Parmigianino (1503-1540) was one of the Italian Renaissance's greatest geniuses. Characterised by his distinctive and elegant style and exquisite draughtsmanship, he was also, like Durer, one of the first painter-etchers, engraving his own work and disseminating it to great effect throughout Italy and northern Europe. This illuminating and beautiful volume, the definitive monograph on Parmigianino, gives comparable emphasis to the public world of his paintings and to the private realm of his drawings. It is the only book on the artist completed in the aftermath of the 2003-4 quincentenary exhibitions, and takes advantage of all the latest research and of recent cleanings and restorations of major works. David Ekserdjian is the leading authority on Parmigianino's work. The fruit of over twenty years of research on and writing about the artist, Parmigianino is the first book that has ever seriously attempted to cover his entire oeuvre, giving equal weight to paintings, drawings and prints. Much of the book is wholly new, and it contains several unpublished drawings and a new painting. It also brings together for the first time the new paintings and drawings that have been discovered and published in recent years - not least by Ekserdjian himself - and discusses these works in the context of the artist's career and development in a way that has not been hitherto possible. One of the most original and inventive artists of the Renaissance period, Parmigianino's extraordinary creative powers deserve to be more widely known and appreciated. This book, with its glorious illustrations and authoritative text, amply demonstrates just why he is one of the greatest of Renaissance artists.