a passion likewise depicted by him with singular power; admirably varied according to circumstances in his Dead Christ at Parma, most heartfelt in that of the Magdalen, profound in the Virgin, and in a middling degree in the other female face. And though we do not meet with many examples of a loftier cast, still he could depict the fiercer passions with sufficient power, as witness the Martyrdom of S. Placidus, in which piece an executioner is so nobly drawn, that Domenichino avowedly imitated it in his celebrated picture of S. Agnes.
Finally the costume of his sacred history-pieces is deficient in nothing we could desire; though in his fables, indeed, he might have improved it, by adhering, like Raffaello and the moderns, more closely to the ancients. Thus in his Leda he has represented Juno in the guise of an elderly lady, full of spite and jealousy, secretly beholding the stolen embraces of her lord. She approaches in nothing to the antique, either in her countenance or in her symbols, and hence in the usual interpretations she is considered as a mere cypher. In the fable of Marsyas, he bears no resemblance to the Faun; Minerva has no Ægis, nor any other of her usual attributes; while Apollo is endued neither with the limbs nor aspect which are awarded him at this day; and so far from boasting of his lyre, he plays upon a violin. Here again we might adduce a fresh argument for Coreggio having never visited Rome, where even artists of mediocrity, instructed in a knowledge of the antique, knew how to avoid similar errors. In him, however, they are scarcely blemishes, and rather flattering to the name of Coreggio, inasmuch as they serve more fully to convince us that he partakes not the glory of his sovereign style with many masters or many assistants, standing great and alone. Regarded in this view he appears indeed something more than mortal; and in his presence, as Annibal Caracci truly wrote, Parmigianino and others of his rank seem to shrink into nothing.[25] But the productions of this great master are daily becoming more rare in Italy, such are the prices offered, such is the eagerness of strangers to obtain them, and the esteem in which he is held. We are still consoled for their loss by several ancient copies, more especially of his smaller pictures, such as the Marriage of S. Catherine, the Reposing Magdalen, the Young Man's Escape, pieces already mentioned; but to which we may add his Christ praying in the Garden, placed in the Escurial, and his Zingherina, the Gipsey Girl, in the gallery at Dresden. The most estimable among the old copies are by Schidone, Lelio da Novellara, Girolamo da Carpi, and by the Caracci, who, by dint of copying Coreggio's pieces, approached very nearly the style of the originals; though more in point of design than in skill and delicacy of colouring.