Three Feminine Heads

1521

Sent to Viadana to escape the war

To keep him safe from the war between the French, Imperial and papal armies, Francesco was sent to Viadana together with the painter Girolamo Bedoli, who would later marry his cousin. There he painted two tempera panels: “Saint Francis” for the church of the Frati de' Zoccoli and “The Mystical Marriage of Saint Catherine” for San Pietro.

21 November 1522

Works alongside Correggio at San Giovanni Evangelista

From at least 21 November 1522 Parmigianino is documented at the church of San Giovanni Evangelista in Parma together with Correggio, Francesco Maria Rondani and Michelangelo Anselmi. In the dome he painted at least one putto, livelier and more impetuous than Correggio's, and around 1522–1523 he frescoed two side chapels.

summer 1524

Travels to Rome with his uncles

According to Vasari, on hearing Raphael and Michelangelo praised, Francesco longed to see Rome; his uncles approved and advised him to take some of his works to open doors to the lords and artists there. They arrived in Rome in the summer of 1524, and Parmigianino presented several paintings to Pope Clement VII, among them the “Self-Portrait in a Convex Mirror” painted on a wooden hemisphere.

1524–1527

Joins the circle of Raphael's pupils

In Rome Parmigianino grew close to Raphael's pupils working in the Vatican — Perino del Vaga, Baldassarre Peruzzi and Polidoro da Caravaggio — as well as Sebastiano del Piombo and Rosso Fiorentino; he copied the frescoes of Raphael's Stanze and the tapestry cartoons made for the Sistine Chapel. Vasari records that in Rome he was celebrated as “a Raphael reborn”.