Fontainebleau, School Of

school of Fontainebleau, the vast number of artists, both foreign and French, whose works are associated with the court of Francis I at Fontainebleau during the last two-thirds of the 16th century. There is both a first and a second school of Fontainebleau. The earlier works are the more important.

The palace itself can be described as charming and picturesque, though architecturally it is not a work of consequence, being chiefly a transformation of the previous medieval castle, even incorporating some of the older parts. The King began rebuilding in 1528 and by 1530 had persuaded Rosso Fiorentino (1494–1540), the first of many Italians who were to work there, to locate in France. Rosso was joined in 1532 by Primaticcio (1504–70). Artists of great merit, they evolved a brilliant system of combining painted panels with stucco nudes, garlands, and other forms sculpted in high relief. In addition, Rosso developed a much imitated “strapwork” technique; that is, he treated stucco like pieces of leather that had been rolled, folded, and cut into shape. Artists who could not visit Fontainebleau knew of the work there through engravings, and these same engravings are useful today as records of what has been lost. Much of the most characteristic Fontainebleau decorative sculpture and painting can still be seen there in the Galerie François I, the Chambre de la Duchesse d’Etampes, and the Salle de Ball.

Primaticcio was active long after the death of Rosso, and his manner of representing the human figure with long limbs, thin necks, small heads, and exaggerated classical profiles was canon for the rest of the century. Other foreign masters included the painter of mythological landscapes, Niccolò dell’Abbate, who was at Fontainebleau from 1552, and Benvenuto Cellini, Florentine goldsmith and sculptor, who is well known for his saltcellar made for Francis I (1540; Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna) and “Nymph of Fontainebleau” (1543/44; Louvre, Paris).

The so-called second school of Fontainebleau generally refers to the painters Ambroise Dubois (1563–1614), Toussaint Dubreuil (1561–1602), and Martin Fréminet (1567–1619), men who, though competent, lacked imagination and invention and were content to work within the artistic boundaries set by their predecessors at Fontainebleau.