Francesco Primaticcio (; April 30, 1504 – 1570) was an Italian
Mannerist
Mannerism is a style in European art that emerged in the later years of the Italian High Renaissance around 1520, spreading by about 1530 and lasting until about the end of the 16th century in Italy, when the Baroque style largely replaced it ...
painter
Painting is a Visual arts, visual art, which is characterized by the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called "matrix" or "Support (art), support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with ...
,
architect
An architect is a person who plans, designs, and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...
and
sculptor
Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...
who spent most of his career in
France
France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...
.
Biography
Born in
Bologna
Bologna ( , , ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in northern Italy. It is the List of cities in Italy, seventh most populous city in Italy, with about 400,000 inhabitants and 150 different nationalities. Its M ...
, he trained under
Giulio Romano in
Mantua
Mantua ( ; ; Lombard language, Lombard and ) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Italian region of Lombardy, and capital of the Province of Mantua, eponymous province.
In 2016, Mantua was designated as the "Italian Capital of Culture". In 2 ...
and became a pupil of
Innocenzo da Imola, executing decorations at the
Palazzo Te before securing a position in the court of
Francis I of France
Francis I (; ; 12 September 1494 – 31 March 1547) was King of France from 1515 until his death in 1547. He was the son of Charles, Count of Angoulême, and Louise of Savoy. He succeeded his first cousin once removed and father-in-law Louis&nbs ...
in 1532.

Together with
Rosso Fiorentino
Giovanni Battista di Jacopo (8 March 1495 – 14 November 1540), known as Rosso Fiorentino (meaning "Florentine Redhead" in Italian) or Il Rosso ("The Redhead"), was an Italian Mannerist painter who worked in oil and fresco
Fresco ( or ...
he was one of the leading artists to work at the
Chateau Fontainebleau (where he is grouped with the so-called "First
School of Fontainebleau
The School of Fontainbleau () () refers to two periods of artistic production in France during the late French Renaissance centered on the royal Palace of Fontainebleau that were crucial in forming Northern Mannerism, and represent the first majo ...
") spending much of his life there. Following Rosso's death in 1540, Primaticcio took control of the artistic direction at Fontainebleau, furnishing the painters and stuccators of his team, such as
Nicolò dell'Abate Nicolò () is an Italian male given name. Another variation is Niccolò, most common in Tuscany. It may refer to:
* Nicolò Albertini, statesman
* Nicolò Amati, luthier
* Nicolò Barella, Italian footballer
* Nicolò Barattieri, Italian engineer
* ...
, with designs. He made
cartoon
A cartoon is a type of visual art that is typically drawn, frequently Animation, animated, in an realism (arts), unrealistic or semi-realistic style. The specific meaning has evolved, but the modern usage usually refers to either: an image or s ...
s for
tapestry
Tapestry is a form of Textile arts, textile art which was traditionally Weaving, woven by hand on a loom. Normally it is used to create images rather than patterns. Tapestry is relatively fragile, and difficult to make, so most historical piece ...
-weavers and, like all 16th-century court artists, was called upon to design elaborate ephemeral decorations for
masque
The masque was a form of festive courtly entertainment that flourished in 16th- and early 17th-century Europe, though it was developed earlier in Italy, in forms including the intermedio (a public version of the masque was the pageant). A mas ...
s and fêtes, which survive only in preparatory drawings and, sometimes, engravings. Francis I trusted his eye and sent him back to Italy on buying trips in 1540 and again in 1545.
In Rome, part of Primaticcio's commission was to take casts of the best
Roman sculpture
The study of Roman sculpture is complicated by its relation to Sculpture of Ancient Greece, Greek sculpture. Many examples of even the most famous Greek sculptures, such as the ''Apollo Belvedere'' and ''Barberini Faun'', are known only from Roman ...
s in the papal collections, some of which were cast in bronze to decorate the
parterre
A ''parterre'' is a part of a formal garden constructed on a level substrate, consisting of symmetrical patterns, made up by plant beds, plats, low hedges or coloured gravels, which are separated and connected by paths. Typically it was the ...
s at Fontainebleau.
[The project, which brought a first virtual confrontation with Roman sculpture to French patrons and artists, is surveyed in detail by S. Pressouyre, "Les fontes de Primatice à Fontainebleau", ''Bulletin monumental'' 127 (1969), pp. 223-38. See also Thomas Clouet, "Fontainebleau de 1541 à 1547. Pour une relecture des Comptes des Bâtiments du roi", ''Bulletin monumental'' 170 (2012), pp. 195-234, in which article a precise chronology of the casting of these famous bronzes is established]
english summary
. The precious moulds, at the instigation of Leone Leoni
:
Lioni Leoni ( – 22 July 1590) was an Italian sculptor of international outlook who travelled in Italy, Germany, Austria, France, Spain and the Netherlands. Leoni is regarded as the finest of the Cinquecento Medalist, medallists. He made his ...
were sent to the Habsburg court in the Spanish Netherland in 1550 and, after serving to make a set of stucco casts for Charles V's daughter Mary of Hungary
Mary, also known as Maria of Anjou (, , ; 137117 May 1395), queen regnant, reigned as Queen of Hungary and List of dukes and kings of Croatia, Croatia between 1382 and 1385, and from 1386 until her death. She was the daughter of Louis I of Hun ...
, Queen-governess of the Netherlands at Binche (where they were destroyed by Henry II's troops in 1554) they were probably forwarded to Leoni in Milan (Bruce Boucher, "Leone Leoni and Primaticcio's Moulds of Antique Sculpture", ''The Burlington Magazine'' 123 No. 934 (January 1981), pp. 23-26).
Primaticcio retained his position as court painter to Francis' heirs,
Henry II
Henry II may refer to:
Kings
* Saint Henry II, Holy Roman Emperor (972–1024), crowned King of Germany in 1002, of Italy in 1004 and Emperor in 1014
*Henry II of England (1133–89), reigned from 1154
*Henry II of Jerusalem and Cyprus (1271–1 ...
and
Francis II. His masterpiece, the ''Salle d'Hercule'' at Fontainebleau, occupied him and his team from the 1530s to 1559.
Primaticcio's crowded Mannerist compositions and his long-legged canon of beauty influenced French art for the rest of the century.
Primaticcio turned to architecture towards the end of his life, his greatest work being the
Valois Chapel at the
Abbey of Saint-Denis
The Basilica of Saint-Denis (, now formally known as the ) is a large former medieval abbey church and present cathedral in the commune of Saint-Denis, a northern suburb of Paris. The building is of singular importance historically and archite ...
, although this was not completed until after his death and was destroyed in 1719.
Gallery
Image:Francesco_Primaticcio_001.jpg , Alexander tames Bucephalus
Bucephalus (; ; – June 326 BC) or Bucephalas, was the horse of Alexander the Great, and one of the most famous horses of classical antiquity. According to the '' Alexander Romance'' (1.15), the name "Bucephalus" literally means "ox-h ...
Image:Francesco_Primaticcio_003.jpg , The rape of Helena, 1530-1539
File:Chaalis voute abside.JPG, Ceiling at Chaalis Abbey
File:Chaalis fresque annonciation.JPG , ''Annunciation
The Annunciation (; ; also referred to as the Annunciation to the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Annunciation of Our Lady, or the Annunciation of the Lord; ) is, according to the Gospel of Luke, the announcement made by the archangel Gabriel to Ma ...
'' at Chaalis
Ulysses Gallery at Fontainebleau
Engravings by
Giorgio Ghisi after Francesco Primaticcio's designs for the ceiling of the Ulysses Gallery (destroyed 1738–39) at Fontainebleau
File:Apollo, Pan, and a putto blowing a horn, from a series of eight compositions after Francesco Primaticcio's designs for the ceiling of the Ulysses Gallery (destroyed 1738-39) at Fontainebleau MET MM20346.jpg, Apollo, Pan, and a putto blowing a horn
File:Three Muses and a Gesturing Putto, from a series of eight compositions after Francesco Primaticcio's designs for the ceiling of the Ulysses Gallery (destroyed 1738-39) at Fontainebleau MET DP821337.jpg, Three Muses and a Gesturing Putto
File:Three Muses and a Putto with a Lyre, a cruciform composition, from a series of eight compositions after Francesco Primaticcio's designs for the ceiling of the Gallery of Ulysses (destroyed 1738-39) at Fontainebleau MET DP821276.jpg, Three Muses and a Putto with a Lyre, a cruciform composition
File:Three Muses and a Putto with Cymbals, from a series of eight compositions after Francesco Primaticcio's designs for the ceiling of the Ulysses Gallery (destroyed 1738-39) at Fontainebleau MET DP821339.jpg, Three Muses and a Putto with Cymbals
File:Hercules, Bacchus, Pan, and Saturn(?), from a series of eight compositions after Francesco Primaticcio's designs for the ceiling of the Ulysses Gallery (destroyed 1738-39) at Fontainebleau MET DP821346.jpg, Hercules, Bacchus, Pan, and Saturn(?)
File:Ceres Seated on Clouds with Two Goddesses and Two Putti, from a series of eight compositions after Francesco Primaticcio's designs for the ceiling of the Ulysses Gallery (destroyed 1738-39) at Fontainebleau MET DP821331.jpg, Ceres Seated on Clouds with Two Goddesses and Two Putti
File:Pluto, Neptune, Minerva and Apollo, from a series of eight compositions after Francesco Primaticcio's designs for the ceiling of the Ulysses Gallery (destroyed 1738-39) at Fontainebleau MET DP821333.jpg, Pluto, Neptune, Minerva and Apollo
File:Venus and Cupid, Two Other Goddesses, and a Putto, from a series of eight compositions after Francesco Primaticcio's designs for the ceiling of the Ulysses Gallery (destroyed 1738-39) at Fontainebleau MET DP821328.jpg, Venus and Cupid, Two Other Goddesses, and a Putto
Notes
References
''The Oxford Dictionary of Art'',
External links
Entry in 'Art-cyclopedia'Château de Fontainebleau (in English)
''The engravings of Giorgio Ghisi'' a full text exhibition catalog from The Metropolitan Museum of Art, which contains material on Francesco Primaticcio (see index)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Primaticcio
1504 births
1570 deaths
Artists from Bologna
16th-century Italian painters
Italian male painters
Italian Mannerist painters
Italian Mannerist architects
Italian Mannerist sculptors
French Mannerist painters
French architects
French sculptors