The ''Bardi Altarpiece'' ( it, Pala di Bardi), is an

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

Mannerist Mannerism, which may also be known as Late Renaissance, is a style in European art that emerged in the later years of the Italian High Renaissance around 1520, spreading by about 1530 and lasting until about the end of the 16th century in Italy, ...

painting by the

Italian painter Following is a list of Italian painters (in alphabetical order) who are notable for their art. A *Niccolò dell'Abbate (1509/12–1571) *Giuseppe Abbati (1836–1868) *Angiolo Achini (1850–1930) *Pietro Adami (c. 1730) *Livio Agresti (1508 ...

Parmigianino Girolamo Francesco Maria Mazzola (11 January 150324 August 1540), also known as Francesco Mazzola or, more commonly, as Parmigianino (, , ; "the little one from Parma"), was an Italian Mannerist painter and printmaker active in Florence, Rome, Bo ...

, dating from c. 1521 and housed in the church of Santa Maria at

Bardi, Emilia-Romagna Bardi ( egl, Bàrdi) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Parma in the Italian region Emilia-Romagna, located about west of Bologna and about southwest of Parma, in the upper Ceno valley at the confluence of the rivers Ceno and Nov ...

, Italy.

History

In 1521

Parma Parma (; egl, Pärma, ) is a city in the northern Italian region of Emilia-Romagna known for its architecture, Giuseppe Verdi, music, art, prosciutto (ham), Parmigiano-Reggiano, cheese and surrounding countryside. With a population of 198,292 ...

was invaded by the imperial-papal troops under

Prospero Colonna Prospero Colonna (1452–1523), sometimes referred to as Prosper Colonna, was an Italian condottiero in the service of the Papal States, the Holy Roman Empire, and the Kingdom of Spain during the Italian Wars. Biography A member of the ancient ...

, in the course of the

Italian Wars The Italian Wars, also known as the Habsburg–Valois Wars, were a series of conflicts covering the period 1494 to 1559, fought mostly in the Italian peninsula, but later expanding into Flanders, the Rhineland and the Mediterranean Sea. The pr ...

. The young Parmigianino, then seventeen, was sent by his family to

Viadana Viadana may refer to: Surname * Lodovico Grossi da Viadana (c. 1560 – 1627), Italian composer, teacher, and Franciscan friar * Gilberto Viadana (born 1973), Italian figure skater Other * Viadana, Lombardy, a town in the province of Mantua, Lom ...

to his cousin's house. According to Italian late Renaissance art biographer

Giorgio Vasari Giorgio Vasari (, also , ; 30 July 1511 – 27 June 1574) was an Italian Renaissance Master, who worked as a painter, architect, engineer, writer, and historian, who is best known for his work ''The Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculpt ...

,Giorgio Vasari, ''Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects'' there Parmigianino painted two tempera panels: ''St. Francis Receiving the Stigmata'' (lost) and the ''Marriage of St. Catherine'', which was placed in the church of San Pietro. The latter was stolen in 1629, during the

War of Mantuan Succession The War of the Mantuan Succession (1628–1631) was a related conflict of the Thirty Years' War, caused by the death in December 1627 of Vincenzo II, last male heir in the direct line of the House of Gonzaga and ruler of the duchies of Mantua ...

, and brought to

. Later, in unknown circumstances, it was transferred to the current location in Bardi, a town near Parma: here, in 1860, members of the Academy of Fine Arts of Parma recognized as by Parmigianino, although the identification remained disputed until the 1930s.

Description

The work depicts the

mystical marriage of Saint Catherine The mystical marriage of Saint Catherine (or "Mystic") covers two different subjects in Christian art arising from visions received by either Catherine of Alexandria or Catherine of Siena (1347–1380), in which these virgin saints went through a ...

of Alexandria, set a in a fake niche with a colonnade surmounting the background curved wall. The scheme is that of the

Holy Conversation In art, a (; plural: ''sacre conversazioni''), meaning holy (or sacred) conversation, is a genre developed in Italian Renaissance painting, with a depiction of the Virgin and Child (the Virgin Mary with the infant Jesus) amidst a group of saint ...

. In the middle is the Virgin sitting on a tall throne, above a historiated section of column (decorated with a barely visible putto), giving the Child to St. Catherine, on the left, who receives the symbolic marriage ring. At the sides are two saints, St. John the Evangelist (with a chalice full of snakes, a hint to his alleged miraculous discovery and healing of a poisoned drink) and St. John the Baptist, who holds his typical attributed, a tall and slim cross. Catherine's attributed are shown in the low foreground, including a broken wheel and the martyrdom palm.

References

{{Parmigianino Paintings of the Madonna and Child by Parmigianino 1521 paintings

Paintings depicting John the Baptist Paintings in Emilia-Romagna Bardi, Emilia-Romagna Altarpieces Snakes in art