Salviati, Francesco

Salviati, Francesco (Francesco de' Rossi) (b Florence, 1510; d Rome, 11 Nov. 1563).
Florentine Mannerist painter, a pupil of Andrea del Sarto. In about 1530 he moved to Rome and he adopted the name by which he is now known from his main patron there, Cardinal Giovanni Salviati; he lodged in the cardinal's palace and it was for him that he painted the work that established his reputation—the fresco of the Visitation (1538) in S. Giovanni Decollato. In 1539 he moved to Venice, but he had left the city by 1541; the rest of his career was mainly divided between Rome and Florence, but he also worked in France in 1556–7. Salviati was one of the leading fresco decorators of his day, specializing in learned and elaborate multi-figure compositions, typically Mannerist in their artificiality and abstruseness, and similar in style to those of his friend Vasari. He was an artist of higher calibre than Vasari, but he had a difficult temperament and many of his projects were disrupted when he alienated patrons or fellow artists. His finest works are perhaps the frescos on the story of the Roman general Furius Camillus (1543–5) in the Sala dell'Udienza of the Palazzo Vecchio, Florence, intended as an allegory of Cosimo de' Medici's reign. Salviati's work also included portraits (Florentine in their direct characterization but north Italian in their richness of colour), altarpieces, and designs for tapestry. Giuseppe Salviati (c.1520–c.1575) was his pupil. He was born Giuseppe Porta, but borrowed his master's borrowed name. He worked mainly in Venice, painting numerous altarpieces and also decorations for civic buildings.