Jehan Bellegambe or Jean Bellegambe (sometimes Belgamb or Belganb) (c. 1470 – c. June 1535/March 1536) was a French-speaking
Flemish painter of religious paintings, triptychs and polyptychs, the most important of which are now held at
Douai,
Arras,
Aix,
Lille,
Saint Petersburg and
Chicago. He was known as the '
master of colours' for the transparency and interplay of his colours. He is known as Jehan Bellegambe the elder to distinguish him from his descendants who were also called Jehan.[1]
Life
Bellegambe was born and died in Douai, then in the
county of Flanders (today in
French Flanders). He was a child of the first marriage of Georges Bellegambe,[1] a cabinetmaker and musician[2] who was living in rue Fosset-Maugart (renamed, in 1862, rue Haute-des ferronniers).[1] Nothing is known of Jehan de Bellegambe's artistic training. The first known mention of him is a document of 1504 which names him as a master painter.[2] In 1528 he owned a house at the corner of rue de la Cloris and rue du Palais.
Triptych of the Lamentation of Christ (c. 1500), tempera and oil on panel, commissioned by Grégoire de Moscron and his wife Jossine, acquired in 1863 by the
National Museum in
Warsaw from the Johann Peter Weyer's collection.
Triptych retable of Le Cellier (1508); showing the Cistercian abbey of
Flines-lez-Raches, the porterie, the chevet and the transept.
Retable of Saint
Adrian of Nicomedia (1515), oil on oak panel, left panel 75 cm by 33.5 cm, acquired in 1856 by the
Louvre. The saint is shown in three-quarter profile on foot, in armour and with a sword, standing on the city.
Polyptych of Anchin, formed of 9 panels, painted for the
Abbaye d'Anchin. Five-year restoration by the musées de France at
Versailles. Put back on display on 6 March 2007 at the musée de la Chartreuse.
Triptych of the
Immaculate Conception (1525), commissioned by
Jean Pottier (mayor of Douai from 1516) for his heavily sick daughter Marguerite. She wished to be buried in the chapel of the Walloon
récollets of Douai and for her dowry to be used to pay for a retable dedicated to the Immaculate Conception. It was presented by the Pottier family.
(in French) A. Preux, Résurrection d'un grand artiste Jehan Bellegambe de Douai : peintre du retable d'Anchinin, Extrait des Souvenirs de la Flandre Wallone, livraison de juin 1862, éd. de V. Wartelle, 1862
[1]
J. Turner, J., The dictionary of art. New York: Grove, 1996
ISBN1-884446-00-0