Rosso, Il [key], 1495–1540, Italian painter, one of the founders of mannerism, b. Florence. His real name was Giovan Battista di Iacopo di Gasparre. Influences of Andrea del Sarto and Pontormo are evident in his first work, The Assumption (the Annunziata, Florence), a painting in which there is already a distorted treatment of space and a dissonant use of color. Rosso's figures become more elongated and entwined in the Deposition from the Cross (Volterra) and in the startling Daughters of Jethro (Uffizi). In 1523 he went to Rome. After the sack of Rome (1527) he worked in various towns of Italy and then traveled to France. By 1532 he had become the official painter to King Francis I. Together with Primaticcio, he worked on the decoration of the royal château at Fontainebleau. They were both influential in bringing the artistic currents of Italy to France.
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