Andrea del Sarto was the leading painter in Florence in the early 16th century. Already as a child, the son of a tailor (sarto = tailor in Italian) began to train in the workshop of the painter Piero di Cosimo. In 1508, he started to work as an independent painter and became a member of the painters' guild in Florence. Soon, del Sarto received his first commissions from religious orders. Collectors and merchants were also among his clients. Through them, his paintings became known throughout Europe and the French King Francis I became aware of him. The king first bought some of del Sarto's paintings through his art agents and, in 1518, he summoned him to his court. Del Sarto lived in Paris for a year. Only one of the paintings he created in this year survived, a Caritas, which is exhibited in the Louvre. In Florence, on the other hand, numerous of his altarpieces and frescoes can still be seen in churches, convents and cloisters. His panel paintings feature in museums all over the world. Del Sarto's pupils included Rosso Fiorentino and Pontormo. Influenced by the works of Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo and Raphael, Andrea del Sarto perfected the classical style of the Florentine High Renaissance and from the 1520s, he had a decisive influence on Tuscan art of the Counter-Reformation.