Brief Biography-Rosso Fiorentino (Giovanni Battista di Jacopo, Il Rosso, Maître Roux.) was born in Florence. He painted in a mannerist style peculiar to Florence. Andrea del Sarto, tutored him, and he worked alongside his friend Pontormo. In Rome, Michelangelo, Raphael and Parmigiano profoundly influenced his style. Three years after the sack of Rome, which he fled from and took refuge at Volterra, he made his way to France, where Francis I engaged him in the decoration of the Galerie at Fontainebleau. The king appointed him superintendent of the royal buildings and paintings and gave him a large pension. Francesco Primaticcio assisted him with the Galerie, and after Rosso’s early death, he resumed the decoration when he returned from a mission in Rome.
A story put about, possibly by Giorgio Vasari, was that Rosso accused his friend Francesco Pellegrino of robbing a large sum of money from him and had him put to torture. However, when Pellegrino got acquitted of the falsehood, Rosso poisoned himself, fearing being branded as infamous and forever universally detested.
Most of his paintings are in Fontainebleau. Rosso’s style influenced many artists after him.