Primaticcio, Francesco

(c. 1504-1570)

   Italian Mannerist painter, sculptor, and architect who studied under Giulio Romano in Mantua. Along with Rosso Fiorentino, Primaticcio headed the Fontainebleau School in France. He arrived at the French court in 1532, invited by Francis I, and remained there for the rest of his life save for a few short trips to Italy. Many of his works, particularly his buildings, were destroyed and are known only through prints and drawings. He is best remembered for his decorations in the Chambre de la Duchesse d'Étampes (c. 1541-1545) and his mantelpiece in the Chambre de la Reine (1533-1537), both at the Fontainebleau Palace. In the first, he created a series of sculpted caryatids, meant to enframe painted scenes, that do not follow classical forms. Rather, they are placed in profile or in three-quarter turns and support stylized cartouches. As Mannerist figures, they feature elongated proportions and little sense of musculature. The mantelpiece in the second room presents a play of circular and square forms that contrast with the elongations of the relief figures.

   Primaticcio's Ulysses and Penelope (c. 1545; Toledo, Museum of Art) is an example of his painting abilities. Related to the decorative scheme of the Galerie d'Ulysse in the Fontainebleau Palace, now destroyed, the work presents an intimate moment between husband and wife influenced by the sculptural figures of Michelangelo. The differing scales between the main characters and the two who converse in the background, the elegant elongations, and vague details of anatomy translate the stylizations of Primaticcio's sculptures into painting. Along with Rosso, Primaticcio is credited with bringing the Mannerist mode to France. The combination of painting and relief sculpture he introduced at Fontainebleau and his graceful lengthened forms were to have an impact on French art for many decades.