“Self-portrait in a convex mirror”, the picture was painted by the artist Parmigianino at the age of twenty. Portrait size, diameter 24.5 cm, wood, oil. In 1524, at the insistence of his guardians, Parmigianino arrived at the Vatican’s smoke in Rome, where he was introduced to the newly elected Pope Clement VII.
In order to present his mastery, the artist presented several paintings to the head of the Catholic Church, including the famous “Self-portrait in a raised mirror”, in which he brilliantly solved a rather complicated perspective task, eventually giving his image an almost “surrealistic” look. In this portrait the young artist demonstrated the skill of performing unusual spatial effects on a plane, the uniqueness and complexity of his picture.
Parmigianino was born in Parma on January 11, 1503, the real name and surname of Francesco Mazzola. About the parents of the future artist virtually nothing is known, except that they died early. An orphaned boy was taken in by his father’s relatives, little-known but well-known painters in their art. Apparently, the initial course of the young Parmigianino passed under their leadership. With his “spiritual mentor” – Correggio – Parmigianino got the opportunity to meet only in 1519, when he worked in Parma on the frescoes of the monastery of San Paolo.
In 1522, nineteen-year-old Francesco Mazzola had already reached such heights in his art that he was entrusted with an order for several frescoes for the Parma church of San Giovanni Evangelista. If you believe the historian of painters Giorgio Vasari, then Parmigianino arrived in Rome, accompanied by one of his guardians, and with him came to the Pope.
Pope Clement VII, having seen the pictures brought by the young man, showed him many favors, and literally the next day the rumor about the “little Parmesan” spread throughout the city. Those who saw his work said that the spirit of Raphael “settled into the artist,” because it seemed surprising to even the romans that such high skill in such a young artist.
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