12 IL PARMIGIANINO

Girolamo Francesco Maria Mazzola Bedoli, known as Parmigianino He is considered one of the most important figures of Mannerism. thanks to his elegant and refined figures. From a young age, frequenting the most illustrious courts of central Italy in the sixteenth century, He gained fame for his skill. Born in Parma in 1503 into a family of artists, He arrived in Rome, where he was presented to Pope Clement VII. before going to Bologna and returning to Parma, who died at a young age in 1540. The paintings by Parmigianino in the Capodimonte collections They are all representative of the artist's graceful style. that made him so famous among the patrons throughout central Italy. The elegant figures in the portrait of Galeazzo San Vitale, of Antea and of the Holy Family, They share the artist's taste for elongation. Note their slender fingers that draw our attention on the highly detailed surfaces and textures of each image. The long, sloping shoulders of Galeazzo San Vitale and Antea, just as the Virgin's incredibly long legs bent beneath the voluminous draping of the blue skirt, They are distinctive features of Parmigianino's Mannerist style. Another typical characteristic of Parmigianino They are the enigmatic facial expressions and settings of his subjects. The landscape backgrounds of the Sagrada Famiglia and the portrait of Galeazzo San Vitale They are lush, verdant spaces, perhaps inspired by contemporary Flemish landscapes, impossible to pinpoint geographically with precision. In the same way behind Antea, The flat emerald background disconnects it from a familiar reality. Meanwhile, the impenetrable gazes of the figures were considered fashionable. part of the deliberate artifice characteristic of Mannerist art, so greatly desired by patrons and cultivated courtiers eager for it to show off their good taste.