Un “disegno” di Perino del Vaga per Luca Penni “depintore”: nuovi documenti per la decorazione di una galleria nella Parigi di Francesco I

A nucleus of selected letters in the Archivio di Stato di Parma includes various documents relating to Perino del Vaga. Three letters in particular reveal the existence of correspondence that is evidence of a new area of exchange between the French court of Francis I and Pope Paul III’s Roman entourage. In February 1544, the unknown “Giovan Battista daurnia”, writing from Paris, asked the protonotary apostolic Girolamo Dandini for assistance in fulfilling his ambition to have a project drawn up by Michelangelo or Perino for the decoration of his “galeria”. The drawings would subsequently be translated into painting by Luca Penni. The correspondence in question bears witness to the level of prestige attained by Bonaccorsi in terms of appreciation and consideration among his contemporaries, sheds new light on his relationship with his brother-in-law, Penni, and provides information on the latter’s still little-known activity in Paris.