Giorgio Gandini, likewise surnamed del Grano, from the maternal branch of his family, was an artist formerly referred to Mantua, but who has since been claimed by Padre Affò, who traced his genealogy for the city of Parma. According to the account of Orlandi he was not only a pupil of Coreggio, but one whose pieces were frequently retouched by the hand of his master. P. Zapata, who illustrated in a latin work the churches of Parma, ascribes to him the principal painting in S. Michele, the same which, in the Guide of Ruta, was attributed by mistake to Lelio di Novellara. It is one calculated to reflect honour upon that school, from its power of colouring, its relief, and its ease and sweetness of hand, though it occasionally displays a somewhat too capricious fancy. How highly he was esteemed by his fellow citizens may be inferred from the commission which they allotted him to paint the tribune of the cathedral, as a substitute for Coreggio, who died before he commenced the task which he had accepted. The same happened to Gandini, and the commission was bestowed upon a third artist, Girolamo Mazzuola, whose genius was not then sufficiently matured to cope with such vast undertakings. The names of Lelio Orsi and Girolamo da Carpi, I assign to another place, both of whom are enumerated by other writers in the school of Parma. For this alteration I shall give a sufficient reason when I mention them. The last belonging to the present class, are the two Mazzuoli; and I commence with Francesco, called Parmigianino, whose life, by Father Affò, has been already written. This writer does not rank him in the list of Coreggio's scholars, but in that of his two uncles, in whose studio he is supposed to have painted his Baptism of Christ, which is now in possession of the Conti Sanvitali, and as the production of a boy of fourteen years of age, it is indeed a wonderful effort of genius. It is remarked by the same historian of his life, that having seen the works of Coreggio, Francesco began to imitate him; and there are some pictures ascribed to him at that period, which are evidently formed upon that great model. Of such kind, is a Holy Family, belonging to the President Bertioli, and a S. Bernardino, at the Padri Osservanti, in Parma. Independently of these, the fact of Francesco's having been chosen, together with Rondani and Anselmi, to decorate a chapel near the Cupola of Coreggio, shews, that he must have acquired great similarity of style, and possessed docility, equal to the other two, in following the directions of such a master. He had too much confidence, however, in his own powers, to be second in the manner of another artist, when he was capable of forming one of his own. And this he subsequently achieved; for owing to the delays experienced in the above undertaking, he had time to make the tour of Italy, and meeting with Giulio, in Mantua, and Raffaello, at Rome, he proceeded to form a style that has been pronounced original.