«Ogniun cerca di fare il fatto suo in tutt’i modi che si può». Primaticcio, il corpo umano e l’architettura nella camera della duchessa d’Étampes a Fontainebleau

Primaticcio’s work in the Chambre de la duchesse d’Étampes in the castle of Fontainebleau (1541-1544), has been studied mainly for the iconographic program of the frescoes and for the complex stucchi, without examining in depth the tectonic role assigned to the slender female bodies in stucco that organise the general design of the space. By analysing the transformations undergone in the 18th and 19th centuries and a partial survey, it is possible to advance a hypothesis regarding the dimensions and the constraints of the space actually available to the architect, as well as the principles of proportionality that regulated the two levels of the room. Such proportions turn out to be different from those of the galerie François Ier, where Primaticcio had previously worked with Rosso Fiorentino, because in the duchess’ room these were based on the sizes of the antiques models that the architect could draw on at that time in Fontainebleau. Furthermore, it is possible to identify the development of a repeatable ‘decorative module’, composed of pilasters, paired female figures and other sculptures, that are assembled according to the principle of varietas, playing with the different poses that can be obtained by merging the details taken from a number of models known to Primaticcio and to the sculptors who collaborated in the duchess’ room in different ways.