_Correggio_ (Parmese: 1494-1534). _See under_ 10.
"Then came Jesus forth, wearing the crown of thorns, and the purple
robe. And Pilate saith unto them, _Behold the Man!_"--_Ecce Homo!_
(John xix. 5). Over the domain of tragedy Correggio--with his pretty
grace and sentimentality--had little sway. In this respect he has
been called "the Rossini of painting. The melodies of the _Stabat
Mater_ are the exact analogues in music of Correggio's voluptuous
renderings of grave or mysterious motives" (Symonds: _Renaissance_,
iii. 248). Thus here it is rather a not-unpleasant feeling of grief
than any profound sense of sorrow or resignation that the painter
expresses; but within these limits the picture is a very effective
one. "The features of Christ express pain without being in the least
disfigured by it. How striking is the holding out of the fettered
hands, as if to say, 'Behold, these are bound for you!' The Virgin
Mary, who, in order to see her son, has held by the balustrade which
separates him from her, sinks with grief into the arms of Mary
Magdalene. Her lips still seem to tremble, but the corners of the mouth
are already fixed, it is involuntarily open; the arched eyelids are on
the point of covering the closing eyes; the hands with which she has
held fast let go the balustrade" (Waagen: _Treasures of Art in Great
Britain_, i. 327). To the right is a Roman soldier, robust and rugged,
yet with a touch of pity in his look; whilst to the left, standing just
within the judgment hall, is Pilate, the Roman proconsul, with a mild
look of self-satisfaction on his face--as of the man who "washed his
hands" of the affair and left the populace to do with Christ as they
would.
This picture (which is supposed to have been painted in 1521)
was formerly in the possession of the Counts Prati of Parma, and
subsequently in the Colonna Palace at Rome. It was purchased of the
Colonna family by Sir Simon Clarke, who, finding it impossible to
take it out of Italy, sold it to Murat, then King of Naples. It was
purchased, as already related, with No. 10 by Lord Londonderry in 1834.