Fontainebleau School

French school of Mannerist painting and sculpture. It was established at the court of François I, who brought Italian artists to Fontainebleau, near Paris, to decorate his hunting lodge: Rosso Fiorentino arrived in 1530, Francesco Primaticcio came in 1532. They evolved a distinctive decorative style using a combination of stucco relief and painting. Their work, with its exuberant ornamental and figurative style, had a lasting impact on French art in the 16th century.

Others associated with the school include Benvenuto Cellini, Niccolò dell'Abbate, Jean Cousin the Elder, and Antoine Caron (c. 1515-c. 1593). Flourishing about 1530-60, this (first) School of Fontainebleau was followed towards the end of the 16th century by a short revival of less note but known as the second school, influenced both by Flemish art and by the School of Bologna. Jacob Bunel (1551-1614), Toussaint Dubreuil (1561-1602) and Martin de Fréminet (1567-1619) are minor artists representative of this phase.