Through a selection of some 50 works, this exhibition highlights the exceptional collection of drawings and prints by École de Fontainebleau held by Beaux-Arts de Paris. It provides an opportunity to (re)discover the art of maniera that developed at the Château de Fontainebleau and then spread to France under the impetus of Rosso Fiorentino and Francesco Primatice, two Italian artists in the service of Francis I and then Henry II.

The works on display evoke the genesis of the château's painted and sculpted decorations, from the Galerie François I to the Galerie d'Ulysse, and are complemented by etchings produced at Fontainebleau in the 1540's. This innovative corpus, the result of an unprecedented project in France, raises numerous questions, notably concerning the distribution of models, material organization, formal research and the technical trials and tribulations of the artists.