Bernard Palissy (1510 - 1589)

Bernard Palissy (1510 - 1589) - photo 1

Bernard Palissy

Bernard Palissy was a French natural scientist, painter, ceramicist and sculptor, geologist and writer of the French Renaissance.

Born into a family of artisans, Palissy apprenticed with his father as a glass artist and traveled throughout southwestern France comprehending pottery and studying geology. Today he is best known for his amazing lead-glazed pottery with images of various animals and people. After seeing a white glazed cup, probably of Chinese porcelain, in the 1540s, he set out to learn the secrets of its manufacture. His early research is described in De l'art de la terre. Although Palissy never succeeded in reproducing what he saw, his experiments gave him a thorough knowledge of the chemical compositions of minerals.

From 1575 in Paris, Palissy gave public lectures on natural history, which were published as Discours admirables (1580). In this treatise, Bernard Palissy touches on an incredibly wide range of subjects, from the techniques of ceramics, metallurgy and chemistry to hydrology, geology and fossils. He correctly identified fossils as the remains of ancient life. This work reveals him as a writer and scientist, a creator of modern agronomy and a pioneer of the experimental method, with scientific views generally more advanced than those of his contemporaries.

Date and place of birt:1510, Saintes, France
Date and place of death:1589, Paris, France
Period of activity: XVI century
Specialization:Artist, Ceramist, Geographer, Geologist, Glass painter, Naturalist, Porcelain painter, Sculptor, Writer
Genre:Animalistic
Art style:Renaissance

Creators Renaissance

Quentin Matsys (1466 - 1530)
Quentin Matsys
1466 - 1530
Giorgio Vasari (1511 - 1574)
Giorgio Vasari
1511 - 1574
Francesco Segala (1535 - 1592)
Francesco Segala
1535 - 1592
 Master of the Magdalene Legend (XV century - 1537)
Master of the Magdalene Legend
XV century - 1537
François Clouet (1515 - 1572)
François Clouet
1515 - 1572
Bertolino de’ Grossi (XIV century - 1464)
Bertolino de’ Grossi
XIV century - 1464
Baldassarre Castiglione (1478 - 1529)
Baldassarre Castiglione
1478 - 1529
François Rabelais (1494 - 1553)
François Rabelais
1494 - 1553
Jörg Breu I (1475 - 1537)
Jörg Breu I
1475 - 1537
Antonio Fantuzzi (1510 - 1550)
Antonio Fantuzzi
1510 - 1550
Master of the Die (1512 - 1570)
Master of the Die
1512 - 1570
Nikolaos Tzafouris (1468 - 1501)
Nikolaos Tzafouris
1468 - 1501
Hans Lützelburger (1495 - 1526)
Hans Lützelburger
1495 - 1526
Pieter Balten (1527 - 1584)
Pieter Balten
1527 - 1584
Girolamo Di Benvenuto (1470 - 1524)
Girolamo Di Benvenuto
1470 - 1524
Antonios Papadopoulos (1439 - 1481)
Antonios Papadopoulos
1439 - 1481