Battista Franco
Mannerist painter, original etcher
Battista Franco Veneziano also known by his correct name of Giovanni Battista Franco was an Italian Mannerist painter and printmaker in etching active in Rome, Urbino, and Venice in the mid 16th century. He is also known as il Semolei or just Battista Franco. Native to Venice, he came to Rome in his twenties. He painted an allegory of the Battle of Montemurlo now in the Pitti Palace (1537), and a fresco of the Arrest of John the Baptist for the Oratory of San Giovanni Decollato (1541). From 1545–51 he painted in Urbino. He may have been, along with Girolamo Genga, one of the mentors of Federico Barocci. His painting, in the Mannerist style, was heavily indebted to Michelangelo; but his drawings and etchings have far more verve and originality. He returned to Venice, where he helped fresco the ceiling of the Biblioteca Marciana (library). He painted a series of panels, including a Baptism of Christ (Barbaro chapel), for the walls and vault of the Grimani chapel in the church San Francesco della Vigna in Venice. He painted the Raising of Lazarus in the Ducal palace.
Relationship Network
Fellow student
Influenced by
- Michelangelo Influence_source
Artworks by this artist
- Spectators Amazed early 1540s
- Vinget putto med trefork
- Drawing of Cartouche with Bearded Man Left, Young man crowned with Laurels Right, and Four Putti 1498-1561
- Half-Length Skeleton in Profile early 1540s
- Three Allegorical Figures in a Roundel 1510-61
- Relief eines römischen Bacchus-Sarkophags mit der Auffindung Ariadnes
- The Lamentation 1545-1550
- Upper Half of Skeleton from the Back early 1540s
- Rib Cages early 1540s
- Standing Virgin with Child, Two Heads at Upper Right 1530
- En bacchisk procession
- Two Standing Draped Figure 1540-60
- Figure Studies; Three Sketches of Cain Killing Abel, with an Altar of Sacrifice at Center, Two Standing Women, a Hand, and a Seated Child with a Squirrel 1510[-]6
- The Unrepentant Thief on the Cross, Study of a Child’s Head at Lower Left, and of an Ear at Lower Right Border 1510-61
- The Penitent Thief on the Cross 1510-61
- Half Figure of a Youth with Outstretched Left Arm and Bowed Head 1554-61
- Arm Bones early 1540s
- After the Antique; Greek and Amazon 1530-36
- Saint John the Baptist 1550s
- Lower Half of Skeleton from the Back early 1540s