Lucretia (Parmigianino)

Painting by Parmigianino

Lucretia (1540) by Parmigianino

Lucretia is an oil on panel painting of Lucretia by Parmigianino, from 1540. It was originally in the Farnese collection, and now is held in the Museo nazionale di Capodimonte, in Naples.

## History

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It is usually linked to "a canvas of Roman Lucretia, which was almost divine and one of the best works seen from his hand" mentioned in Vasari's Lives of the Artists as Parmigianino's final work, adding that at the time of writing "it has been stolen and nobody knows where it is".

Its late dating is confirmed by its similarities to The Wise and Foolish Virgins (Madonna della Steccata in Parma). There are several early or contemporary copies, one in the Doblyn collection in Dublin, one in Hungary, one in the Uffizi and one which came onto the art market in 1986.[1]

A painting of Lucretia was recorded in prince Ranuccio I Farnese's collections at the end of the 16th century, but Barri's 1670 description of the ducal palace mentions two paintings of Lucretia by Parmigianino, one in the Audience Chamber and one in the "Camera degli Amoretti". The second is now lost but was a full-length work, probably painted for Giovanni Antonio da Vezzani, as recorded by Da Erba in 1572. Its composition survives in an Enea Vico print inscribed "F. V./FRAN. PAR/INVENTOR" and a drawing with variants attributed to Parmigianino.[2]

Damaged in the past, the Naples work was attributed to Pellegrino Tibaldi by Bodmer (1939), to Girolamo Mazzola Bedoli by Frizzoni (1884), Ricci (1894), Testi (1908), De Rinaldis (1911), Freedberg (1950), Fagiolo dell'Arco (1970) and Mildstein (1978). Arturo Quintavalle (1948), Carlo Briganti (1945), Ferdinando Bologna (1946), Roberto Longhi (1958), la Ghidiglia Quintavalle (1971) and Leone de Castris (1994) support its status as an autograph work by Parmigianino, as did Di Giampaolo after its final restoration (1997).

## References

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1. ^ Sotheby's, 10.10.1896 n. 25
2. ^ National Gallery of Art, b-25, 839

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Parmigianino

Paintings|

* Baptism of Christ (c. 1519)
* Bardi Altarpiece (c. 1521)
* Adoration of the Shepherds (c. 1521–1522)
* Nativity (c. 1521–1522)
* The Circumcision (c. 1523)
* Saint Barbara (c. 1523)
* Female Martyr with Two Angels (c. 1523–1524)
* Portrait of Galeazzo Sanvitale (1524)
* Portrait of Lorenzo Cybo (1524)
* Sanvitale Madonna and Child (1524; fragment)
* Mystic Marriage of Saint Catherine (Parma; c. 1524)
* Portrait of a Collector (c. 1524)
* Self-Portrait in a Convex Mirror (c. 1524)
* Holy Family with Angels (c. 1524)
* Doria Madonna (c. 1525)
* Nativity with Angels (c. 1525)
* Vision of Saint Jerome (1526–1527)
* The Conversion of Saint Paul (1527)
* Virgin and Child (c. 1527–1528)
* Holy Family with the Infant Saint John the Baptist (c. 1528)
* Saint Roch (c. 1528)
* Adoration of the Magi (c. 1529)
* Man Holding a Book (c. 1529)
* Kedleston Madonna (c. 1529)
* Santa Margherita Madonna (1529–1530)
* Madonna of the Rose (1530)
* Boy with a Finger in His Mouth (c. 1530)
* Madonna and Child with Saint Zechariah (c. 1530–1533)
* Turkish Slave (1533)
* Mystic Marriage of Saint Catherine (London; c. 1529)
* Mystic Marriage of Saint Catherine (Louvre; c. 1529)
* Portrait of a Man (c. 1530)
* Portrait of Cecilia Gozzadini (c. 1530)
* Antea (c. 1535)
* Cupid Making His Bow (c. 1533–1535)
* Portrait of Pier Maria Rossi di San Secondo (c. 1535–1538)
* Madonna with the Long Neck (c. 1535–1540)
* Portrait of Camilla Gonzaga and Her Three Sons (c. 1539–1540; disputed)
* Lucretia (1540)
* Casalmaggiore Altarpiece (1540)
* Portrait of a Man in a Red Beret (c. 1540; disputed)

Related|

* Rocca Sanvitale, Fontanellato
* Sanctuary of Santa Maria della Steccata
* San Giovanni Evangelista, Parma
* San Petronio, Bologna

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