Fontainebleau school
[Fr. Ecole de Fontainebleau].
Term that encompasses work in a wide variety of media,
including painting, sculpture, stuccowork and printmaking,
produced from the 1530s to the first decade of the 17th
century in France. It evokes an unreal and poetic world of
elegant, elongated figures, often in mythological settings,
as well as incorporating rich, intricate ornamentation with
a characteristic type of strapwork. The phrase was first
used by Adam von Bartsch in Le Peintre-graveur (21
vols, Vienna, 1803–21), referring to a group of etchings and
engravings, some of which were undoubtedly made at
Fontainebleau in France. More generally, it designates
the art made to decorate the château of Fontainebleau, built
from 1528 by Francis I and his successors, and by extension
it covers all works that reflect the art of Fontainebleau. With the re-evaluation of
MANNERISM in the 20th century, the popularity of the
Fontainebleau school has increased hugely. There has also
been an accompanying increase in the difficulty of defining
the term precisely.
Venus and Cupid
La Charite
The Birth of Cupid
Venus and Mars
Athena
The Nymph of
Fontainebleau
Toilet van Venus
The Contest of Apollo and Pan
The Triumph of Chastity
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