Sacra Famiglia con san Girolamo

Correggio painted this small panel early in his career, around 1519, before the illusionistic domes in Parma that would make his name. In the 1620s it belonged to the Gonzaga dukes of Mantua, whose celebrated collection was quietly sold off to cover debts. Charles I of England sent a Flemish agent to buy what he could, and the man recognised this unsigned panel as a genuine Correggio at once. It shows the Holy Family with the aged Saint Jerome, the figures leaning into one another with the soft warmth Correggio was becoming known for. When it reached London, Charles had his royal coat of arms stamped onto the back of the panel, and it is still there today.