What Was The Role Of King Francis In French Renaissance
The role of King Francis I in French Renaissance art
By the time of France’s King Francis I’s reign, patronising arts had become more of an obligation than just a sign of erudition or generosity. Patronage had developed into a type of political behaviour and a way of documenting. In 1515, when King Francis I ascended the throne of France, the local Renaissance culture was almost at a standstill, since Gothic art originated from France and left a grandiose mark on it. The French did not want to let go of the Gothic traditions and welcome a new style, even more as it came from Italy. King Francis I was destined to change the course of French Renaissance. He was due to actualize his knowledge of art and distribute the essence of it to the people …show more content…
Francis first got his decorous taste for visual arts and poetry from his mother, Louise of Savoy (Knecht 1994). The Duchess of Angoulême, Louise of Savoy, had been a considerable patron of writers and intellectuals herself (Richardson 2002). Another immense influence on Francis’s taste came from the court of Louis XII. Francis’ predecessor redecorated the royal château at Blois with Italian Renaissance style interior (Richardson 2002). In 1504, at the age of ten, the soon-to-be king directly requested pieces of art from Italian masters, according to Niccolò Alamanni, the envoy to the marquis of Mantua: “he (King Francis I) has expressed the wish that I should obtain for him some pictures by those excellent Italian masters” (Mansfield 2016). Francis had a clear plan to collect Italian art and through that endorse himself and evolve the state of French …show more content…
Francis’s heritage consisted mostly of construction or renovation of the following château’s: Château de Chambord, Château de Madrid, Château de Fontainebleau, Château de Blois and the Louvre Castle (Vioux 1998). In addition to the castles, he paved the way of patronising arts for his successor’s wife, Queen Caterina de’ Medici. Sometimes called the Black Queen for her role in the Saint Bartholomew’s Day Massacre, she was also known as one of the great patrons of arts (Knecht 1998). Francis’s concept of French Renaissance art and his heritage were formed as
By the time of France’s King Francis I’s reign, patronising arts had become more of an obligation than just a sign of erudition or generosity. Patronage had developed into a type of political behaviour and a way of documenting. In 1515, when King Francis I ascended the throne of France, the local Renaissance culture was almost at a standstill, since Gothic art originated from France and left a grandiose mark on it. The French did not want to let go of the Gothic traditions and welcome a new style, even more as it came from Italy. King Francis I was destined to change the course of French Renaissance. He was due to actualize his knowledge of art and distribute the essence of it to the people …show more content…
Francis first got his decorous taste for visual arts and poetry from his mother, Louise of Savoy (Knecht 1994). The Duchess of Angoulême, Louise of Savoy, had been a considerable patron of writers and intellectuals herself (Richardson 2002). Another immense influence on Francis’s taste came from the court of Louis XII. Francis’ predecessor redecorated the royal château at Blois with Italian Renaissance style interior (Richardson 2002). In 1504, at the age of ten, the soon-to-be king directly requested pieces of art from Italian masters, according to Niccolò Alamanni, the envoy to the marquis of Mantua: “he (King Francis I) has expressed the wish that I should obtain for him some pictures by those excellent Italian masters” (Mansfield 2016). Francis had a clear plan to collect Italian art and through that endorse himself and evolve the state of French …show more content…
Francis’s heritage consisted mostly of construction or renovation of the following château’s: Château de Chambord, Château de Madrid, Château de Fontainebleau, Château de Blois and the Louvre Castle (Vioux 1998). In addition to the castles, he paved the way of patronising arts for his successor’s wife, Queen Caterina de’ Medici. Sometimes called the Black Queen for her role in the Saint Bartholomew’s Day Massacre, she was also known as one of the great patrons of arts (Knecht 1998). Francis’s concept of French Renaissance art and his heritage were formed as