Lucretia

probably c. 1539 · Drawing

Oplysninger

1538
The Parma Cathedral commission goes to others
Parmigianino had probably hoped to succeed Correggio in the church's favour, but in April 1538 the decoration of the apse and choir of Parma Cathedral was entrusted first to Giorgio Gandini del Grano and then to his kinsman Girolamo Bedoli.
1539
Jailed for breach of contract
Absorbed in alchemy (Vasari says the elegant, handsome man turned into a bearded, unkempt, almost savage recluse), the artist did little work in the church, and the Steccata confraternity, which had paid him in advance, had him imprisoned for two months. Released on his promise to finish the work, he again failed to keep it and fled Parma for the small town of Casalmaggiore.
5 August 1540
Illness and will at Casalmaggiore
Falling ill, possibly with malaria, the artist made his will: he named as heirs three underage servants, perhaps also his studio assistants, left 100 scudi to his sister Ginevra, and asked to be buried in the Servite church of La Fontana near Casalmaggiore, naked with a cross on his chest. Vasari gives the cause of death now as a severe fever, now as poisoning by the mercury he used in his alchemical experiments.
24. august 1540
Died