Antonio Allegri da Correggio, his life, his friends, and his time . were governed by anintense perception of pictorial unity. His treatment was furtherinfluenced by his anxiety to give hfe and movement to all his figures, tohave no inert and purposeless character in the drama. In cxpressino-the sentiment ofa conception bythe play of atti-tude and gesturehe has had few-rivals, and thisis the moreremarkable, inthat the art ofhis time soughtbeauty rather inharmony of linesthan in unityof interest. Thenumber of siipcr-muncrarics in-troduced purelyfor effect in thegreat pictures ofthe period isa ch
Antonio Allegri da Correggio, his life, his friends, and his time . were governed by anintense perception of pictorial unity. His treatment was furtherinfluenced by his anxiety to give hfe and movement to all his figures, tohave no inert and purposeless character in the drama. In cxpressino-the sentiment ofa conception bythe play of atti-tude and gesturehe has had few-rivals, and thisis the moreremarkable, inthat the art ofhis time soughtbeauty rather inharmony of linesthan in unityof interest. Thenumber of siipcr-muncrarics in-troduced purelyfor effect in thegreat pictures ofthe period isa characteristicfeature of theage. In Correg-gios work, onthe other hand, MADONNA AND CHILD, WIThI ST. SEBASTIAN AND ST. KOCI!, I-V , ANSELMI. each person has r , p r- n i III the Parma Gallery. his function. St. Joseph is no longer a melancholy and passive intruder; he par-ticipates in the joy of the Virgin ; he gathers fruit for the Child,or plies his trade beside the pair. The angels no longer gazefrom the canvas in rapt and motionless abstraction. They seek V V 2. 348 ANTONIO DA CORREGGIO to divert the Infant Jesus ; they turn the pages of a book for him,offer him fruits, help St. Joseph to draw down the branches of the date-palm, ortether the ass toa tree. Youthfulgenii, scattered injoyous profusionthroughout hiscompositions, arebusily employedin supportingmodels of cities,pastoral staves,books,and mitres;they peer into theMagdalens jar ofointment, or playwith St. Georgesarmour. It is clear thatthis intensity oflife, it-self harmoniouslyin every detail,tends to the production of an emotional, rather than of a technicaleffect ; and therefore, that the artists desire to express his thoughtwas at least equal to his passion for pictorial result. Hence it would seem that criticism has occasionally confusedbeauty and harmony of composition with lircadth and grandeur ofsubject. The themes which agitated the minds of the pontifical court,and suggested the works of Michelan
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