Pain and Pleasure – Schmerz, Rausch und Exstase

It wasn’t until 1603 that Emperor Rudolf II was able to purchase Parmigiano’s original painting. Rudolf’s court painter Josef Heintz produced this copy which was preserved together with the original over the following centuries. Both in the painting technique and in Heintz’s pictorial conception differences to the model have manifested themselves: through thinly applied translucent paint over an ochre coloured background the artist was able to achieve a stronger integration of Amor into the background, while Parmigianino, using a compacted painting style and cooler colours, places his bow carver more like a painted sculpture on a black background.