An exploration of Parmigianino's greatest Roman painting, illuminating his dynamic process of invention and the dramatic story around its creation.

Parmigianino (1503-1540), whose nickname means "little man of Parma," was the leading painter in Parma after Correggio, and is celebrated as one of the originators of Mannerism. The Vision of Saint Jerome is his first, and only, major public undertaking from his brief period in Rome, where he worked from 1524 to 1527.

This book explores the artist's time in the city until the dramatic events of the Sack of Rome, and places The Vision of Saint Jerome in the context of Parmigianino's career and legacy. Featuring a selection of key surviving preparatory drawings for this altarpiece, the publication reveals Parmigianino's inspired artistic process, establishing his position as one of the most prodigious draughtsmen of the sixteenth century.

Tracing the history of Parmigianino's masterpiece after its arrival to England, the publication also provides an illuminating account of the painting's conservation and of the artist's reception in nineteenth-century Britain, revealing his importance in the development of Italian Renaissance art.