The Monarch of the Renaissance

The first celebrated School of Artists in France was known as the "Fontainebleau School," and Francis I., its founder, has been called "The Monarch of the Renaissance." And such he truly was, both in Letters and Art. He founded the College of Paris in 1530, and for the building and decoration of his Palace at Fontainebleau he brought over a colony of Italian Artists whose homes, and those of the workmen, formed the nucleus of the present handsome town of Fontainebleau. French artists and students of Art were invited by the King to join the Italian colony, to practice the Arts, and to receive instruction free. He said: "The Arts," for Architecture and Sculpture and Painting had not then separated. To be an architect during the Middle Ages and in the early years of the Renaissance was to be also a sculptor and a painter. It was not until after the death of Raphael that the arts began to separate. Architecture, up to this time, had been supreme; sculpture and painting were but her handmaids. The Palace of Fontainebleau was built under the Union of the Arts, and it is the truest type of the French Renaissance. The first Headmaster of the School of Fontainebleau was an Italian, Rosso de Rossi (1496-1541), called by the students "Maitre Roux." He was a pupil and disciple of Michael Angelo, a man of letters as well as of art, handsome in form and attractive in manner, a great favorite of the King and of the School. In the height of his popularity he was robbed of a large sum of money. He accused a brother artist, who was arrested and put to extreme torture, but no evidence of his guilt appearing he was declared innocent. "Maitre Roux" suffered such extreme remorse for having wronged an unoffending man that he finally took his own life. Few of his paintings remain at Fontainebleau, but his best easel-picture still hangs in the Louvre, "The Rival Songs of the Muses." The King then appealed to Guillo Romano for a successor. He sent his pupil and assistant, Francesco Primaticcio (1504-1570). This master, with his school, not only completed the enormous task of designing and decorating the palace, but was retained as Court Painter during three succeeding reigns (Henry II., Francis II., and Charles IX.). Primaticcio was the chief architect and designer, but Niccolo Abbate was the chief painter. The work of this artist was highly eulogized. It was said that he combined in his frescoes "the symmetry of Raphael, the terror of Michael Angelo, the truth of Titian, and the dignity of Correggio." This "School of Fontainebleau" produced the most noted French artists of the sixteenth century, those whose works still adorn the Louvre. The chief of this group was Jean Goujon (1515-1572), sculptor, architect, and medallist, who, besides his decorations in high and low relief in the Palace of Fontainebleau, showing perfect grace and elegant treatment of form, was also the Court Sculptor of the Louvre, and in that great Palace of Art there is still a Gallery called the "Salle de Jean Goujon," where his most noted works are to be found, especially his portrait of "Diana of Poitiers." This great French artist of the sixteenth century was among the doomed in the Massacre of the Huguenots, August 24th, 1572. He was shot while on a scaffolding carving a relievo on the exterior of the Louvre. The School of Fontainebleau, however, was not destined to leave a lasting influence upon French Art; it only awakened native genius, and the Palace of Fontainebleau marks an epoch in the history of French Art. The student thenceforth, instead of studying Art studied "The Arts," Architecture, Sculpture, and Painting. The arts separated, and each thenceforth pursued her individual pathway. Northern and Southern Art diverged, and two distinct Schools of Art arose, "Italian Art" and "Art Outside of Italy."