Parmigianino Analysis

The painter Parmigianino, in his art piece, Madonna with the long neck, captures a fused narrative that comes from another art piece, “Vision of Saint Jerome”. The piece portrays the virgin Mary holding a young baby Christ. The piece is an oil painting that measures 7 by 4 feet, and was created between the years of 1534 through 1540. Unfortunately the piece was never finished because the artist became deceased.

The painting holds eight subjects. From left to right there stands a group of young spectators. An androgynous individual that stands in front of the group while raising a jar. It is said that he represents Saint John the baptist. These subject are gazing towards the center of the painting, where the virgin Mary is holding baby Christ on her lap. It is not quite clear what she is sitting on. At the bottom of the piece, she rests her feet above some pillows. On the edge of the right side of the piece, a man stands in the distance holding a scroll. He is the smallest subject painted in comparison to the rest. This man is believed to be a foreteller of sorts or Saint …show more content…
Catholicism was the only institution that that idolized and worshiped holy subject matters through lavishing art pieces and architecture. The time period in which the piece began to be fabricated, is an important one as well, because it marks the beginning of the Mannerist art movement. This means that artist began to stray away from Renaissance ideals and began to develop an untouched style. One can see Mannerist characteristics in Parmigianino's pieces from the way he portrays his subjects. In contrast to showing anatomically correct humans, Parmigianino exaggerates the length of their limbs and disregards the universal laws of perspective. Again, borrowing from the high renaissance, he proceeds to capture dynamism while he captures his subjects in figura serpentinata