Michel Colombe


Colombe, Michel

 

Born circa 1430 in Berry (?); died circa 1513 in Tours (?). French sculptor.

Colombe worked in Tours and Nantes. He created a medallion in honor of the entry of Louis XII into Tours (bronze, c. 1500). He also created the tomb of Duke Francis II of Brittany and Marguerite of Foix, which included their effigies and statues of the four Virtues (marble, 1502–07, Cathedral of Nantes). The tomb was based on a drawing by J. Perreal. Colombe also sculpted the relief St. George and the Dragon, which has a landscape background (marble, 1508–09, Louvre, Paris). The sculptural group The Entombment (marble, 1496, Abbey of Solesmes) is attributed to him. Using Gothic traditions and elements of Italian Renaissance sculpture (particularly in ornamentation), Colombe laid the basis for French Renaissance sculpture.

REFERENCE

Pradel, P. Michel Colombe. Paris, 1953.