FRANCIS
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FRANCIS
tant works of Franeia, e. g. the "Calvary" of the
Archiginnasio of Bologna, the "Madonna" of Berlin,
above all the remarkable "St. Stephen" of the Casino
Borghese, are remarkable for a certain character of
"dilettantism" (Burkhardt), for something so inten-
tionally uniqiie and original that one does not know
with what to connect them in all the history of paint-
ing. We feel ourselves in the presence of a master who
grasps with firmness his own ideas and is extremely
personal in his tendencies, one who takes up a new
craft only because it enables him to apply highly in-
dividual theories or express his intimate tastes. The
early attempts were followed by a series of great
works dated as follows: the Feliciui reretlos (Bologna,
1494), that of the Bentivoglio (San Giacorao Maggiore,
1599), those of the Scappi and the Manzuoli, the great
"Annunciation" (Pinacotcca of Bologna, 1500), and
various others now in the museums of BerUn and St.
Petersburg. It is always the same subject so beloved
throughout the fifteenth century, the Virgin sur-
rounded by various saints; even when styled an
"Annunciation", the treatment remains the same.
The composition is necessarily uniform, in deference
to the law of symmetry. There is naturally no ac-
tion, the painter's object being to produce with these
motionless figures an effect of harmony and recollec-
tion. It is a calm and tranquil beauty that he
seeks to reproduce. But within these limits no one,
not even Ciiovanni Bellini, though his "Madonna of
San Zaccaria" dates from 1505, achieved so much.
The orderly disposition of his figures and his well-
balanced lines, heightened often by an architectural
background or by landscapes, produces an impression
of profound peace. So much happiness could have
but one legitimate expression, i. e. music. In other
words the angels playing on the harp or the lute,
whom Franeia loved to introduce, interpret naturally
the emotions awakened by the harmony of form.
Let it be added, and in this he differs from Perugino,
that with him IjTicism never becomes mere formula.
The inspiration of Franeia seems inexhaustible;
hence his ability to vary indefinitely, and always with
success, the same theme. Franeia was always too
conscientious to reproduce in a commonplace way
works which were the outcome, on his part, of a deep
emotional life. In this artist the conventional never
replaces true sentiment, as in Perugino during the
last twenty-five years of his hfe.
The types of Franeia, though extremely general in significance, are none the less markedly individual; his Sebastian has not the same features, the same piety, the same ecstasy as Bernard, nor is his figure of Augustine the same as that of Francis. In execution he displays admirable care in all details and is never negligent. The figures are irreproachably constructed, while the elegant ornamentation, the sculptures, embroideries, tiaras, and dalmatics betray the sharp and critical eye of the goldsmith and engraver. Of this we are reminded still more forcibly by his fond- ness for, and careful selection of, the best materials for his palette, and his taste for compact, thick, enam- elled painting, of itself a pleasure to the eye. Each picture of Franeia has its own sonorous harmony; throughout his work we seem to hear, as it were, an orchestration of colour. We have here the principles of an entirely new art, altogether different from the ultra-intellectual preoccupations of the Florentine School. Horace had said that poetry was a kind of painting, vt pictura poesis; one might imagine that m turn Franeia wished to prove that painting was a kind of music. It was the idea likely to arise in an ancient musical city immemorially famous for its singers and its lute-players. Only in his later pic- tures, however, e. g. the "Baptism of Christ" (Dres- den, 1509), the "Deposition" (Turin, 1515), the "Sacra Conversazione" of Parma, above all in that of London (about 1516), does Franeia display the full
measure of his genius. Several of his frescoes are
known, e. g. the "Madonna del Terremuoto" (Bo-
logna, 1505) and two charming pages from the life of
St. Cecilia, her. marriage and her burial, at San Gia-
como Maggiore (1507). He is also the author of beau-
tiful portraits (Pitti Palace, also the Uffizi, in Flor-
ence). No doubt his modesty, his quiet and retired
life, spent entirely at Bologna, his avoidance of his-
torical and mythological subjects, a mental temper
which held him aloof from the great movement of the
Renaissance and caused him to pursue so novel an
occupation, suffice to explain the semi-obliteration of
his fame. His contemporaries, nevertheless, consid-
ered him a man of no small importance. Raphael
corresponded with him, though there is no proof that
the letter and sonnet quoted by Malvasia are authen-
tic. In 1508 he was named director of the mint of
Bologna, and in 1514, master of all the artist corpora-
tions of the city. He was handsome, says his con-
temporary Seccadinari, very eloquent, well-informed,
and distinguished. His influence, nevertheless, was
confined to Bologna. He lived apart from the pagan
and rationalistic movement of the fifteenth century,
was an isolated man of great and noble gifts, original
and pure in his use of them, in a word the most emi-
nent personality in Northern Italian art previous to
Titian and Correggio. He had two sons, Giacomo and
Giulio, b. in 1485 and 1487.
Vasari, ed. MiLANESl.III. 55.5: Malvasia, Fetsina PittrCce (Bologna. 1641); Calvi, Memorie delta vita di Fr. Raibolini detfo it Franeia (Bologna. 1S12); Duchesne. Essai sur les Xiellea (Paris, 1812); Reid, The Engravings of Franeia (London, 1871): Williamson, Franeia (London, 1901).
Louis GiLLET.
Francis I, King of France; b. at Cognac, 12 Sep- tember, 1494; d. at Rambouillet, 31 March, 1547. He was the son of Charles of Orleans, Count of .\ngou- leme, and Louise of Savoy, and the husband of Claude of France, daughter of Louis XII. He succeeded to the throne 1 January, 1515, not as son-in-law, since the Salic Law did not permit succession through women, but as cousin of Louis XII, who had no male heir. His victory at Marignano (1515) over the Swiss who were defending Maximilian Sforza established the young king's reputation in Italy. He took advantage of this at " the interview of Bologna " to bring to a suc- cessful termination the efforts of liis predecessors, Charles VII and Louis XI, to impose on Leo X the con- cordat which governed the organization of the French Church from that time till the end of the old regime (see Fr.^nce). This marked the beginning of a series of measures destined to establish in France the pre- ponderance of the royal power. Francis I sought by every means, even by exceptional tribunals, to destroy among the nobles, both bishops and seigneurs (lords), the spirit of independence. The formula of royal edicts " car tel est notre bon plaisir " (because it is our good pleasure) dates from his reign. The death of Emperor Maximilian I (1519) led Francis I to dispute the imperial crown with Charles of Austria who had recently inherited the crown of Spain. The latter be- came emperor as Charles V. Surrounded on the south, north-east, and east by the states of Charles V, Francis I, immediately after his interview of the Field of the Cloth of Gold with Henry VIII of England (1520), began the struggle with the House of Austria which was to be prolonged, with occasional truces, un- til 1756. Four successive wars against Charles V filled the reign of King Francis. The first, famous for the exploits and death of Bayard, the "chevalier sans peur et sans reproche ", the treason of the Constable de Bourbon, the defeat of Francis I at Pavia (1525), and his captivity, ended with theTreatyof Madrid (1526), by which he ceded Burgundy to Charles V. The sec- ond war, rendered necessary by the refusal of the depu- ties of Burgundy to become the subjects of the em- peror, and marked by the alhance between Francis I
