Jameson, Anna: Memoirs of the early Italian painters, and of the progress of painting in Italy: from Cimabue to Bassano; in 2 volumes (vol. 2) (London: Charles Knight & Co., 1845)

PARMIGIANO.

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which have rendered many of his works unpleasing,
by giving the impression of effort, and of what in
art is called mannerism. Ambitious, versatile,
accomplished, generally admired for his handsome
person and graceful manners, Parmigiano would
have been spoiled by vanity, if he had not been a
man of strong sensibility and of almost fastidious
sentiment and refinement; when these are added
to genius, the result is generally a tinge of that
melancholy, of that dissatisfaction with all that is
achieved or acquired, which seem to have entered
largely into the temperament of this painter, ren-
dering his character and life extremely interesting,
while it strongly distinguishes him from the se-
renely mild and equal-tempered Raphael, to whom
he was afterwards compared.
When Parmigiano was in his twentieth year, he
set off for Rome. The recent accession of Cle-
ment VII., a declared patron of art, and the death
of Raphael, had opened a splendid vista of glory
and success to his imagination. He carried with
him to Rome three pictures. One of these was an
example of his graceful genius ; it represented the
Infant Christ seated on his mother’s knee, and
taking some fruit from the lap of an angel. The
second was a proof of his wonderful dexterity of
hand: it was a portrait of himself seated in his
atelier amid his books and musical instruments;
but the whole scene represented on the panel as if