Luca Penni

1500 – 1556

Italian painter, brother of Giovan Francesco Penni. He came from a family of Florentine weavers and may have been Raphael 's pupil in Rome, since his brother had an important position in Raphael's Roman workshop. In the late 1520s, Penni worked with his brother-in-law Perino del Vaga in Genoa and Lucca. In 1530 Penni traveled to France, where he remained until his death. From 1537 to 1540, he collaborated with Rosso Fiorentino and Francesco Primaticcio at the château of Fontainebleau. He also worked outside the court as a painter, draftsman, and tapestry designer. Penni's drawings for the Story of Diana served as models for a set of tapestries produced for King Henry II. His documented works include portraits and religious subjects. Penni settled in Paris in 1550, and from 1553 he worked primarily as a designer of engravings for Étienne Delaune and others. Engravers in France, Italy, and Flanders widely reproduced his designs.

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