Antonio Allegri da Correggio, his life, his friends, and his time . irelyobviated by painting a cornice, instead ofmaking use of the actual one. We are bound to confess that we can-not give that unqualified praise to thefigures themselves which many of Cor-reggios admirers have expressed. Theyare not all equally fine and equally im-pressive. They seem to us the least suc-cessful part of the whole work, and werecall the vision of the Apostles in SanGiovanni Evangelista with a feeling ofregret. The most singular feature of the workis that the nude forms are modelled withthe masters accustomed so
Antonio Allegri da Correggio, his life, his friends, and his time . irelyobviated by painting a cornice, instead ofmaking use of the actual one. We are bound to confess that we can-not give that unqualified praise to thefigures themselves which many of Cor-reggios admirers have expressed. Theyare not all equally fine and equally im-pressive. They seem to us the least suc-cessful part of the whole work, and werecall the vision of the Apostles in SanGiovanni Evangelista with a feeling ofregret. The most singular feature of the workis that the nude forms are modelled withthe masters accustomed sobriety, whereasthe attitudes and draperies have becomeconfused and extravagant. In some passages, indeed, repose anddignity are set at noufrht. The nude con- °the cupola of the catheural at ^ ^ PARMA, BY CORREGGIO. tours appear through the involved and tumultuous lines of the abundant draperies in portions too small toenable the eye of the spectator to grasp the attitude, which is furtherobscured by the exigencies of foreshortening. This defect is more. :6o ANTONIO DA CORREGGIO especially noticeable in the single figures. Distributing the twelvefigures in eight compartments, the painter was compelled to place eightin groups of two, leaving the remaining four to appear separately ; andthis, indeed, explains the more confused and involved treatment of thelatter : the space they occupy being filled in the former case by two figures, the artist hadless scope for energeticmovement, and a cer-tain reticence in poseand drapery was en-forced by this limita-tion of the the groups,therefore, we shallfind much to admire ;for instance, the twoApostles who look up-ward, holding eachother by the hand, andthe Apostle who isseen in profile, advanc-ing in a dignified atti-tude, his right handextended, followed byan old companion, witharms outstretched. But though, whileadmitting their impet-uous grandeur, both oftype and technique, we cannot give unqualified praise to thesefigures,
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