ROSSO FIORENTINO
(b. 1494, Firenze, d. 1540, Paris)

Decoration

1534-36
Stucco
Galerie François I, Fontainebleau

Rosso Fiorentino, summoned to France in 1530 at the instigation of Francis I, devised in 1534 a compartmented decoration, stuccoed and painted, for the gallery at Fontainebleau; he completed it, with the aid of numerous assistants, in 1536. Each compartment forms a self-contained composition. Framing the scene of Venus Scolding Cupid is an elaborate stucco ornament including strapwork scrolls, putti, baskets of fruit, and two graceful life-size, naked figures. At the top, in the center, appears the gilded royal emblem, the salamander. The soft, pliant modelling and the grace and femininity of the bodies are characteristic of the Fontainebleau school, representing the ideal of French Mannerism freed from the stamp of Italy.