rry home a sum of money, 50 scudi, which had been
paid to him for one of his pictures, and paid in copper coin to
humiliate and annoy him; he carried the money himself, to save expense,
from Parma to Correggio on a hot day, and his fatigue and exhaustion led
to the mortal illness. In this curious tale there is no symptom of
authenticity, unless its very singularity, and the unlikelihood of its
being invented without any foundation at all, may be allowed to count
for something. He is said to have died with Christian piety; and his
eulogists (speaking apparently from intuition rather than record) affirm
that he was a good citizen, an affectionate son and father, fond and
observant of children, a sincere and obliging friend, pacific,
beneficent, grateful, unassuming, without meanness, free from envy and
tolerant of criticism. He was buried with some pomp in the Arrivabene
chapel, in the cloister of the Franciscan church at Correggio.

Regarding the art of Correggio from an intellectual or emotional point
of view, his supreme gift may be defined as suavity,--a vivid,
spontaneous, lambent play of the affections, a heartfelt inner grace
which fashions the forms and features, and beams like soft and glancing
sunshine in the expressions. We see lovely or lovable souls clothed in
bodies or corresponding loveliness, which are not only physically
charming, but are so informed with the spirit within as to become one
with that in movement and gesture. In these qualities of graceful
naturalness, not heightened into the sacred or severe, and of joyous
animation, in momentary smiles and casual living turns of head or limb,
Correggio undoubtedly carried the art some steps beyond anything it had
previously attained, and he remains to this day the unsurpassed or
unequalled model of pre-eminence. From a technical point of view, his
supreme gift--even exceeding his prodigious faculty in foreshortening
and the like--is chiaroscuro, the power of modifying every tone, from
bright light to depth of darkness, with the sweetest and most subtle
gradations, all being combined into harmonious unity. In this again he
far distanced all predecessors, and defied subsequent competition. His
colour also is luminous and precious, perfectly understood and blended;
it does not rival the superb richness or deep intense glow of the
Venetians, but on its own showing is a perfect achievement, in exact
keeping with his powers in chiaroscuro and in vital expression