or Niccolo dell'Abate
born 0441; 1512, Modena, Duchy of Modena
died 1571, Fontainebleau, Fr.
Italian painter.
He was trained in Modena and developed his mature style under the influence of his contemporaries Correggio and Parmigianino in Bologna (154452). There he painted portraits and decorated palaces with frescoes of landscapes and figure compositions in the Mannerist style. In 1552 he was invited by Henry II of France to work under Primaticcio at the Palace of Fontainebleau , where he executed immense murals (most now lost). He remained in France the rest of his life. His mythological landscapes were a principal source of the French Classical landscape tradition, and he was a precursor of Claude Lorrain and Nicolas Poussin .