Bardi Altarpiece (Parmigianino) Bardi Altarpiece (Parmigianino) The Bardi Altarpiece (), is an Italian Mannerist painting by the Italian painter Parmigianino, dating from c. 1521 and housed in the church of Santa Maria at Bardi, Emilia-Romagna, Italy. In 1521 Parma was invaded by the imperial-papal troops under Prospero Colonna, in the course of the Italian Wars. The young Parmigianino, then seventeen, was sent by his family to Viadana to his cousin's house. According to Italian late Renaissance art biographer Giorgio Vasari, there Parmigianino painted two tempera panels: "St. Francis Receiving the Stigmata" (lost) and the "Marriage of St. Catherine", which was placed in the
Early Netherlandish painting reflection and prayer was encouraged and the small-scale diptych fitted this purpose. It became popular among the newly emerging middle class and the more affluent monasteries across the Low Countries and northern Germany. Ainsworth says that regardless of size, whether a large altarpiece or a small diptych, Netherlandish painting is a "matter of small scale and meticulous detail". The small size was meant to entice the viewer into a meditative state for personal devotion and perhaps the "experience of miraculous visions". Late 20th-century technical examination has shown significant differences in technique and style between the panels of individual diptychs. The