Parmigianino

Girolamo Francesco Maria Mazzola was born in Parma on 11 January 1503 and took the nickname Parmigianino—"the little one from Parma." His talent showed early and took him to Florence and then Rome in 1524, but three years later the Sack of Rome scattered him to Bologna and back home. He worked in fresco on church walls and palace ceilings near Parma, made outstanding drawings, and was among the first Italian painters to experiment seriously with printmaking. His Vision of Saint Jerome came in 1527; Madonna with the Long Neck in 1534, iconic and odd in equal measure. He painted portraits that b…