After Correggio, 'Group of Heads', before 1587

Group of Heads

After Correggio

Not on display

About the work

Overview

This painting on canvas, together with another Group of Heads, is a copy of part of Correggio’s destroyed fresco, The Coronation of the Virgin, which was painted in the apse of S. Giovanni Evangelista in Parma. A number of fragments of Correggio’s original fresco depicting the heads of infant angels are also in the National Gallery’s collection.

This painting is a copy of the figures behind John the Evangelist on the left of Correggio’s fresco. The central infant angel is a copy of the one of the fresco fragments in the National Gallery.

When it was in the Farnese Collection in Rome, this copy was believed to be by Annibale Carracci. However, we do not know who painted it. It is likely to be an early copy made before Correggio’s original fresco was detached from the apse of S. Giovanni Evangelista in the 1580s.

In-depth

This painting on canvas, together with another group of heads, is a copy of part of Correggio’s destroyed fresco, The Coronation of the Virgin, painted in the apse of S. Giovanni Evangelista in Parma. A number of fragments of Correggio’s original fresco are also in the National Gallery’s collection: Head of an Angel, Heads of Two Angels and another Head of an Angel. When the apse was rebuilt in 1587, a replica of Correggio’s Coronation of the Virgin was painted in the new apse by Cesare Aretusi.

This group of heads is a copy of the figures behind Saint John the Evangelist on the left of Correggio’s fresco. The central infant angel is a copy of one of the fresco fragments in the National Gallery.

It is likely to be an early copy made before Correggio’s original fresco was detached from the apse of S. Giovanni Evangelista in the 1580s. When it was in the Farnese Collection in Rome, this copy was believed to be by Annibale Carracci. Annibale wrote a letter to his cousin Lodovico from Parma on 28 April 1580 saying that he was engaged in copying heads by Correggio from ‘the cupola’. He may have been referring to either the cupola of S. Giovanni Evangelista or the cupola of the Cathedral, for which Correggio signed the contract in 1522.

Annibale was probably copying frescoes at Parma by Correggio in both 1580 and 1586, and it is possible that he painted two sets of copies of Correggio’s apse fresco – one set now in Naples, the other in Parma. The Parma set may have been made for Aretusi to use when painting the replica fresco. However, we do not know whether the National Gallery copies were made by Annibale Carracci as it is difficult to identify the artist’s own style in a copy.

Key facts

Details

Full title: Group of Heads
Artist: After Correggio
Artist dates: active 1494; died 1534
Date made: before 1587
Medium and support: oil on canvas
Dimensions: 137.2 × 107.3 cm
Acquisition credit: Bought, 1824
Inventory number: NG7
Location: Not on display
Collection: Main Collection
Previous owners: John Julius Angerstein

Provenance

Collections of Queen Christina of Sweden, Duke of Bracciano, Orléans (page 58 in the 1727 catalogue). Bought by J. J. Angerstein on the dispersal of the Orléans collection at the end of the eighteenth century. Purchased with Angerstein collection, 1824. Exh.: Stockholm (Queen Christina), 1966 (1169).

Additional information

Text extracted from the ‘Provenance’ section of the catalogue entry in Cecil Gould, ‘National Gallery Catalogues: The Sixteenth Century Italian Schools’, London 1987; for further information, see the full catalogue entry.

Bibliography

1727

L.D. de Saint-Gelais, Description des tableaux du Palais Royal: Avec la vie des peintres à la tête de leurs ouvrages: Dédiée à Monseigneur le duc d'Orleans, premier prince du sang, Paris 1727
1798

Michael Bryan's Gallery, A Catalogue of the Orléans' Italian Pictures which will be Exhibited for Sale by Private Contract on Wednesday 26th December 1798 and Following Days at the Lyceum in the Strand and at Mr. Bryan's Gallery, 88 Pall Mall, London, 26 December 1798
1823

J. Young, A Catalogue of the Celebrated Collection of Pictures of the Late John Julius Angerstein, Esq: Containing a Finished Etching of Every Picture, and Accompanied with Historical and Biographical Notices, London 1823
1824

W. Buchanan, Memoirs of Painting: With a Chronological History of the Importation of Pictures by the Great Masters into England Since the French Revolution, London 1824
1871

J. Meyer, Correggio, Leipzig 1871
1962

Gould, Cecil, National Gallery Catalogues: The Sixteenth Century Italian Schools (excluding the Venetian), London 1962
1975

C. Gould, Delaroche and Gautier: Gautier's Views on the 'Execution of Lady Jane Grey' and on other Compositions by Delaroche, London 1975
1976

C. Gould, The Paintings of Correggio, London 1976
1987

Gould, Cecil, National Gallery Catalogues: The Sixteenth Century Italian Schools, London 1987
1994

P.L. de Castris and M. Utili, Museo e gallerie nazionali di Capodimonte: La collezione Farnese: La scuola Emiliana: I dipinti, i disegni, Naples 1994
1997

J. Pomeroy, 'The Orléans Collection: Its Impact on the British Art World', Apollo, CXLV/429, 1997, pp. 26-31
2001

C. Baker and T. Henry, The National Gallery: Complete Illustrated Catalogue, London 2001

About this record

If you know more about this painting or have spotted an error, please contact us. Please note that exhibition histories are listed from 2009 onwards. Bibliographies may not be complete; more comprehensive information is available in the National Gallery Library.

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After Correggio, 'Group of Heads', before 1587

About the work

Overview

In-depth

Key facts

Details

Provenance

Additional information

Source

Bibliography

About this record

Images

Related works