Stendhal and Correggio: An Archetypal Happening

Perhaps more than to any other painter, Stendhal responded intellectually and emotionally to Correggio. His chapters on Correggio were posthumously published in Ecoles italiennes de peinture. He was impressed both by the Italian Renaissance artist's foreshortening technique that lent excitement and dynamism to such works as the Ascension of Christ, and by his innovative use of chiaroscuro, and soft play of light and color. It was Correggio's emotional appeal, however, that most deeply affected the French writer. When Stendhal first saw Correggio's Holy Night in Dresden, he was virtually spellbound. Why did this happen? What he experienced archetypally when viewing Correggio's paintings is discussed in detail. (BLK)