of  deliberate  imitation    than  of  accident ;    that  both  masters  adopted
motives  in  common  use  at  the  time,  the  "  properties,"  so  to  speak,  of


MANTEGNA'S   INFLUENCE    ON    CORREGGIO  57

their  art.  We  will  even  admit  that  this  identity  of  details  was  purely
accidental  and  unpremeditated  ;  but  what  may  be  granted  as  regards
the  minor  resemblances  we  have  quoted,  cannot  be  accepted  as  applic-
able to  the  figure  of  the  Virgin  and  certain  portions  of  the  background.
The  Madonna  of  Mantegna's  picture  is  transferred  almost  unaltered
to  that  of  the  later  master  ;  her  head  is  inclined  in  the  same
direction  and  at  the  same  angle,  her  right  arm  extended  over  the
figure  below,  the  foreshortened  right  hand  outspread  in  a  like  gesture
of  protection  ;  the  left  supports  the  little  body  of  the  Child  ;  the  left  leg
is  advanced,  with  the  foot  in  profile,  the  right  drawn  back,  the  great
toe  only  resting  upon  the  footstool.1  This  obvious  imitation  has  been
admitted  by  every  writer  on  Correggio,  from  Lanzi  to  Meyer.  But
his  indebtedness  to  Mantegna's  picture  is  not  confined  to  this  particular
instance.  Many  of  its  details  reappear  in  his  later  works  ;  the  canopy
and  ovals  are  to  be  recognised  in  the  Camera  di  San  Paolo,  where,
too,  we  shall  find  many  reminiscences  of  Mantegna's  exquisite  Camera
degli  Sposi  at  Mantua  ;  its  garlanded  arches  crown  the  summit  of
the  tribune  in  San  Giovanni  Evangelista  at  Parma ;  and  the  St.
Elizabeth  greets  us  again  in  the  small  picture  formerly  belonging  to
the  Malaspina  family,  and  now  in  the  Communal  Museum  at  Pavia.
Thus  we  see  that  the  Mantegnesque  elements  in  Correggio's
works  are  certainly  not  confined  to  his  youthful  pictures.  They
persist,  indeed,  in  the  most  mature  and  admirable  of  his  master-
pieces.
