Sienese, but bad by adoption become a Parmesan,[1] should execute that cartoon, he being a good painter. The subject chosen for the work was the Coronation of Our Lady.[2]
Having commenced his labours accordingly, Anselmi did certainly acquit himself to perfection, and well deserved the commission which he then received to paint one of four very large recesses which there are in that church; the one now in question was opposite to that wherein Michelagnolo Anselmi had painted the above-mentioned Coronation after the design of Giulio Romano.
Setting hand to his work, therefore, Anselmi there executed an Adoration of the Magi, the picture comprising a very considerable number of figures, which were besides exceedingly beautiful. He also painted the Wise Virgins on the plane of the arch, as we have related in the life of Mazzuoli, adding a decoration of rosettes in copper. But Anselmi died while there was still almost a third of the work unaccomplished, wherefore that picture was completed by the Cremonese, Bernardo Soiaro,[3] as we shall presently relate. By the hand of the same Michelagnolo Anselmi is the Chapel of the Conception, in the Church of San Francesco, at the above-named city of Parma, and in San Pier Martire there is a Celestial Glory by the same master in the Chapel of the Cross.
Jeronimo Mazzuoli,[4] who was the cousin of Francesco, as I have said before, continuing the work which had been left unfinished by his kinsman in the Church of the Madonna, there painted an arch with the Wise Virgins, and added the decoration of rosettes. He afterwards executed a work in the great tribune, which is opposite to the principal door
- ↑ Anselmi was not a SienesSe, but a descendant from the ancient and noble family of his name in Parma. He was an admirable painter, although but little known beyond his native country. There are works by his hand in the Church of San Stefano at Parma; and in a Church of Montechiangelo, a fortified place of the Torelli, there are others of great merit. The reader will find details respecting this master in Lanzi, vol. i. p. 295, vol. ii. p. 399, et seq. See also Affò, Il Parmigiano Servitore di Piazza, Parma, 1794.
- ↑ According to Lanzi, Giulio Romano sent nothing more than a simple sketch, when Michelagnolo Anselmi prepared the cartoon, and executed the picture.
- ↑ Bernardo Gatti, called Il Soiaro.
- ↑ Of whom there has been favourable mention in the Life of Parmigiano.
