Michel Colombe (c. 1430 – c. 1513) was a French sculptor whose work bridged the late Gothic and Renaissance styles. Born in Bourges into a family of artisans, he was active in

Tours Tours ( , ) is one of the largest cities in the region of Centre-Val de Loire, France. It is the prefecture of the department of Indre-et-Loire. The commune of Tours had 136,463 inhabitants as of 2018 while the population of the whole metro ...

. Colombe's surviving works all date from his old age. He created the ''gisant'' figures of the two deceased children of Charles VIII of France on their

monument A monument is a type of structure that was explicitly created to commemorate a person or event, or which has become relevant to a social group as a part of their remembrance of historic times or cultural heritage, due to its artistic, hist ...

(1506) in

Tours Cathedral , native_name_lang = , image = Tours Cathedral Saint-Gatian.jpg , imagesize = , caption = Tours Cathedral , country = , osgridref = , osgraw ...

. However, his most important surviving works were for the magnificent

tomb of Francis II, Duke of Brittany A tomb ( grc-gre, τύμβος ''tumbos'') is a repository for the remains of the dead. It is generally any structurally enclosed interment space or burial chamber, of varying sizes. Placing a corpse into a tomb can be called ''immureme ...

, in

Nantes Cathedral Nantes Cathedral, or the Cathedral of St. Peter and St. Paul of Nantes (french: Cathédrale Saint-Pierre-et-Saint-Paul de Nantes), is a Roman Catholic Gothic cathedral located in Nantes, Pays de la Loire, France. Construction began in 1434, on t ...

(1502–1507), and for the mausoleum of Philibert II of Savoy, at Notre-Dame de Brou, his masterwork. The Francis II monument was designed by

Jean Perréal Jean Perréal (-) -- sometimes called Peréal, Johannes Parisienus or Jean De Paris -- was a successful portraitist for French Royalty in the first half of the 16th century, as well as an architect, sculptor and limner of illuminated manuscripts ...

; it was disassembled and buried for safekeeping during the

French Revolution The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in coup of 18 Brumaire, November 1799. Many of its ...

.(Nantes Cathedral) Le tombeau de François II
/ref> An '' Entombment'' at the Abbey of Solesmes (1494–1498) is attributed to him. A bas-relief commissioned in 1508 by

Georges d'Amboise Georges d'Amboise (1460 – May 25, 1510) was a French Roman Catholic cardinal and minister of state. He belonged to the house of Amboise, a noble family possessed of considerable influence: of his nine brothers, four were bishops. His father, ...

for the

Château de Gaillon The Château de Gaillon is a French Renaissance castle located in Gaillon, Normandy region of France. History The somewhat battered and denuded Château de Gaillon, begun in 1502 on ancient foundations was the summer archiepiscopal residence of G ...

is conserved in the

Musée du Louvre The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is the world's most-visited museum, and an historic landmark in Paris, France. It is the home of some of the best-known works of art, including the ''Mona Lisa'' and the ''Venus de Milo''. A central l ...

. His brother

Jean Colombe Jean Colombe ( la, Ioannes Colombus; b. Bourges ca. 1430; d. ca. 1493) was a French miniature painter and illuminator of manuscripts. He is best known for his work in ''Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry''. He was a son of Philippe Colombe and hi ...

was an important miniature painter and illuminator who worked on the

Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry The Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry (; en, The Very Rich Hours of the Duke of Berry) or Très Riches Heures, is the most famous and possibly the best surviving example of manuscript illumination in the late phase of the International Goth ...

. His nephew Guillaume Regnault appears to have trained in his atelier.

Gallery

File:Anne de Bretagne as prudence.jpg, Allegory of Prudence on the tomb of Francis, with the features of Francis's daughter Anne of Brittany File:DSCN2047.JPG, Side view of Prudence File:Loire Indre Tours6 tango7174.jpg, Fully

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history The history of Europe is traditionally divided into four time periods: prehistoric Europe (prior to about 800 BC), classical antiquity (800 BC to AD ...

monument to the children of Charles VIII, 1506, Saint-Gatien, Tours File:Mise au tombeau du Christ, Solesmes (moulage).jpg, Entombment of Christ, Solesmes

Notes

References

*Bazin, Germain (1968). ''The History of World Sculpture''. n.p.: Lamplight. *
(Nantes Cathedral) Le tombeau de François II

External links

* 1430s births 1520s deaths 15th-century French sculptors French male sculptors 16th-century French sculptors Artists from Bourges {{France-sculptor-stub

Gallery

Notes

References

See also

External links