Although there is no certain proof, most scholars have agreed that there was a printmaking workshop at the Palace of Fontainebleau itself, reproducing the designs of the artists for their works in the palace, as well as other compositions they produced, and copying from drawings by other masters brought from Italy, probably mainly by Primaticcio.Boorsch, 80–83; Reed, 27 The most productive printmakers were Davent, Fantuzzi, and Jean Mignon, followed by the "mysterious" artist known from his monogram as "Master I♀V" (♀ being the alchemical symbol for copper, from which the printing plates were made).Boorsch, 80–83 The workshop seems to have been active between about 1542 and 1548 at the latest; Francis I of France died in March 1547, after which funding for the palace wound down, and the school dispersed. Hundreds of etchings were produced;Reed, 27 these were the first etchings made in France, and not far behind the first Italian uses of the technique, which originated in Germany.Boorsch, 80–81; Landau, 308–309 The earliest impressions of all the Fontainebleau prints are in brown ink, and their intention seems to have been essentially reproductive.Boorsch, 80–81; Reed, 27
