The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Art and Artists (171 page)

 
Back
  -  
 
New Search

(1881–1943).
French art historian. He was a celebrated teacher and held various university appointments, notably at the Sorbonne in Paris, where in 1924 he succeeded Émile
Mâle
in the chair of art history. He also taught in the USA. Focillon's work ranged from studies of medieval sculpture to 20th cent. painting; he also wrote much on engraving (his father was an engraver), notably a book on
Piranesi
(1918). His best-known work is
Art d'Occident
(The Art of the West, 1938), a study of
Romanesque
and
Gothic
art in which he placed great emphasis on the technical aspects of artistic creation, stressing how the artist responds to his raw materials, their potentialities, and limitations. This outlook also finds expression in Focillon's
Vie des formes
(1934), translated as
The Life of Forms in Art
.

 
Back
  -  
 
New Search

Fontainebleau, School of
.

Term applied to artists working in a style associated with the French court at Fontainebleau in the 16th cent. The palace at Fontainebleau was the most brilliant expression of the ambition of Francis I (reigned 1515–47) to glorify the French crown by emulating the lavish patronage of the great humanist princes of Italy. As France lacked an indigenous tradition of mural painting adequate to his grandiose conceptions, he brought in Italian masters to lead the work, which was carried out between 1528 and 1558. The two most important Italians to work at Fontainebleau were
Rosso
, who came to France in 1531, and
Primaticcio
, who followed in 1532. The Italian masters succeeded in adapting their own styles to the courtly ideals of the French taste and were assisted by French and Flemish artists. From the combination was born a distinctive style of
Mannerism
, a composite of sensuality and decorative flair, of boudoir voluptuousness and etiolated elegance. Many engravings were made of the work at Fontainebleau and the union of
stucco
ornament with mural painting introduced an original feature which had wide influence. Much of the stucco-work was in high
relief
, but Rosso also developed a distinctive motif known as strapwork, in which the stucco is formed into shapes resembling leather or parchment that has been rolled and cut into decorative patterns; this became a particularly popular form of ornament in England and the Low Countries. Primaticcio's distinctive figure style—characterized by long limbs, small heads, and sharp, elegant profiles—became virtually canonical in French art until the end of the 16th cent. Other Italian artists who worked at Fontainebleau included Niccolò dell'
Abbate
and
Cellini
, but much of the work associated with the school is by unknown hands, although often of high quality, such as the celebrated painting of
Diana the Huntress
(
c.
1550) in the Louvre. The mythological subject matter, elongated elegance, idyllic landscape setting, and air of sophisticated artificiality in this work are wholly typical of the School, the influence of which left few French artists of the time untouched. After the hiatus caused by the Wars of Religion (1562–98) the decorative painting of royal palaces was revived under the patronage of Henry IV (reigned 1589–1610). The name
Second School of Fontainebleau
is usually given to the artists who carried out this work for Henry IV, notably Ambroise Dubois (1542/3–1614), Toussaint Dubreuil (1561–1602), and Martin Fréminet (1567–1619). Their work was accomplished, but without the inventive brilliance of the best work of the First School.

 
Back
  -  
 
New Search

(1899–1968).
Italian painter and sculptor, born in Argentina. His family moved to Milan in 1905 and his exhibition at the city's Galleria del Milione in 1930 was the first appearance of nonfigurative sculpture in Italy. In 1934 he joined the
Abstraction-Création
group in Paris. During the Second World War he lived in Argentina, where he issued his
White Manifesto
(1946), which introduced a new concept of art called Spatialism (
Spazializmo
). This called for co-operation with scientists in synthesizing new ideas and materials. In 1947 he returned to Milan, and in the same year founded the Spatialist movement and issued the
Technical Manifesto of Spatialism
(four more Spatialist manifestos followed, the last in 1952). His most characteristic works are paintings in which completely plain surfaces are penetrated by gashes in the canvas, but he also made environments, for example using neon lights in blackened rooms.

 
Back
  -  
 
New Search

(1512–97).
Italian painter, active mainly in his native Bologna, but also in other cities of Italy, notably Florence, Genoa, and Rome, assisting 16th-cent. decorative masters such as Pierino del Vaga,
Vasari
, and
Zuccaro
. He also worked at
Fontainebleau
(
c.
1560) under
Primaticcio
. Fontana was a favourite artist of Gabriele Paleotti, Archbishop of Bologna, and was the leading painter in the city in the 1570s. Paleotti was one of the churchmen who, in line with the ideals of the Counter-Reformation, called for greater clarity in painting as an aid to devotion, but Fontana's work—elegant but rather spineless—is generally seen as exemplifying everything that the
Carracci
opposed in their move towards naturalism. Most of Fontana's work is still in and around Bologna. His daughter and pupil
Lavinia Fontana
(1552–1614) was much esteemed in her day as a portraitist.

 
Back
  -  
 
New Search