Saint Bernard Surrounded by Angels (copy of the fresco in the cupola of Parma Cathedral)

This oil copy after Correggio's celebrated fresco in the cupola of Parma Cathedral preserves details of one of the most revolutionary ceiling paintings in Western art. Correggio's original Assumption of the Virgin (1526-1530) in the cathedral dome was a groundbreaking illusionistic work that anticipated the Baroque by a century. Saint Bernard surrounded by angels represents one section of the vast heavenly vision that spirals upward through clouds of figures. Now in the Victoria and Albert Museum, this copy served as an important study document when the original frescoes were difficult to examine closely.

The copy captures Correggio's radical foreshortening of figures seen from below (di sotto in sù), which was unprecedented in its boldness at the time. The swirling arrangement of figures and clouds demonstrates the original's revolutionary approach to creating an illusion of infinite heavenly space opening above the viewer.