Madonna della Scodella (after Correggio) (detail)

Mengs's copy after Correggio's Madonna della Scodella exemplifies the central role of copying in his artistic formation and in his theoretical programme. Correggio was among his most admired painters — alongside Raphael — and Mengs made multiple copies after Correggio works in Parma as a means of studying the sixteenth-century master's technique, especially his sfumato and his management of soft aerial light. This practice of copying as pedagogy and homage was theorised in Mengs's own writings, where he prescribed study of the ancients and of Raphael, Correggio, and Titian as the path to artistic excellence. The partial or detail character of this copy — indicated by the parenthetical (detail) — suggests a study focused on a specific figure or passage rather than a comprehensive transcription of the original.

Copying a Correggio required Mengs to engage directly with a technique different from his own — Correggio's smoky atmospheric blending is related to but distinct from Mengs's more controlled sfumato. The copy thus functions as a technical exercise in a foreign register, and close examination may reveal where Mengs translated Correggio into his own visual language.