Francis I invited Leonardo da Vinci to France in 1516 and provided him with a residence at the Clos Lucé near the royal castle of Amboise. Francis considered Leonardo as his first painter, engineer, and architect, and admired his genius and wisdom. Leonardo brought to France some of his most famous paintings, including the Mona Lisa and the Virgin and Child with St. Anne.
Francis I commissioned Benvenuto Cellini, a renowned Italian sculptor and goldsmith, to create several works of art for him, including a gold salt cellar, a bronze statue of Perseus, and a silver statue of Jupiter. Cellini also worked on the decoration of the Fontainebleau palace and the Louvre.
Francis I was a patron of François Rabelais, a French writer and humanist, best known for his satirical and comic novels Gargantua and Pantagruel. Francis granted Rabelais a royal privilege to publish his books without censorship, and supported his medical and scientific studies.
Francis I was one of the first European rulers to show interest in the heliocentric theory of Nicolas Copernicus, a Polish astronomer and mathematician. Francis was presented with a copy of Copernicus's manuscript De revolutionibus orbium coelestium (On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres) by his ambassador to Poland, Jean du Bellay, in 1536. Francis expressed his admiration for Copernicus's work and encouraged its dissemination.
Jean Clouet was a Flemish painter who became the official portraitist of Francis I and his court. He painted numerous portraits of the king and his family, as well as of the nobility and the clergy. He also worked on the decoration of the royal palaces and castles. He was known for his realistic and elegant style, influenced by the Italian Renaissance.