Abbate Niccolo dell' (c 1512-71) 

A Modenese painter who, from 1552, worked in France and was, with Primaticcio, a leader of the school of *Fontainebleau. A. was stylistically influenced by the illusionism of Mantegna and the softness of Correggio, but more important was his characteristically Mannerist treatment of landscape, as in the Rape of Proserpine. There are similarities in his work to Dosso Dossi and also Patenier and the Antwerp school, and A. himself introduced Mannerism in landscape into France. A major picture is The Story of Aristacus.