CIRCLE OF ANTONIO ALLEGRI, CALLED CORREGGIO | MADONNA AND CHILD (LA ZINGARELLA)

This is a 16th or 17th century copy after Correggio's original canvas depicting La Zingarella in the Museo di Capodimonte, Naples.¹ The name of this painting derives from the Madonna's headdress, which was commonly associated with gypsies. The present painting captures the appearance of Correggio’s work before it was cleaned and restored in 1935² when many details, including the rabbit, left, the detailed forest floor foliage, and the palm leaves, upper right, were removed. All other period copies likewise reproduce these now lost elements, confirming that if they were indeed overpaint to the composition, they must have been by Correggio’s own hand. 

1. Oil on panel, 46.5 by 37.5 cm. See D. Ekserdjian, Correggio, New Haven and London 1997, p. 61, reproduced p. 62, fig. 58.

2. Ibid., reproduced before restoration fig. 59.