Francesco Primaticcio (1504-1570)
France, 1541-1543
Bronze
Château de Fontainebleau 
© Adrien Didierjean, RMN-GP Château de Fontainebleau

King Francis I of France was one of the most important patrons of the arts of his day. He sought to gather the leading artists of the Renaissance and the greatest art treasures in his castle in Fontainebleau. He was especially interested in classical art – the main yardstick against which art was measured at the time. He asked the Bolognese painter Francesco Primaticcio, who was then working for him, to travel to Rome to purchase classical sculptures and take mouldings of the most famous pieces, among them the antiques of the Vatican. It was as a result of this trip that Primaticcio made in the castle of Fontainebleau this bronze replica of the famous marble statue. This prestigious statue will offer a perfect illustration of the theme of the influence of models from the ancient world on the creators of new art.