Image: Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister, Dresden
Correggio’s “Compianto su Cristo morto” (Lamentation over the Dead Christ), painted around 1524, is on view in Dresden as part of “Correggio. Movingly Human”, an exhibition organized by the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden at the Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister in the Zwinger. The show opened on 19 September 2026 and runs until 10 January 2027.
The painting, an oil on canvas, is lent by the Complesso Monumentale della Pilotta in Parma, where it is recorded under inventory number GN352. The Pilotta has also lent “Vergine Assunta in gloria con particolare della balaustra e apostoli”, a watercolor on paper by Giovan Battista Callegari, Carlo Raimondi and Paolo Toschi (inventory 637). Both works were withdrawn from public view in Parma from 8 September in preparation for the loan, and the Pilotta has since directed visitors to the Dresden presentation.
Antonio Allegri, known as Correggio (1489–1534), worked in Parma and the surrounding region. The Dresden museums describe him as one of the most influential painters in the history of art, noted for his inventive handling of light, lively figures and fresh treatment of both religious and erotic subjects. Although he was once ranked alongside Leonardo, Michelangelo, Raphael and Titian, the organizers note that his name and work are less widely known to the public today.
According to the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden, the exhibition is the first comprehensive survey of Correggio’s career to be staged outside Italy. It is built around the Gemäldegalerie’s own group of panel paintings by the artist, shown together with recently restored works and loans from collections around the world. Its focus is the emotional force of his painting and the way he gave religious figures a recognizably human presence.
The exhibition is accompanied by a 392-page catalogue of the same title, published by Sandstein Verlag and edited by the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden with Holger Jacob-Friesen and Andreas Plackinger. Opening hours are extended on Fridays to Sundays between 27 November and 30 December.
