The Art of Experiment: Parmigianino

An Italian journey – as a blockbuster Donatello show arrives in Florence, this week’s Apollo Art Diary highlights exhibition around the world that trace the story of art in Italy.

The graceful compositions of Girolamo Francesco Maria Mazzola, better known as Parmigianino (1503–40), led to his description by Vasari as ‘Raphael reborn’. He was a relentless and experimental draughtsman – more than 1,000 of his drawings have survived to the present – as well as an innovator in other fields, perhaps the first artist to learn the craft of etching in Italy and an early adopter of the chiaroscuro woodcut technique. This display at the Courtauld Gallery in London (5 March–5 June) presents a group of 22 works on paper from the gallery’s collections, among them a study for his famous Madonna of the Long Neck in the Uffizi. Find out more from the Courtauld’s website.

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Woman seated on the ground, Parmigianino. Courtauld Gallery, London

The Death of Dido (c. 1527), Parmigianino. Courtauld Gallery, London

Woman seated on the ground (the Saint Thaïs etching) (c. 1524–30), Parmigianino. Courtauld Gallery, London

Reclining female figure , Parmigianino. Courtauld Gallery, London