Antonio Fantuzzi Biography
(b ?Bologna; fl Fontainebleau, 1537–50). Italian painter and printmaker. He was one of Francesco Primaticcio’s main assistants at Fontainebleau. Although no painted work or drawing by him can be identified, he is recorded as having designed some of the grotesques for the vault of the Galerie d’Ulysse. From 1542 to 1545 he was one of the principal etchers of the Fontainebleau school, producing more than 100 etchings in that short time. Around 1542–3 he reproduced many drawings by Giulio Romano and Rosso Fiorentino, recording many of the latter’s compositions for the palace of Francis I. Because he always worked from preparatory drawings rather than from the frescoes themselves, Fantuzzi’s etchings are an invaluable source of information about lost drawings by Rosso. Later he worked from Primaticcio’s designs, especially his drawings after antique statues. While Fantuzzi’s earlier etchings are violent in their handling and light effects (e.g. his etching after Rosso’s The Sacrifice ; see Zerner (1969), no. 27), his maniera later became more careful and softer (e.g. Apollo and Marsyas , after Parmigianino; see Zerner (1969), no. 77). Fantuzzi has often been mistakenly identified with Antonio da Trento.
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