Endocrinology and art: "The Annunciation"-Girolamo Francesco Maria Mazzola called Parmigianino (1503-1540).

Girolamo Francesco Maria Mazzola, more commonly known as Parmigianino because of his small stature and his gentle aspect (“the little one from Parma”), is considered one of the major artists of the Italian Mannerism. Parmigianino is renowned to be one of the earliest etchers and for his skill in drawings and “chiaroscuro” woodcuts [1]. Anyway, his fame was immortalized for his portraits in which an exaggeration of the ideal beauty depicted during Renaissance and a sense of movement and freedom are perceived through the elongation of the forms and the elegance and sensuality of the subjects [1, 2]. The peculiar style of this author and his ability as a draftsman highly influenced the Italian Mannerist movement and all the contemporary graphic art [3]. In “the Annunciation” (Figs. 1, 2), Parmigianino depicted the nocturnal scene in which archangel Gabriel flies to the Virgin who is kneeling in front of a bronze lectern. It is of interest that her neck is portrayed as being