Artist

(b. ca. 1430, d. ca. 1496, Bourges)

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Details

French illuminator, brother of Michel Colombe. In 1463 he rented a small house in Bourges with a calligrapher, Clément Thibaut, and must by then have finished his apprenticeship. He seems to have married about the same year. On 31 August 1464 he was granted a house on a six-year lease by the chapter of Bourges Cathedral, but the decision must have been reversed, because he was installed in another house in 1465. By 1471 he had built a house on a plot of land granted to him in 1467 by the chapter of St Pierre de Puellier, Bourges, and he lived there until 1493, when it was occupied by his son Philibert. Jean then retired to a house he owned on the outskirts of Bourges, where he continued to work at a reduced pace. He was employed by Charles I, Duke of Savoy, at his court at Chambéry between 1486 and 1489. Jean Colombe is best known for his work in Les Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry, made by the Limbourg brothers. He executed the image for the month of November, completed the Limbourg brothers' design for September, and retouched other images. //

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Category	Artists
Artists by letter	C
Artist nationality	French