Born in Correggio, small town in Emilia, Allegri studied painting reputedly with an uncle and with Francesco Bianchi-Ferrari in Modena. Little is known of his life, but his paintings suggest under whom he may have formed his style. His work was influenced by Andrea Mantegna and Leonardo da Vinci.

Correggio was probably in Parma, the scene of his greatest activity, by 1518. He painted his first set of frescoes in the Abbess's Salon of the Convent of San Paolo; they are known collectively as Diana Returning from the Chase. This work is notable for the extreme foreshortening of the cherubs placed in many small panels around the room. From 1520 to 1524, Correggio worked on the fresco The Ascension of Christ in the cupola of the Church of San Giovanni Evangelista, in Parma.

The skillful use of light and shadow and luminous colors enhance the illusionistic technique, which makes the scene seem to extend beyond the physical limits of the dome. Similar but more complex effects can be observed in The Assumption of the Virgin (1526-1530) in the Cathedral of Parma. He returned to Correggio about 1530, after the death of his wife, before completing other decorations in the cathedral.

Correggio's paintings are characterized by sensuous nude figures, colors that have a cool, silvery sheen, great skill in foreshortening, and originality of perspective. About 40 of his canvases exist. All represent religious and mythological subjects. The religious paintings, such as the Madonna and Saint Jerome, also called Day (1527?, Parma Gallery) and Holy Night (1530?, Dresden Gallery), are distinguished usually by a pearly tonality.

Other aspects of Correggio's work were even more forward-looking. His extraordinarily sensuous mythologies, notably the series on the Loves of Jupiter painted for Federigo Gonzaga in c. 1530-33 (Ganymede and Jupiter and Io in the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna; Leda in the Staatliche Museum, Berlin; Danæ in the Borghese Galleria, Rome), foreshadow the paintings of Rococo artists such as Boucher, and it was at this time that Correggio's reputation was at its height. The nudes in his mythological scenes express spiritual ecstasy similar to that of his religious figures.