Lot Essay
As Popham pointed out, this drawing relates fairly closely to the right hand canephori in the vault of Santa Maria della Steccata, Parma, but with differences in the drapery and the design of the amphora. Other drawings related to the canephori are in the Uffizi, Galleria Nazionale Parma, the Albertina, the Louvre and elsewhere, A.E. Popham, op. cit., under no. 228.
Parmigianino's commission to decorate the church began on 10 May 1531 when he received 400 scudi d'oro for the work which he promised to finish in eighteen months. Parmigianino's inexperience encouraged him to underestimate the time needed to complete the project. Little had been done by 27 September 1535 when a new contract was drawn up and the artist undertook to finish the frescoes within two years. He was given a final extension to 26 August 1539 by which date the huge fresco in the apse had not even been begun, although much of the rest of the decoration was finished. The members of the Confraternity, tired of Parmigianino's dilatoriness, had him imprisoned. Released after a short period, presumably after a promise to refund the money advanced, Parmigianino went to the Steccata and defaced part of his frescoes in revenge. He fled to Casalmaggiore outside the jurisdiction of Parma. The commission for the frescoes in the apse was offered to Giulio Romano and finally carried out by Anselmi following Giulio's designs.
The canephori are painted at the base of the vault; in the fresco they hold lamps, the attributes of the Wise Virgins. As nowhere in the drawings are the canephori shown holding lamps, Popham suggests that the patrons may have insisted on them to justify pagan figures in a church. Although inspired by classical sources such as the Borghese relief of the Dancers now in the Louvre, the figures suggest a knowledge of the woman in Raphael's Fire in the Borgo
Parmigianino's commission to decorate the church began on 10 May 1531 when he received 400 scudi d'oro for the work which he promised to finish in eighteen months. Parmigianino's inexperience encouraged him to underestimate the time needed to complete the project. Little had been done by 27 September 1535 when a new contract was drawn up and the artist undertook to finish the frescoes within two years. He was given a final extension to 26 August 1539 by which date the huge fresco in the apse had not even been begun, although much of the rest of the decoration was finished. The members of the Confraternity, tired of Parmigianino's dilatoriness, had him imprisoned. Released after a short period, presumably after a promise to refund the money advanced, Parmigianino went to the Steccata and defaced part of his frescoes in revenge. He fled to Casalmaggiore outside the jurisdiction of Parma. The commission for the frescoes in the apse was offered to Giulio Romano and finally carried out by Anselmi following Giulio's designs.
The canephori are painted at the base of the vault; in the fresco they hold lamps, the attributes of the Wise Virgins. As nowhere in the drawings are the canephori shown holding lamps, Popham suggests that the patrons may have insisted on them to justify pagan figures in a church. Although inspired by classical sources such as the Borghese relief of the Dancers now in the Louvre, the figures suggest a knowledge of the woman in Raphael's Fire in the Borgo