Bernard Salomon

Bernard Salomon (1506–1561), also known as the Little Bernard B. Gallus or Gallo, was a French painter, draftsman and engraver.

Little is known of the life of Bernard Salomon. His place of birth is unknown, but some authors link his origins to a family of belt-makers from Lyon, present in the city since the 15th century. Similarly, it is uncertain where he trained, and the theories that he went to Paris to learn his trade seem superfluous, as the city on the Rhône had a wealth of master wood engravers who would have been able to teach him the fundamentals of the woodcut art.

He married twice: his first wife was Anne Marmot, by whom he had a daughter, Antoinette Salomon, who married the printer Robert Granjon, and a son, Jean Salomon. His second wife was Louise Missilieu. He had three mansions, the last of which was located between rue Pizay and rue de l'Arbre-Sec. He worked closely with the printer Jean de Tournes to design, engrave, and illustrate many types of books such as emblem books, documentaries and scientific works, and literary works, including the Bible and Ovid's Metamorphoses (Lyon, Tournes, 1557). Salomon's figures were inspired by the elegant Mannerist art of the School of Fontainebleau, and were inspiration for engravers working in Lyon and became widely distributed and copied.

His Art

Paintings Bernard Salomon was active as a painter, both painting façades in the Italian style and creating decorations for solemn entrances. He supervised the works for the entrance of Henri II in 1548, for that of Governor Jacques d'Albon and for the celebrations of the Treaty of Cateau-Cambrésis in 1559. He was also commissioned to direct the execution of paintings for the entrance of Cardinal Alessandro Farnese in Carpentras in 1553.

He worked closely with the printer Jean de Tournes and was his main illustrator. Together they produced several masterpieces of Lyon publishing, including the Bible of 1557 and Ovid's Metamorphoses of the same year.

Catalogue of printed works The main catalogues of Bernard Salomon's works are to be found in the works of Natalis Rondot and Peter Sharratt.

Printed works

Guillaume de La Perrière, Ouvrage d'emblèmes, Jean de Tournes, 1545 Andrea Alciato, Emblèmes, Jean de Tournes, 1547 Aesop, Fables, Jean de Tournes, 1547 Maurice Scève, La Saulsaye, Jean de Tournes, 1547 Il Petrarca, Jean de Tournes, 1547 and 1550 Marguerite de Navarre, Margerites de la Marguerite des princesses, 1547 Claude Paradin, Devises héroïques, 1551 Guillaume Guéroult, Hymnes du temps et de ses parties, 1560