Fontainebleau
It was one of the kings of France’s mansions, it is 40 km from Paris and it is located in a wonderful forest. The castle was renewed by Francois I, beginning in 1530. He really loved Italian art (he was in fact able to convince Leonardo to go to France), he called Rosso Fiorentino, Primaticcio and Niccolo dell’Abate to direct the works and to decorate the rooms of the castle.
Those artists gave birth to the School of Fointanebleau, that deeply influenced French painting in the following centuries. A kind of international mannerism was developed, which tried to synthesize the Italian, French and Nordic traditions.