When the Sack of Rome began on 6 May 1527 and the imperial troops of German Lutheran landsknechts in the pay of Emperor Charles V of Habsburg laid the city on fire, Girolamo Francesco Maria Mazzola was busy painting a large high panel over three meters and just under one and a half meters wide. Parmigianino - also known as "the new Raphael" - had arrived in Rome called together with his uncle Pietro to create a triptych that was supposed to adorn the chapel of the Church of San Salvatore in Lauro. Surprised while he was at work, the artist was spared due to the extraordinary beauty of the work he was creating and managed to escape, but he never returned to the Eternal City, so the painting remained complete in only the central panel which today is preserved in the collections of the National Gallery in London. A masterpiece of Mannerism, The Vision of Saint Jerome (1526-1527) shines again today in an exhibition that tells its story, after a long restoration work that lasted more than 10 years.
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