"Jupiter and Io," Antonio de Correggio, 1520-40.

Correggio (1489-1534) was an Italian High Renaissance painter known for his very sensual and suggestive works, and for prefiguring the Baroque style. Despite his rather louche reputation, he also did a large number of religious works.

This particular work was one of a series of paintings that interpreted various liaisons of the god Jupiter, as taken from Ovid's "Metamorphises," and all were quite sensual and erotic. They were commissioned by Frederico II of Gonzaga, then ruler of Mantua, but were given to the Holy Roman Emperor, possibly under duress.

The image is unabashedly erotic, to the point that later artists would sometimes paint a miniature version in a room to indicate that the owner was a prostitute or other person of loose morals.

Correggio died young; reportedly he was a lonely, introverted man; little is known of his early life or training, and there are no records of a marriage or children. The passionate sensuality of his works hint at quite an inner life, though.

From the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna.

#Art #AntonioDeCorreggio #Mythology #Io #Sensual #Eroticism #Mannerism #WomenInArt

End wall of the Stanza del Cane, Paolo Veronese (1560 - 1561), https://etidiohnew.blogspot.com/2026/05/end-wall-of-stanza-del-cane-paolo.html

#art #fresco #mannerism

The Conversion Of St Paul, Parmigianino (1527 - 1528), https://etidiohnew.blogspot.com/2026/05/the-conversion-of-st-paul-parmigianino.html

#art #paintings #mannerism

"Portrait of a Young Man," Agnolo Bronzino, 1530s.

Bronzino (1503-72) was one of the greats of the Italian Mannerist style, which featured exaggerated proportions, asymmetrical arrangements, and a sort of unnatural elegance.

His best-known works are his portraits and some of his allegorical or religious works, some of which scholars are still arguing about centuries later; he never made things particularly clear.

This is one of his more naturalistic works. The young man, unidentified, stands with his finger in a book; experts believe it to be a book of poetry. He seems almost annoyed, as if we're interrupting his reading. One of his eyes is out of alignment as well, an interesting little detail.

The painting tells us more about the man's status than anything else; he's obviously wealthy, and perhaps a bit full of himself. But the presence of several masklike faces here and there, including the folds of his clothes, seem to hint that his own demeanor is a mask.

Happy Portrait Monday!

From the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

#Art #AgnoloBronzino #Mannerism #PortraitMonday

"Spring," Giuseppe Arcimboldo, 1563.

Arcimboldo (1527-93) is an Italian Mannerist painter best known for his surreal still lifes that form faces. These are felt today to be mostly novelties meant to amuse, but they're the work that has survived.

Very little of his more conventional work has been found, and most of it is, well, very conventional. Unremarkable, even. He saved all his creative energy for things like this.

Honestly, I'd like to give him credit for being a surrealist before surrealism was a thing. Here we have Spring, a woman made up completely of flowers and leaves, with lips of rose petals. What could be more appropriate?

It seems more suited for Flower Friday than Portrait Monday, but heck, it's a portrait of a season, isn't it?

Happy Portrait Monday!

From the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando, Madrid.

#Art #Mannerism #GiuseppeArcimboldo #PortraitMonday #ProtoSurrealism #Spring

Crowning with Thorns, Titian (c.1570 - c.1575), https://etidiohnew.blogspot.com/2026/02/crowning-with-thorns-titian-c1570-c1575.html

#arts #paintings #mannerism #titian