PARMIGIANINO
(b. 1503, Parma, d. 1540, Casal Maggiore)

Pallas Athene

c. 1539
Oil on canvas, 63,8 x 45,1 cm
Royal Collection, Windsor

Parmigianino's most important work survives in Emilia, principally in the Rocca at Fontenellato and in the church of Santa Maria della Steccata in Parma. He also worked in Rome (1524—27), where he painted The Vision of Saint Jerome (London, National Gallery), and at the end of his life in Casalmaggiore, where he was exiled for failing to complete the decorations in Santa Maria della Stec- cata begun in 1534. Pallas Athene would appear to be a late work and is comparable in style with Parmigianino's last altarpiece, The Virgin and Child with Saint Stephen and Saint John the Baptist (Dresden, Staatliche Kunstsammlungen), painted for the church of San Stefano in Casalmaggiore in 1539-40. The gracefulness of the style evolved for the so-called 'Madonna with the Long Neck' of around 1535 (Florence, Uffizi) gives way to a greater sense of gravity in these late works, characterised by slower, more ponderous rhythms and simpler compositions. The warm flesh tones and the drapery that resembles thin sheets of beaten metal are also hallmarks of the artiste late style, although the elegant turn of the head, the etiolated fingers and the delicate treatment of the highlighted strands of hair evoke the earlier, more poetic style.

The appearance of Pallas Athene complies with Ovid's description in his Metamorphoses VI. The figure wears armour but lacks the helmet and spear, perhaps because the artist chose to emphasise the association with wisdom and the arts as opposed to more warlike aspects. The plaque indicated by the hand is reminiscent of an antique cameo, but it is not a copy. The depiction of the city and the winged figure of Victory flying with a palm and an olive branch are references to Pallas Athene's success over Poseidon concerning the ownership of Attica, of which Athens was the capital.