A BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY OF
seems unnecessary, considering that an esteemed
master like Bartolotii was to be found nearer
home.
But whoever were his early teachers (and other masters besides those named are mentioned), his style seems to have been formed chiefly by the study of Mantegna. It is supposed that he had an opportunity for such study, for it is said he went to M:intua in 1511, at a time when the plague was raging at Correggio, and resided there for some time. Mantegna himself was dead at this time, but at the impressionable period of development such a revelation as tiiat of Mantegna's art could scarcely fail to have a great influence over the otyle of a youthful artist, and Allegri's study of this master doubtless led to that intimate know- ledge of foreshortening and perspective wk'oh he exhibits with so much daring in his great works. Crowe and Cavalcaselle imagine also that he associated with Lorenzo Costa during his stay in Mantua, and derived from him something of his love for colour. This certainly could not have been gained from Mantegna, whose art is severely classic and sculpturesque; but Allegri's use of chiaroscuro, his exquisite modelling, and his gracious manner, if we may so call it, bear so nmch closer affinity to Leonardo da Vinci than to any other master, that it seems almost impossible to doubt that in some way or another he also caught inspiration from him.
However this may be, it is certain that when he came back to Correggio, at about the age of twenty-three, his fame was sufficiently established in his native town for him to receive a commission for an important altar-piece. This altar-piece, — his first authentic picture, — painted in 1514 for the con- vent of San Francesco in Correggio, is now in the Dresden Gallery. It represents the Madonna enthroned, with St. Francis and other Saints, and is listiuguislied by a more solemn religious feeling >lian is observable in his later works. After painting several other altar-pieces and religious subjects in Correggio he received a commission from the lady abbess of the convent of San Paolo, in Parma, to decorate her nunnery witii paintings. He accordingly went to Parma in 1518, and accomplished that lovely series of decorative paintings of mythological subjects that are now reckoned among his most beautiful works, although, strange to say, they remained almost unknown for nearly two centuries.
On his return to Correggio in 1519, after this, his first work in Parma, Allegri married a young girl of sixteen, named Girolama Francesca, daugliter of Baitolomnieo Merlini de Braghelis, arm-bearer to the Marchese of Mantua. She brought her hus- band some small fortune, and before this, in the same year, 1519, he had received a legacy from his maternal uncle, Francesco Ormani, of a house, several acres of land, and other property, "in consideration of important services." His circum- stances tlicrefore could not have been straitened at this time, although, owing to lawsuits and other causes, he did not at once enter upon the posses- sion either of his own or his wife's property. His eldest son, Pomponio, was born on the 3rd of September, 1521, in Correggio, the learned anato- mist Lombard! standing god-father on the occasion of the cliristening.
Allegri, from the time when he was first called to Parma in 1518, appears to have kept up a constant intercourse with that city, and after the birth of his eldest son he went to reside there with his wife, three other children being boin to him while in that city. " We have no trustworthy account," says Dr. Meyer, "of the paintings executed by Allegri, partly in Parma and partly in Correggio, at this time." They were mostly easel pictures, that are now scattered in various galleries and are extremely difiBcult to identify, numerous false works being attributed to this time. Among the genuine ones, however, the 'Madonna kneeling in worship before the Divine Infant,' in the Uffizi, so well known by means of engraving and constant repetition, the ' Madonna della Cesta,' in the National Gallery, and the 'Zingarella, or Jladonna del Coniglio,' at Naples, are generally thought to belong to this period, and to have been suggested by his young wife and child. In 1520 Allegri received a conunission for a far larger work in Parma than any he had hitherto done. This was the painting of the cupola of the church of San Giovanni, for which he entered into a contract with the Benedictines of the convent of San Giovanni, signed on July 6th, 1520. He did not, however, begin the work until about the middle of 1521, and he received the last instalment of the sum paid to him for it on the 23rd of January, 1524, at which date we may conclude that this splendid work was quite finished, for in a document still extant, and in Allegri's own writing, he declares himself to have received "full payment for the remainder of the works completed in the said church," and to be " pleased, satisfied, and fully paid." The ex- act amount of this 'full payment' is soniewhat difficult to determine, although the various sums were found by Pungileoni to have been all entered in the convent books. These amount, when added up, to 272 ducats, and Dr. Meyer is of opinion that Allegri did not receive more than this small sum for his paintings in San Giovanni. Other authorities make it up to 472 ducats. Some of his paintings on the dome of San Giovanni are still in existence, but much ruined by damp and time. Many portions are scattered in galleries. Their subject is the ' Ascension of Christ in the midst of the Apostles,' a subject which gives full play for the painter's marvellous powers. The masterly foreshortening and sense of movement, the brilliancy of the glowing figures, rising as it were from a dark background, have called forth the admiration of all critics.
Allegri's next important work in Parma was the painting the dome of the cathedral, for which he received the commission in 1522, though he did not begin the work till a later date. In the agreement it is specified that he ^hall receive 1000 g(]ld ducats, equal to about £1.500 of our present money ; but numerous difficulties and disagree- ments arose between the chapter of the cathe- dral and thepainter, and, in the end, the latter did not finish more than half of the work stipulated, nor receive more than half the payment. After Allegri's death, indeed, the cathedral laid claim to 140 lire from his heirs on account of some unfinished works in the choir.
But although, as it would seem, Allegri failed to satisfy the cathedral autliorities, h>s paintings in the dome of the cathedral being spoken of disparagingly by contemporary critics as a " mere hash of frogs," these paintings have been the wonder and delight of succeeding generations.
The subject represented in the groat dome is the
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