Bishop Saint in Bust-Length (Cartoon for an Altarpiece)
Medium
Brush and brown wash over black chalk
Dimensions
28-1/4 x 16-1/16 in. (71.8 x 40.8 cm)
Classification
Drawings
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Van Day Truex Fund, 1995
Accession Number
1995.306
Tags
Art Historical Context
Step into the refined world of Mannerism with *Bishop Saint in Bust-Length (oon for an Altarp)* by Parmigianino (Giamo Francesco Maria Mazzola a virtuoso of the Italian Renaissance. Created around 1529–1530, this imposing drawing captures a solemn bishop saint in bust form, likely intended as a preparatory cartoon full-scale design transferred to panel or fresco for a church altarpiece. At 28¼ x 16⅛ inches, its monumental scale underscores its role in grand religious commissions. Parmigianino, active in Bologna during this period after the Sack of Rome disrupted artistic centers, employed bla...
About the Artist
Parmigianino (Girolamo Francesco Maria Mazzola) · 1503–1540
Girolamo Francesco Maria Mazzola, known as Parmigianino, was born on January 11, 1503, in Parma, into a family of artists. The eighth child of painter Filippo Mazzola and Donatella Abbati, he lost his father to the plague at age two and was raised by his uncles, Michele and Pier Ilario Mazzola, modestly talented painters who taught him the techniques of the craft. By his late teens, Parmigianino d...