As the sixteenth century advanced it became evident that France could only preserve its place in the councils of Europe through an all-powerful monarchy. The earliest French king to realize this was Francis I., who succeeded to the throne in 1515 A.D. He was then twenty-one years of age. He proved to be the first Renaissance king of France, as Louis XII., his predecessor, had been the last mediæval monarch. Francis’ experience during the early years of his reign showed the absolute necessity of concentrating the resources of France into the hands of the king. His first step was naturally to deprive the French nobility of the power it had exercised in the past. The effect of this general policy upon sculpture was instantaneous. If Julius Cæsar and Augustus were the fathers of Roman portraiture, Francis I. was the creator of what we term French sculpture. In the first place, Francis was forced to create an imposing Court where his turbulent nobles could be tamed into courtiers. This required the building of palaces where the reformed Court could meet. In other words, circumstances compelled Francis I. to be a great builder. The fortresses, which had been necessities during earlier centuries, were needed no longer. These were either suffered to fall into disrepair or the gloomy buildings with their turrets and moats were replaced by manorial châteaux with their lawns and their bowers. Naturally the king led the way. Equally naturally the necessity of building compelled him to become an energetic patron of the decorative arts. When Francis started to put up the Château of Chambord he employed such sculptors as Goujon, Bontemps, Cousin and Germain Pilon as a matter of course. Francis’ greatest effort was the building of the Palace of Fontainebleau. It was begun in 1528. In a very short while he found that he could not rely upon French native talent for the extensive decorative scheme which he had planned. The discovery was not a new one. As early as 1495 Charles VIII. of France brought “makers of ceilings and turners of alabaster” from Florence and Milan. Cardinal d’Amboise, the minister of Louis XII., persuaded a number of Italian artists to try their fortune in Paris. He also installed several others at the Château de Gaillon. In those days the art instinct in France was dead. At the time when Raphael was working in the Vatican, the walls of the Cardinal d’Amboise’s castle at Gaillon were decorated with leathern hangings or simply-patterned cloths. No Frenchmen had considered the possibility of decorating his living rooms with pictures. Under these circumstances Francis I. was compelled to turn to Italy. First Rosso and Primaticcio were summoned. A few years later, in 1537, Cellini accepted an invitation and spent some time at the French court. We can judge of the artistic enthusiasm of the kind and the marked change in the general appreciation of art owing to the growth of Court life from a spirited chapter in Cellini’s “Autobiography.”