Madonna of St. Jerome

Correggio's neighbours in Parma nicknamed this altarpiece Il Giorno, The Day, for its clear golden daylight, setting it against a darker night scene he painted for the same city. A local widow, Briseide Colla, had ordered it in 1523 for her family chapel, and she loved it so much that she kept it hanging in her own house for several years before finally letting it go to the church. It shows the Virgin and child with Saint Jerome and a tender Mary Magdalene, who brushes her cheek against the infant. Vasari singled out its wonderful colour. Napoleon's soldiers later carried the picture off to Paris, and it returned to Parma only in 1815.