TWO ROOMS IN PARMA

Giovanna da Piacenza, Abbess of the Benedictine convent of San Paolo in Parma (a position that ran in her mother's family,) a free-thinking modern woman in her mid 30's, commissioned Alessandro Araldi in 1514 to decorate this room, one of six that made up her private apartment, in the fashionable grotesque style. 

The writhing complexity of Araldi's scheme, full of scrolling vines, fantastic animals and lively cherubs holding up classical panel paintings (as described by the ancient texts that Giovanna and her enlightened circle read so deeply) little prepares you for the next room, probably her dining room, which Correggio painted just five years later, in 1519.

The lunettes here are painted in grisaille trompe l'oeil, as miniature sculpture groups in niches lit from the lamplight of the room below, their compositions taken from the reverses of ancient Roman coins, each image representing some virtue admired by the patroness. Below this, Roman sacrificial rams' heads form capitals, slung between which are napkins (or veils?) holding up tableware. The vault above is a delicious, light confection: a trellis dome of bamboo tied together with pink sashes in a complex knot, covered in greenery through which appear frolicking groups of children. 

The fireplace seems unrelated to the scheme: it's hard to believe that Diana in her chariot was part of such a carefully organised, illusionistic scheme. The interesting, bold geometric floor is certainly newer: the room must originally have had exquisite Renaissance tiles. A great scandal erupted soon after the rooms were decorated (not helped by their profane iconography,) with the church fighting Giovanna's family for control of the place. The rooms were sealed in 1524 when Giovanna died, and the convent became a closed order. As a result Correggio's work was unknown until it was 'discovered' by the artist Mengs in 1774.