When this master was twenty-six years old he married Girolama Nurlini, and about the same time he was summoned to Mantua by the Duke Federigo Gonzaga. During eleven years after his marriage he was occupied with works in Mantua, and with his great frescoes at Parma. In 1530 he returned to Correggio, and there passed the remainder of his life. That he held a high position is proved by certain records of his life, among which is the fact that in 1533 he was invited to be one of the witnesses of the marriage of the Lord of Correggio.
It is said that when this painter saw one of the great works of Raphael, he exclaimed, enthusiastically and thankfully, "I, too, am a painter!" and no doubt he then felt himself moved to attempt such works as should make his name known to all the world through future centuries. When Titian saw Correggio's frescoes at Parma, he said: "Were I not Titian, I should wish to be Correggio." Annibale Caracci, also a great artist, said of Correggio, more than a hundred years after his death, "He was the only painter!" and declared that the children he painted seemed to breathe and smile with such grace that one was forced to smile and be happy with them.
In 1534 Correggio died of a fever, and was buried in his family tomb in the Franciscan Convent of his native city. His grave is simply marked with his name and the date of his death.
Some of his oil-paintings are very famous. One at Dresden, representing the "Nativity of the Saviour," is called the "Notte," or night, because the only light on the picture comes from the halo of glory around the head of the Holy Child. Correggio's "Reading Magdalen" is in the same gallery; probably no one picture exists which has been more universally admired than this.
[Illustration: FIG. 48.--UPPER PART OF A FRESCO BY CORREGGIO.]
There was a large work of his representing "The Shepherds Adoring the Infant Saviour," at Seville, in Spain. During the Peninsular War (1808-14) the people of that city sent many valuable things to Cadiz for safety, and this picture, on account of its size, was cut in two. By some accident the two parts were separated; but both were sold, and the purchaser of each was promised that the other portion should be given him. From this much trouble arose, because both purchasers determined to keep what they had, and each claimed that the whole belonged to him, and as they were equally obstinate, the two parts of the same work have never been reunited. Fortunately, each half makes a picture by itself.