Horses
Parmigianino (Girolamo Francesco Maria Mazzola) Italian
Formerly attributed to Francesco Allegrini Italian
Not on view
Previously assigned to a seventeenth-century Italian artist, Francesco Allegrini, the sheet has been reattributed, based on stylistic considerations, to a major artist who lived more than a century earlier. The handling of the pen and the anatomical type of the horses are entirely characteristic of Parmigianino. Parmigianino's experience with the etcher's needle -he was among the first Italian artists to make etchings - led to a very controlled, incisive use of pen in his late drawings, especially those he made after he returned to Parma around 1530. This late technique is nicely exemplified by the Museum's sheet. Parmigianino is best known for his Mannerist imagery, in particular, his fantastic elongations: a horse with an unusually long neck in one of his pictures was mistakenly described in an old inventory as a giraffe. A prolific draftsman, he also drew after life, as seems to have been the case with the present study.
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