Fontainebleau School

The central figure of this allegorical painting represents Charity, who nurses one child while tenderly protecting five other mischievous babies. Her monumental figure and serpentine drapery emulate the dynamism of Italian painters and sculptors whose innovations exploded the rules of Renaissance classicism in the 1500s. Aspects of Italian Mannerism, including elongated figures and strained poses, spread to France and the Netherlands and were widely disseminated through engravings. Embraced by the French king François I, who brought artists from Italy to decorate his country palace, a French version of Mannerism became known as the Fontainebleau School.