The Benedictine Program of S. Giovanni Evangelista in Parma

Abstract

On 23 January 1524, Correggio received the final payment for his work on the cupola, apse, and frie:e in the Church of the Benedictine Monastery of S. Giovanni Evangelista in Parma.1 This extensive fresco decoration of the major areas of the new church2 suggests that there also was an equally comprehensive iconographic program.3 Although the actual design for the frieze was not settled until after Correggio completed the cupola, what he depicted in the cupola fits in so well with what is manifested by the frieze that there is good reason to believe that a general program had been formulated by the monks of S. Giovanni before he began the frescoes in 1520. Seen in this way, the frescoes, including those on the cupola, reveal an elaborate cycle based on the quintessential Christian concept of the Logos made Light, which corresponds in theme as well as exegetic method to the Rule of Saint Benedict.