The Madonna of St. Zachary PARMIGIANINO c. 1530

Parmigianino was an Italian Mannerist [distortion of scale and or ornamentation] painter: 1503-1540; he was also known by his birth name, Girolamo Francesco Mazzola. Born in Parma, he took his professional name from there. He was a precocious artist, and as early as 1522-23 painted accomplished frescoes in two chapels in San Giovanni Evangelista, Parma, showing his admiration for Correggio, who had worked in the same church a year or two before. In 1524 Parmigianino moved to Rome, and his work became both grander and more graceful under the influence of Raphael and Michelangelo. The Vision of St.  Jerome [National Gallery, London, 1526-27] is his most important work of this time, showing the emotional intensity he created with his elongated forms, such as is the hallmark in his Madonna of the Long Neck, the  Uffizi, Florence, c. 1535. We have exhibited this Madonna previously but much prefer the proportions of the above image.

The figures with the Madonna and Child are St. Mary Magdalen with her jar of spices, St. John the Baptist and his father, St. Zachary. Usually one would expect to see at least St. Elizabeth, if not St. Zachary, but instead it is the reverse. There are so few presentable images of this Saint available that we found the painting so much more captivating.


 





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