Heads of the Blessing Christ and Four Angels
after Correggio (Correggio c.1489 – Correggio 1534)
Category
Art / Oil paintings
Date
1600 - 1699
Materials
Oil on canvas
Measurements
591 x 691 mm (23 1/4 x 27 1/4 in)
Order this imageCollection
Attingham Park, Shropshire
NT 609076
Caption
Traditionally this picture was thought to be a copy of a detail of Correggio's destroyed fresco of The Coronation of the Virgin, which was once in the apse of San Giovanni Evangelista, Parma. A copy of the fresco was painted immediately after its destruction by Cesare Aretusi, reputedly from partial copies made by Agostino and Annibale Carracci. Annibale Carracci wrote to his cousin Lodovico from Parma on 28 April 1580, to say that he was copying “heads” by Correggio in the “cupola” (dome). However, the figure of Christ in the centre of this painting is quite different to that shown in the fresco, which implies that this is a pastiche rather than a copy. The angels to the left, however, match exactly the various copies of the fresco. The picture appears to be seventeenth century, of a distinctive, but unrecognisable hand.
Summary
Oil painting on canvas, Heads of the Blessing Christ and Four Angels after Correggio (Correggio c.1489 – Correggio 1534), 17th century. Study of five heads, the central figure of Christ turned three-quarters to right gazing upwards, his right hand raised in benediction; one head to his right, three heads to his left. Said to be a copy of a detail of Correggio's destroyed fresco of The Coronation of the Virgin, which was once in the apse of San Giovanni Evangelista, Parma, but was destroyed as early as 1586.
Provenance
Mentioned in 3rd Lord Berwick’s bill of lading [? Naples 1833]; in 1847 inventory; bequeathed to the National Trust in 1947 with the estate, house and contents of Attingham by Thomas Henry Noel-Hill, 8th Baron Berwick (1877-1947) on 15th May 1953.
Credit line
Attingham Park, The Berwick Collection (National Trust)
Marks and inscriptions
Verso: L.I.p.c.3. (written on back of unlined canvas) Verso: Written on back of relined canvas: L.I.p.c.3 Written on back: Taken from Red Drawing Room 14-12-16 EVB
Makers and roles
after Correggio (Correggio c.1489 – Correggio 1534), artist