BONTEMPS, Pierre

That Bontemps’ real talent was for decoration is evident from his monument for the heart of Francis I, now at St Denis. Here he worked under the close direction of Philibert Delorme, with whom he signed a contract for the monument in 1550; but there is every reason to believe that the real invention of the decoration is due to the sculptor rather than the architect. The round urn standing on a tall rectangular base is one of the finest examples of the decorative style of the Fontainebleau school. The reliefs representing the arts and sciences, which the King had so generously patronized, are of far more sophisticated design than those on the tomb. The round panels on the urn bear witness to the influence of Primaticcio on Bontemps, for the nymphs on them have the elongated forms of his figures.

That Bontemps’ real talent was for decoration is evident from his monument for the heart of Francis I, now at St Denis. Here he worked under the close direction of Philibert Delorme, with whom he signed a contract for the monument in 1550; but there is every reason to believe that the real invention of the decoration is due to the sculptor rather than the architect. The round urn standing on a tall rectangular base is one of the finest examples of the decorative style of the Fontainebleau school. The reliefs representing the arts and sciences, which the King had so generously patronized, are of far more sophisticated design than those on the tomb. The round panels on the urn bear witness to the influence of Primaticcio on Bontemps, for the nymphs on them have the elongated forms of his figures.

That Bontemps’ real talent was for decoration is evident from his monument for the heart of Francis I, now at St Denis. Here he worked under the close direction of Philibert Delorme, with whom he signed a contract for the monument in 1550; but there is every reason to believe that the real invention of the decoration is due to the sculptor rather than the architect. The round urn standing on a tall rectangular base is one of the finest examples of the decorative style of the Fontainebleau school. The reliefs representing the arts and sciences, which the King had so generously patronized, are of far more sophisticated design than those on the tomb. The round panels on the urn bear witness to the influence of Primaticcio on Bontemps, for the nymphs on them have the elongated forms of his figures.

The round urn standing on a tall rectangular base is one of the finest examples of the decorative style of the Fontainebleau school. The reliefs representing the arts and sciences, which the King had so generously patronized, are of far more sophisticated design than those on the tomb. The round panels on the urn bear witness to the influence of Primaticcio on Bontemps, for the nymphs on them have the elongated forms of his figures.

In 1557, Bontemps was commissioned by the deceased’s sister, Martienne de Maigny, to execute the tomb of Charles de Maigny, captain of the King’s Gate guards. He is represented seated, in full armour, holding a pike, but sleeping the sleep of the just. The monument is principally remarkable for its decorative charm, as displayed in the rendering of the armour and the stool on which Maigny sits.

The ‘transi’ or transitory tomb became popular in the early fifteenth century in northern Europe, but not in Italy or Spain. The worldly honours of the deceased are juxtaposed with the mortal body’s inevitable decay. This type of tomb, shorn of its most macabre elements, remained popular well into the sixteenth century. Its transformation is evident in the tomb of Francis I and Claude in the royal abbey of St. Denis outside Paris. The king and queen are rendered below as nude corpses, however, their bodies lie on top of ornamental, Roman-style burial urns. They are framed by a great arch, with reliefs depicting the resurrected Christ, angels, and the four evangelists adorning its vault. Low sculpted reliefs of Francis’s victories at the battles of Marignano (1515) and Ceresole (1544) fill the stylobate (or top section of the base). Finally, Francis and Claude piously kneel at their prayer stalls accompanied by three of their deceased children.

This tomb, designed by the architect Philibert Delorme, was commissioned by King Henry II, their son, in 1548. It subsequently inspired the form of his own transi tomb (1561-73) in St. Denis.

The tomb of Francis I, begun in 1547, is Philibert Delorme’s solution to the problem of producing a classical version of the type of tomb invented by the Giust for Louis XII. It is in general design a Roman triumphal arch with the side arches set back from the plane of the principal front. The use of coloured marbles is skilful and the decorative detail, for much of which Pierre Bontemps seems to have been responsible, is superb. To a pupil of Bramante it would have seemed overloaded, but Delorme shows astonishing skill in making a coherent whole out of such a mass of detail.

Documents prove that Bontemps was responsible for the greater part of the work on the gisants, and executed the whole of the bas-reliefs round the base of the tomb, the contracts for which date from 1551 and 1552.

The detail represents the praying Claude de France.

The tomb of Francis I and Claude, daughter of Louis XII of France, is the most important 16th-century French funerary monument. The architect Delorme designed the tomb; from 1549 onwards, a team of sculptors worked on it, and in 1559 Primaticcio completed the work. Five marble statues of praying figures flank the recumbent figures. Three of these, including those of the sovereigns, are attributed to Pierre Bontemps, who executed the reliefs. Bontemps’ portraits are official, neither revolutionary nor timid. His style is frank and solemn, though it occasionally lapses into a heavy softness in the modelling - a fault veiled by his technical virtuosity in the rendering of realistic details, physical characteristics, costumes and jewelry.

Chamberlain of King Francis I, then of the Dauphin, the future Henry II, of which he had been governor, Jean d’Humi�res had also been lieutenant-general in Italy, Savoy and Piedmont. At his death in 1550, a tomb was raised in the church of Monchy-Humi�res (Oise), in Picardy. On the reliefs of pedestal are the seven sons of the deceased.