Primaticcio, Francesco

views updated

Primaticcio, Francesco (1504/5–70). Italian painter, sculptor, and architect who was important as a bringer of High Renaissance and Mannerist design to Northern Europe. He worked with Giulio Romano in Mantua (1526–31), and then at Fontainebleau from 1532 for François Ier where he designed the Aile de la Belle Cheminée (1568) and other parts, including the heavily rusticated Grotte de Pins (c.1543) in a style reminiscent of Giulio Romano's work. He also designed the Valois mortuary-chapel at St-Denis with obvious influences from Bramante, da Sangallo, and Vignola (1563—destroyed). Vasari credited him with the first stucco ornament and the first frescoes of any account in France: certainly his combination of paintings with stucco decorations was very influential.

Bibliography

Blunt (1982);
Chilvers Osborne & Farr (eds.) (1988);
Jane Turner (1982);

More From encyclopedia.com