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The work of Italian artists, including the architect Sebastiano Serlio and the master woodcarver Francesco Scibec da Carpi, the Galerie François I combines masterly frescoes, life-size stucco figures, elaborate wainscoting, delicate painting and gold leaf detailing.

Le jour, tombant d'en haut et glissant le long des colonnes et des parois de marbre, porte dans l'�me un sentiment de tranquillit� sublime, et donne � tous les objets, dit Serlio, un air de beaut�.

The traditional set of the comedy-of-masks conformed to that recommended for the comic drama by Serlio, in his treatise on architecture, published in 1545; but it may be noted also that Serlio's suggested set for the tragic drama was not dissimilar even if it were distinctly more dignified.

While he had close and clearly stimulating relations with the great architects of the age — notably Sebastiano Serlio, Michele Sanmichele, Jacopo Sansovino and Andrea Palladio — Giovanni himself seems to have been chiefly responsible for the palazzo’s design.

Vignola’s work on the five orders was published in 1563, and Palladio’s in 1570; they were preceded by a publication of Serlio’s in 1540, giving examples of various architectural compositions, and to him is probably due the introduction of the pure Italian style in the Louvre in 1546.