Francis I in the Studio of Benvenuto Cellini

This history painting by Francesco Podesti, executed in 1839 and held at the Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Moderna in Rome, depicts Francis I visiting the workshop of the Italian sculptor and goldsmith Benvenuto Cellini. The scene shows the king observing the artist at work amid his creations and tools, in a setting that underscores the intimacy of the relationship between the sovereign and one of the masters of the Italian Renaissance he had drawn to his court. Cellini, summoned to France by Francis I in the early 1540s to work notably at the Château de Fontainebleau, produced several of his most celebrated works there, including the Nymph of Fontainebleau and the Saliera now in Vienna, before returning to Italy after several years in the king's service. Painted by a nineteenth-century Italian artist specialising in history painting, the work illustrates the lasting reach of Francis I's patronage, perceived even from Italy itself as embodying a sovereign protector of the arts and of transalpine artists.