Michel Colombe

Michel Colombe 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. 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 (1506) in Tours Cathedral. However, his most important surviving works were for the magnificent tomb of Francis II, Duke of Brittany, in Nantes Cathedral (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; it was disassembled and buried for safekeeping during the French Revolution. A sculpture depicting the Entombment of Christ at the Abbey of Solesmes (1494–1498) is attributed to him. A bas-relief commissioned in 1508 by Georges d'Amboise for the Château de Gaillon is conserved in the Musée du Louvre. His brother Jean Colombe was an important miniature painter and illuminator who worked on the Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry. His nephew Guillaume Regnault appears to have trained in his atelier.

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