CORREGGIO (AntonioAllegri)
1489/94-1534
15 Christ in Glory
Red chalk, brown and gray wash, and white gouache
heightening on pink ground, circle inscribed in brown
ink, squared in red chalk; H: 14. 5 cm (5^3 / 4 in.); W: 14.6
cm (5^3 / 4 in.)
87.66.9 0
MARKS AND INSCRIPTIONS: None.
PROVENANCE: William, second duke of Devonshire,
Chatsworth; by descent to the current duke (sale, Chris-
tie's, London, July 6, 1987, lot 5).
EXHIBITIONS: Old Master Drawings from Chatsworth,
City Art Gallery, Manchester, July-September 1961, no.
25 ; Old Master Drawings from Chatsworth, National Gal-
lery of Art, Washington, D.C., and other institutions,
1962-63, no. 21 (catalogue by A. E. Popham); Old Mas-
ter Drawings from Chatsworth: A Loan Exhibition from the
Devonshire Collection, Royal Academy of Arts, London,
July-August 1969, no. 21 (catalogue by A. E. Popham);
Old Master Drawings: A Loan from the Collection of the
Duke of Devonshire, Israel Museum, Jerusalem, April-
July 1977, no. 21.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: The Vasari Society for the Reproduction of
Drawings by Old Masters (Oxford, 1908-09), ist ser., 4,
no. 16; A. Venturi, Correggio (Rome, 1926), pp. 435, n.
2; 591; idem, Storia delVarte italiana. Vol. IX: Lapittura del
cinquecento (Milan, 1926), pt. 2, p. 603, n. i; C. Ricci,
Correggio (London and New York, 1930), p. 165; A. E.
Popham, Correggio's Drawings (London, 1957), pp. 58;
158, no. 44; A. Ghidiglia Quintavalle, "L'Oratoria della
Concezione a Parma," Paragone 9, no. 103 (July 1958), p.
29 ; S. Zamboni, "Recensioni: Correggio's Drawings,"
Arte antica e moderna 2 (April-June 1958), pp. 194-95;
A. Ghidiglia Quintavalle, Michelangelo Anselmi (Parma,
1960), p. 106; idem, in Arte in Emilia Seconda (Parma,
1962), p. 75, under no. 44; idem, Gli affreschi del Correggio
in San Giovanni Evangelista a Parma (Milan, 1962), p. 32;
English ed. (New York, 1962), p. 41; A. Bevilacqua and
A. C. Quintavalle, Lopera completa del Correggio (Milan,
1970), pp. 112-13, under no. in; C. Gould, The Paint-
ings of Correggio (Ithaca, 1976), pp. 80, 257-58; A. C.
Quintavalle, Tout I'oeuvre peint de Correge (Paris, 1977),
pp. 112-13, under no. in; E. Battisti, "II Correggio e il
Parmigianino," L'abbazia benedettina di San Giovanni
Evangelista a Parma (Parma, 1979), p. 129; D. DeGrazia,
Correggio and His Legacy: Sixteenth-Century Emilian
Drawings, exh. cat. (National Gallery of Art, Washing-
ton, D.C., and Palazzo della Pilotta, Parma, 1984), pp.
94-96, under no. 17; M. di Giampaolo and A. Muzzi,
Correggio: Idisegni (Torino, 1989), no. 51; P. Paolo Men-
dogni, // Correggio a Parma (Parma, 1989), p. 82.
THIS IS ONE OF THREE SURVIVING DRAWINGS BY COR-
reggio for the underside of the entrance arch leading into
the Cappella del Bono in San Giovanni Evangelista,
Parma. The frescoes, executed by assistants and based on
these and—presumably—other designs by Correggio,
show Christ in Glory with The Conversion of Saul to the
east and Saints Peter and John Healing the Cripple to the
west. The Museum's drawing is a preparatory study for
the illusionistic oculus with Christ in Glory. It anticipates
all of the principal details of the fresco but is much more
suggestive atmospherically, thereby enhancing the spa-
tial illusion of the scene. The other two surviving draw-
ings, still at Chatsworth (inv. 762, 763), consist of studies
for the two putti to the right of Christ, supporting a still
empty medallion, and of the other pair of putti holding
the medallion, with a quick sketch of Christ, the latter
fully elaborated in the Getty drawing. The frescoes are
generally dated to 1524, which provides a terminus ante
quern for all related drawings.50 ITALIAN SCHOOL • CORREGGIO