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
while also padding his reputation. As he completed his task, he documented himself into French art history.
The knowledge and means of transforming French Renaissance art were encoded into King Francis I well before his accession.
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
Renaissance.
French Renaissance artists sensed the competition which Francis I had created by importing the works of Italian artists; and thus took French Renaissance into a higher state to impress the king and the French people. One of the first deeds as king, Francis I made Leonardo da Vinci come to his court as a painter (Knecht 1994). He also offered the place of his court painter to Andrea Mantegna, Titian and Andrea del Sarto. In 1518 four paintings in style of Italian Renaissance were sent to King Francis I by Pope Leo X as a diplomatic gift to reassure relations with the warrior-king (Knecht 1994). King Francis’ search for a court painter amongst Italian artists and his acceptance of the gift of Pope Leo X depicted his distaste for the eclectic style of French Renaissance artist of that day (Chastel 1995). Although in the court of the king from as early as 1514, Flemish-French painter Jean Clouet only achieved his peak in the 1530s and painted one of the most famous portraits of King Francis I in 1535. Starting from Jean and his son, François, the rise of French Renaissance painters had begun.
King Francis I laid the foundation for succeeding monarch patrons and gave a chance for Renaissance artists in France to blossom with help from the monarchy.
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
château’s.
The rule of King Francis I of France conceived a new style – the French Renaissance. Therefore, his role in shaping French art was imponderable. Francis was interweaved by Italian Renaissance already by the age of ten and used his knowledge to improve French art. French Renaissance’s most splendid form is the château – a piece of King Francis I’s heritage that still exists and attracts tourist to the Loire valley today.