page_title: Camera di San Paolo
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Camera di San Paolo / History
caption_attribution_description: Camera della badessa
context_page_description: The Camera di San Paolo or Camera della Badessa is a room in the former Monastery of San Paolo, in Parma, northern Italy. It is painted with frescoes by Correggio in the vault and over the fireplace.
context_section_description: Giovanna Piacenza, in her first decade as abbess of the monastery, ordered improvements and decorations. In 1514, the vault of her private apartment was decorated by Alessandro Araldi, with biblical and mythological subjects. This, a few years later, led to a similar but more up-to-date project for the adjacent chamber, this time assigned to Correggio, who had moved to Parma around 1519. It is not known how the painter and Giovanna came into contact, although Correggio at the time had familiarity with another Benedictine monastery, that of San Benedetto Po in what is now the province of Mantua.
  The work shows influence from the contemporary Romean Renaissance painting style, in particular the Raphael Rooms in the Vatican Palace, and perhaps Mantegna's Belvedere Chapel, now lost, although no visit to Rome by Correggio is documented. There are also some affinities with Leonardo da Vinci's style, such as that in the Sala delle Asse, which can be explained by a voyage (again undocumented) by the artist to Milan.
  The decoration, completed in 1520, began a period for Correggio as one of the most celebrated painters in Italy, with works such as the domes in Parma Cathedral and San Giovanni Evangelista. The work itself became an immediate landmark in illusionistic painting, influencing local artists such as Parmigianino, in particular in his work in the Rocca of Fontanellato.
  In 1524 an enclosure rule was forced on the convent, preventing male visitors, and for some two centuries the existence of the chamber's decoration remained unknown. In 1774 the painter and art historian Anton Raphael Mengs analyzed the work, which thenceforth became known as an important example of late Renaissance painting in Italy.  The iconography of the frescoes has been the subject of debate, and at present has not yet been conclusively explained.
caption: View of the western wall.
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