The Sack of Rome

Vasari tells us that, while Parmigianino was painting The Vision of Saint Jerome in 1527, the German soldiers who had been sacking Rome - rampaging through the city on a trail of looting and destruction - burst into his studio. Rather than creating havoc, they were so astonished by what they saw that they left Parmigianino to carry on and finish what he had started.

This may seem like a minor episode in the history of one painting, but the long term survival of the painting was an unexpected by-product of the Sack in a very different way to its survival prior to completion.  Parmigianino was not the only artist to flee Rome, and the event would have artistic and historical repercussions across Italy - and the whole of Western Europe - for centuries to come. 

As well look at the origins, causes and outcomes of this significant event, we will also consider the different ways in the the course of the History of Art may have been deflected in the process. As well as considering the paintings of Parmigianino and Vasari - separately from his writing - we will also look at the impact on the careers of artists as diverse as Rosso Fiorentino, Sebastiano del Piombo, and even Hans Holbein. We will even get as far as questioning whether the Church of England would exist in its present form without it...

 Please remember, for all sorts of reasons, I do not record my talks.