In 1514 he probably finished three tondos for the entrance of the church of Sant'Andrea in Mantua, and then returned to Correggio, where, as an independent and increasingly renowned artist, he signed a contract for the Madonna altarpiece in the local monastery of St. Francis (now in the Dresden Gemäldegalerie).
V tem obdobju je naslikal "Čaščenje otroka s sveto Elizabeto in Janezom", ki kaže jasne vplive Coste in Andrea Mantegna.