Francesco Primaticcio (Primatice)
painter, sculptor, and architect; b. 1490 (at Bologna, Italy); d. 1570.
Primaticcio was associated with Giulio Romano at Mantua, and in 1531 was called to France by Francois I and was employed at Fontainebleau. He was at first associated with II Rosso, at whose death he assumed sole charge of the decoration of the palace. In 1554 he was made abbe of S. Martin de Tours. August 3, 1559, he replaced Philibert de 1'Orme as superintendent of the royal buildings. About 1562 he assumed direction of the construction of the monument of Henri II at Saint Denis (see Pilon, Germain). The construction of portions of the palace of Fontainebleau is ascribed to him. In 1562 he assumed the title commissaire général des bâtiments du roi, and had large power over the artistic productions of his time in France.
Girolamo (Jérôme) della Robbia
sculptor and architect; d. August 4, 1566.
Girolamo was the youngest son of Andrea della Robbia. Nothing is known of him until he went to France, probably between 1525 and 1528. In a document dated February 5, 1529, Jerosme de Robia, tailleur d' ymages et esmailleur is mentioned as associated with Pierre Gadier, Maistre Maçon in the construction of the Château du Bois de Boulogne (known as the Château de Madrid, and destroyed in the eighteenth century). He appears in the records of the building until 1553, and he was either its architect or the designer of the terra-cotta decoration, which was destroyed with the building.
Tribolo (Nicolò dei Braccini dei Pericoli)
architect, landscape architect, sculptor, and painter; b. 1500; d. September 5, 1550.
The nickname Tribolo (trouble) was given to him on account of his timidity. He entered the atelier of Nanni Unghero and later that of Jacopo Sansovino, then working in Florence. In 1525 he was invited to Bologna to continue the sculpture of the smaller portals of the façade of the church of S. Petronio. Two Sibyls on one of these portals and two statues in the Capella Zambeccari a S. Petronio, are by him. After the death of Andrea Sansovino, in 1529, Tribolo assisted Mosca, Montelupo, and others in completing the sculpture of the Casa Santa at Loreto. After the election of Cosimo I d'Medici, Duke of Tuscany, in 1537, Tribolo was employed in laying out and embellishing the gardens of his villas and palaces. At the villa of Castello he made two fountains, to the larger of which Ammanati added the group of Hercules and Antaeus; at the villa of Petraio he constructed a fountain, and was engaged in laying out the Boboli Gardens, Florence, when he died.
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Plan and elevation of the Palace of the Te, near Mantua, built in 1525 for Frederick de Gonzague first duke of Mantua; designed by Julio Romano, who was here architect, painter, and decorator. It is considered his greatest work, and unites to the imposing aspect of the exterior the most rich and elegant interior decoration.
Seroux
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Albrecht Dürer, The Peasants' Revolt, Memorial Column (1525).
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