Bernard Salomon

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 was commissioned to provide decorations for Ippolito II d'Este in 1540, Henry II of France in 1548, and Jacques Dalbon, Seigneur de Saint Andre in 1550. 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. He is sometimes referred to as "Petit", alluding to the intricate detail Salomon works into his designs at small scale.

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. For the Lyon entrances, he worked in coordination with Maurice Scève and Barthélemy Aneau; a clear indication of the importance of his role in the humanistic environment in Lyon.