Artist: Anthony Correggio (Antonio Allegri da Correggio) (August 1489 – March 5, 1534)
Title: Madonna of the Basket
Medium: Antique engraving with some etching on laid paper after the original by master engraver Giuseppe Faccioli (Italian, c. 1629 -1709)
Signature: Signed in the plate.
Dimensions: Image Size 10 x 14 1/2 inches.
Framed Dimensions: Approximately 21 x 25 inches.
Framing: This piece has been professionally matted and framed using all new materials.
The Virgin Mary sitting on the ground, leaning on a tree, the semi-clothed Child in her lap, looking to the side; a basket with sewing implements in the bottom right corner; behind them Joseph working, against a background of ruins and architectural elements. Reference: Print after a painting by Correggio called the Madonna of the Basket (Madonna della Cesta), recorded in Spain in 1666 and then England in 1813; now in the National Gallery, London [cat. NG23]. See Gould, 1976, p. 219. Another example of the print can be found in the British Museum.
Antonio Allegri da Correggio usually known as just Correggio was the foremost painter of the Parma school of the High Italian Renaissance, who was responsible for some of the most vigorous and sensuous works of the 16th century. In his use of dynamic composition, illusionistic perspective and dramatic foreshortening, Correggio prefigured the Baroque art of the 17th century and the Rococo art of the 18th century. He is considered a master of chiaroscuro. Antonio Allegri was born in Correggio, a small town near Reggio Emilia. His date of birth is uncertain (around 1489). His father was a merchant. Otherwise little is known about Correggio’s early life or training. It is, however, often assumed that he had his first artistic education from his father’s brother, the painter Lorenzo Allegri.