FONTAINEBLEAU, SCHOOL OF

FONTAINEBLEAU, SCHOOL OF. The school of Fontainebleau takes its name from the château of Fontainebleau, located about thirtyseven miles southeast of Paris, the preferred residence of King Francis I (ruled 1515–1547). The term does not pertain to an educational institution. Rather, it refers to a cohesive group of artists engaged by the king, and after his death by his son Henry II, to decorate interiors of the château with frescoes, elaborately carved wood paneling and stucco sculptures, and by extension, the style of this décor and the prints (particularly those from c. 1542–1547) that reproduced the compositions of many of the frescoes. Indeed, Henri Zerner pointed out (The French Renaissance in Prints, p. 22) that the expression "school of Fontainebleau" was first used by Adam Bartsch (1818), one of the foremost authorities on graphic art, to classify the etchings and engravings produced by the artists employed at Fontainebleau, or in their style. (The "second school" of Fontainebleau was the next generation of artists who worked at Fontainebleau, around 1600.)

Led by the Florentine painter Rosso Fiorentino (born Giovanni Battista di Jacopo de' Rossi, or di Guasparre, 1494–1540) and the Bolognese Francesco Primaticcio (1504–1570), the artists of the school of Fontainebleau were not only French but also included a number of Italians and some Flemish painters and draftsmen (e.g., Luca Penni, Étienne Delaune, Geoffroy Dumoustier, Léonard Thiry, René Boyvin, Antonio Fantuzzi, Giorgio Mantovano Ghisi, Pierre Milan, and Domenico del Barbiere, also called Dominique Florentin, who was also a sculptor). They produced figures in a mannered style characterized by sinuous lines and elongated proportions, frequently arranged in difficult, unrealistic poses. A sense of anguished urgency runs through nearly all of Rosso's compositions. His suicide called attention to the tormented quality of his work.

Rosso was recommended to Francis I by the Venetian poet Aretino, who was the painter's friend. Although the king's predecessors Charles VIII (ruled 1483–1498) and Louis XII (ruled 1498–1515) fostered a keen interest in the Italian revival of classical antiquity, Francis I had a single-mindedness of purpose that caused Italian mannerism to be directly transplanted into France. After his military campaigns in Italy met with disaster, he seems to have resolved to use the arts instead to become the rival of Charles V, the popes, and Henry VIII. He accomplished this through sophisticated alterations in his palace at Blois; the creation of a gigantic castle of Chambord; a new château ironically named "Madrid"; and the enlargement and embellishment of the old château at Fontainebleau.

The key ensemble at Fontainebleau is the Galerie François Ier (gallery of Francis I), a long, relatively narrow passageway constructed in 1528 to link the early château with a nearby abbey. Although the gallery was structurally altered over the years, the interior decoration (mostly completed in 1534–1536) continues to inspire fascination. The walls are lined by a high wood dado, originally created by Scibec de' Carpi, carved with Italianate decorative motifs called strapwork that imitate heavy coils of stiffened leather. The king's emblem, the salamander, appears throughout. Above the dado stretches a series of frescoes depicting classical myths and abstruse allegories related to the king's reign. Sumptuous stucco frames surround and link the frescoes. They comprise not only decorative moldings and reliefs (and subsidiary frescoes), but also nearly life-size, almost freestanding human figures of extraordinary intricacy and elegance. Rosso is credited with the entire design, but because Primaticcio had previously worked in stucco while employed in Mantua, he is believed to have collaborated on the stuccos. A series of tapestries begun during Rosso's lifetime (now in the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna) reproduces scenes from the gallery, although with numerous variations. The strapwork of the famous stucco frames, where animate and inanimate forms seem interchangeable, was disseminated throughout Europe by engravings. In some of these, the mythological subjects of the frescoes were later replaced by landscapes, which had broader appeal.

Primaticcio was responsible for several outstanding decorative ensembles at Fontainebleau, among them the chambre du roi (king's bedroom, 1533–1535), the chambre de la duchesse d'Étampes (bedroom of the king's mistress, the duchess of Étampes, 1541–1544), the gallery of Ulysses (mostly 1541–1549), and most impressive of all, the salle de bal (ballroom, c. 1551–1557). In contrast with the gallery of Francis I, the ballroom has spacious proportions; its mythological frescoes depict festive subjects in keeping with its function. The muscular, superhuman proportions of Primaticcio's figures, inspired by Michelangelo's, decisively influenced French art of the time, not only in the paintings of Primaticcio's most important collaborator, Niccolò dell' Abbate (and even later in the work of Ambroise Dubois and Toussaint Dubreuil, of the second school of Fontainebleau), but also in the sculptures of the great Germain Pilon, who may have been employed at Fontainebleau early in his career.

See also France, Architecture in ; France, Art in ; Francis I (France) ; Henry II (France) .

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Blunt, Anthony. Art and Architecture in France 1500–1700. Harmondsworth, U.K., and New York, 1977.

L'École de Fontainebleau. Exh. cat., Grand Palais, Paris, 1972.

The French Renaissance in Prints. Exh. cat., UCLA/Metropolitan Museum of Art/Bibliothèque nationale, Los Angeles, New York, and Paris, 1994.

Zerner, Henri. L'art de la Renaissance en France: L'invention du classicisme. Paris, 1996.

Mary L. Levkoff

Fontainebleau, School of. Term applied to art produced for the French court at Fontainebleau c.1530–c.1610, and more broadly used to refer to any French art of the period influenced by the distinctive style created there; in this broader sense it was the dominant strain in French art in the 16th century. The driving force behind the School of Fontainebleau was Francis I (1494–1547; reigned from 1515), whose favourite residence was at Fontainebleau, about 65 km (40 miles) south-east of Paris. In 1528 he began enlarging the building (at the time no more than a hunting lodge) into a palace, making it the most important expression of his desire to glorify the French crown by emulating the lavish patronage of the great humanist princes of Italy. As France lacked an indigenous tradition of mural painting adequate to his ambitions, he brought in first-rate Italian artists, most notably Rosso Fiorentino, who moved to France in 1531, and Primaticcio, who followed in 1532. The Italian masters succeeded in adapting their own styles to the courtly ideals of the French taste and were assisted by French and Flemish artists. From the association was born a distinctive Mannerist style—elegant, sophisticated, and often voluptuous, expressed most characteristically in mural painting combined with stucco ornament. Much of the stuccowork was in high relief, but Rosso also developed a distinctive motif known as strapwork, in which the stucco is formed into shapes resembling leather or parchment that has been rolled and cut into decorative patterns; this became a particularly popular form of ornament in England and the Low Countries (Fontainebleau motifs were widely spread through engravings). Primaticcio's distinctive figure style—characterized by long limbs, small heads, and sharp, elegant profiles—became virtually canonical in French art until the end of the 16th century.

Other Italian artists who worked at Fontainebleau included Niccolò dell' Abate and Cellini, but much of the work associated with the school is by unknown hands, although often of high quality, as with the celebrated painting Diana the Huntress (c.1550, Louvre, Paris). The mythological subject matter, elongated elegance, idyllic landscape setting, and air of sophisticated artificiality in this work are wholly typical of the School, the influence of which left few French artists of the time untouched. After the hiatus caused by the Wars of Religion (1562–98) the decorative painting of royal palaces was revived under the patronage of Henry IV (reigned 1589–1610). The name Second School of Fontainebleau is usually given to the artists who carried out this work for Henry, notably Ambroise Dubois, Toussaint Dubreuil, and Martin Fréminet. Their work was accomplished, but without the inventive brilliance of the best work of the First School.

Fontainebleau, School of (École de Fontainebleau). Term applied to artists working in a style associated with the French court at Fontainebleau in the 16th century. The palace at Fontainebleau (about 65 km (40 miles) south-east of Paris) was the most brilliant expression of the ambition of Francis I (reigned 1515–47) to glorify the French crown by emulating the lavish patronage of the great humanist princes of Italy. As France lacked an indigenous tradition of mural painting adequate to his grandiose conceptions, he brought in Italian masters to lead the work. The two most important Italians to work at Fontainebleau were Rosso Fiorentino, who moved to France in 1531, and Primaticcio, who followed in 1532. The Italian masters succeeded in adapting their own styles to the courtly ideals of the French taste and were assisted by French and Flemish artists. From the combination was born a distinctive Mannerist style—elegant, sophisticated, and often voluptuous, expressed most characteristically in mural painting combined with stucco ornament. Much of the stuccowork was in high relief, but Rosso also developed a distinctive motif known as strapwork, in which the stucco is formed into shapes resembling leather or parchment that has been rolled and cut into decorative patterns; this became a particularly popular form of ornament in England and the Low Countries (Fontainebleau motifs were widely spread through engravings). Primaticcio's distinctive figure style—characterized by long limbs, small heads, and sharp, elegant profiles—became virtually canonical in French art until the end of the 16th century. Other Italian artists who worked at Fontainebleau included Niccolò dell'Abate and Cellini, but much of the work associated with the school is by unknown hands, although often of high quality, such as the celebrated painting Diana the Huntress (c.1550, Louvre, Paris). The mythological subject matter, elongated elegance, idyllic landscape setting, and air of sophisticated artificiality in this work are wholly typical of the School, the influence of which left few French artists of the time untouched. After the hiatus caused by the Wars of Religion (1562–98) the decorative painting of royal palaces was revived under the patronage of Henry IV (reigned 1589–1610). The name Second School of Fontainebleau is usually given to the artists who carried out this work for Henry IV, notably Ambroise Dubois (1542/3–1614), Toussaint Dubreuil (1561–1602), and Martin Fréminet (1567–1619). Their work was accomplished, but without the inventive brilliance of the best work of the First School.

school of Fontainebleau group of 16th-century artists who decorated the royal palace at Fontainebleau. The major figures in this group were Italian painters invited to France by Francis I. Il Rosso, a Florentine and the most important member of the school, arrived at Fontainebleau in 1530; he was followed in 1532 by Francesco Primaticcio, a disciple of Raphael, and Sebastiano Serlio. Niccolò dell'Abbate appeared at the court in 1552 during the reign of Henry II. The art of Fontainebleau, today represented chiefly by the Gallery of Francis I, was an offshoot of the mannerist style developed in Italy. It was characterized by a refined elegance, with crowded figural compositions in which painting and elaborate stucco work were closely integrated. The work of the Fontainebleau artists incorporated allegory in accordance with the courtly liking for symbolism.

Fontainebleau. Style of architectural decoration at the French Royal Château created by Italian (notably Rosso Fiorentino (1495–1540), Francesco Primaticcio (1504/5–70), Serlio, and Vignola), French, and Flemish artists for François I^er from 1528 to 1558. It was an eclectic mutation of High Renaissance design into a distinct form of Mannerism featuring lavish cartouches, caryatides, grotesques, scrolls, strapwork, and etiolated stucco figures. Fontainebleau influenced French design until the end of C16, but the style was widely disseminated through printed sources emanating from Antwerp, and influenced Flemish Mannerism and architecture in England, Germany, and The Netherlands.

Bibliography

Blunt (1982);
Chilvers, Osborne, & Frampton (eds.) (1988);
Shearman (1967)

Fontainebleau School Style of painting associated with a group of artists working at the French court in the 16th century. In a bid to match the magnificence of the Italian courts, Francis I gathered international artists to decorate his palace at Fontainebleau. Led by the Florentine artists Fiorentino Rosso and Francesco Primaticcio, the group evolved a unique style of mannerism, blending sensuality and elegance.