All the etchings 16th-century Mannerist great Parmigianino produced in his short career have been brought together at an exhibition in the artist's hometown, Parma.
Parmigianino, whose real name was Francesco Mazzola, was one of the first Italians to master the art of etching - the use of acid to create designs on metal plates for prints.
In his lifetime, he only produced 16, all of which are on show at Parma's Palazzo Bossi Bocchi until July 15.
While the body of work is small, art historians say his contribution to developing and spreading etching - pioneered in Italy by printmaker Marcantonio Raimondi (1480-1534) - was huge.
The centrepiece of the free exhibition, entitled The Work of Parmigianino the Etcher (L'opera di Parmigianino Incisore), is a large sheet of paper containing eight works.
These include stunning representations of melancholy, the Nativity, the Virgin Mary with Child Christ, and the Annunciation.
"We are faced with something that is highly unusual for the graphic world," explained Italian art historian Grasso Fravegna.
"It is a unique document that has enormous aesthetic and historic value".
Two of the other etchings, Saints John and Peter Healing the Ill and Cupid Sleeping, are based on works by Raphael.
Parmigianino was born in 1503 in Parma - hence the name he came to be known by - and died near Cremona in 1540.
He was a leader of the Mannerist school, a 16th-century artistic rebellion of sorts.
Living in the shadow of greats like Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo and Raphael, young artists in the first half of the 16th century found it impossible to compete with the past masters for 'perfection'.
So they started to break the rules of the Renaissance and experiment with distortions of body parts and disproportionate distribution of space.
With their use of exaggeration and distortion the Mannerists tried to portray an ideal view of beauty rather than simply copying beautiful scenes.
A superb example is Parmigianino's curious Self Portrait in a Convex Mirror (1524).
Parmigianino toys with the viewer in this painting, depicting his boyishly handsome face behind strangely elongated fingers. In reality, the artist simply painted exactly what he saw in the mirror.
Parmigianino was the son of the artist Filippo Mazzola, who died when the Mannerist master was only two.
Nevertheless, he was taught to paint at a very early age by his uncles Pier Ilario and Michele Mazzola, who were both artists too.
As he grew up, his precocious talents attracted the attention of the local art scene and he became a student of one of the great artists of the century, Correggio.
Early in his career Parmigianino went to Rome where he became familiar with famous Renaissance works and classic models.
It was during his time in the capital that he started experimenting with etching, experts believe.
After the sack of Rome in 1527 he moved to Bologna, where he developed his highly personal style of painting.
In 1531 he returned to Parma to paint frescoes in the town's Madonna della Steccata church.
But after spending eight years on the frescoes Parmigianino was fired by the disgruntled Church authorities for breach of contract in 1539.
Contemporary artist Giorgio Vasari wrote that he died a year later at the age of 37 "an almost savage or wild man" who was obsessed with alchemy.
