Primaticcio, Francesco (fränchās`kō prēmätēt`chō), 1504–70, Italian painter, called Le Primatice by the French. He was influenced by Correggio and by Michelangelo. As assistant to Giulio Romano in the frescoing of the Palazzo del Tè in Mantua, he adapted the master's methods of illusionism and mannerist idiom. In 1532, Francis I invited Primaticcio to participate in the decoration of the château at Fontainebleau. Working with Il Rosso on the fresco and stucco ornamentation, he became director of the whole project in 1540 upon Rosso's death. Only a few of Primaticcio's works at Fontainebleau survive. The most important scenes from the Odyssey in the Gallery of Ulysses have been destroyed. Many drawings for the project still exist (Louvre; École des Beaux-Arts, Paris; Chantilly; and Vienna). He remained in the royal service under four successive monarchs, painting decorations for royal châteaus and other buildings, designing tomb monuments of Francis I and Henry II, and executing other architectural works. Primaticcio did much to extend the influence of Italian art in France.

Primaticcio, Francesco

(born April 30, 1504, Bologna, Emilia—died 1570, Paris, France) Italian-born French painter, sculptor, and architect. In 1532 Francis I invited him to help redecorate the Fontainebleau Palace, and Primaticcio became one of the principal artists in France; he remained there the rest of his life, making only brief trips to Italy. His decorative style in painting and stucco sculpture stressed the human figure; the exaggerated musculature and active, elongated forms of his figures greatly influenced 16th-century French art. One of the first artists in France to replace religious themes with those of Classical mythology, he brought a quiet French elegance to Italian Mannerism.