Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book is to pursue the development of antiquarian taste in France during the reigns of François I and Henri II. It explores how the Jean Du Bellay brothers and Georges d'Armagnac used their stays in Rome to buy, restore and ship objects, whether for their own collection or to please influential figures at court, and most notably the king himself, running the gauntlet of Roman civic opposition to the export of marbles. The book concentrates on Du Bellay, who, having previously exported objects to France, now becomes in the 1550s the first French cardinal of the period to decide to settle in Rome, to build a villa, and to create an antiques garden in a spectacular archæological setting. It looks at the visits to Italy of major French artists and architects, at their sketchbooks, and at antiquarian influence on their art.