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 (27 total)
- Sketches of Figures 1540-60
- Upper Half of Skeleton from the Back early 1540s
- The Lamentation 1545-1550
- 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
- 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 Adoration of the Shepherds c. 1552
- Two Female Figures, study for the Baptism of Christ in S. Francesco della Vigna, Venice 1552
- Vinget putto med trefork
- Saint John the Baptist 1550s
- En bacchisk procession
- Skull in Profile ca. 1538
- Half Figure of a Youth with Outstretched Left Arm and Bowed Head 1554-61
- Lower Half of Skeleton from the Back early 1540s
- Two Standing Draped Figure 1540-60
- The Penitent Thief on the Cross 1510-61
- Three Allegorical Figures in a Roundel 1510-61
- Relief eines römischen Bacchus-Sarkophags mit der Auffindung Ariadnes
- Drawing of Cartouche with Bearded Man Left, Young man crowned with Laurels Right, and Four Putti 1498-1561
- Rib Cages early 1540s
- Torsos with Rib Cages early 1540s