Jupiter and Antiope, after Francesco Primaticcio

As part of his creation of the first modern nation-state, Francis I brought leading Italian artists to France and, principal among his projects, had them decorate the royal country palace at Fontainebleau. A group of printmakers reproduced both drawings by the most stylish Italian masters, like Parmigianino, and studies for the villa’s highly intellectual decoration. If this kind of printmaking was itself Italian, the cultivation of etching to accentuate fluent design and rarified substance was novel. The etchings of the School of Fontainebleau represent one of the most original and influential manifestations of Mannerism. Along with Léon Davent and Jean Mignon, Antonio Fantuzzi was the leading etcher at Fontainebleau. This print epitomizes the school’s interests. The subject, from Ovid’s Metamorphoses, is the seduction of Antiope by Jupiter in the form of a satyr. In Francesco Primaticcio’s composition, the overt interaction is minimal and in ways subtle. His hand disappears into shadow between her legs. Her form, recalling the Sleeping Ariadne of ancient statuary, stirs to life. Her toe brushes his hoof. The erotic meaning is developed equally in the play of form: the rhyming angles of their bodies, the spilling fruit beneath her, the labial parting of the background’s drapery. Bold and languorous, warm and remote, Fantuzzi’s technique does not just serve the subject but adds another metaphoric layer.