Jehan Bellegambe or Jean Bellegambe (sometimes Belgamb or Belganb) (c. 1470c. June 1535/March 1536) was a French-speaking

Flemish Flemish (''Vlaams'') is a Low Franconian dialect cluster of the Dutch language. It is sometimes referred to as Flemish Dutch (), Belgian Dutch ( ), or Southern Dutch (). Flemish is native to Flanders, a historical region in northern Belgium; ...

painter of religious paintings, triptychs and polyptychs, the most important of which are now held at

Douai Douai (, , ,; pcd, Doï; nl, Dowaai; formerly spelled Douay or Doway in English) is a city in the Nord département in northern France. It is a sub-prefecture of the department. Located on the river Scarpe some from Lille and from Arras, Dou ...

, Arras,

Aix Aix or AIX may refer to: Computing * AIX, a line of IBM computer operating systems *An Alternate Index, for a Virtual Storage Access Method Key Sequenced Data Set * Athens Internet Exchange, a European Internet exchange point Places Belgi ...

Lille Lille ( , ; nl, Rijsel ; pcd, Lile; vls, Rysel) is a city in the northern part of France, in French Flanders. On the river Deûle, near France's border with Belgium, it is the capital of the Hauts-de-France region, the prefecture of the N ...

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

and

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

. 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.

Life

Bellegambe was born and died in Douai, then in the

county of Flanders The County of Flanders was a historic territory in the Low Countries. From 862 onwards, the counts of Flanders were among the original twelve peers of the Kingdom of France. For centuries, their estates around the cities of Ghent, Bruges and Yp ...

(today in

French Flanders French Flanders (french: La Flandre française) is a part of the historical County of Flanders in present-day France where a dialect of Dutch language, Dutch was or still is traditionally spoken. The region lies in the modern-day region of Hauts ...

). He was a child of the first marriage of Georges Bellegambe, a cabinetmaker and musician who was living in rue Fosset-Maugart (renamed, in 1862, rue Haute-des ferronniers).A. Preux (see bibliography) 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.Turner 1996, vol. 3: 641. In 1528 he owned a house at the corner of rue de la Cloris and rue du Palais.

Works

His works are signed with a

rebus A rebus () is a puzzle device that combines the use of illustrated pictures with individual letters to depict words or phrases. For example: the word "been" might be depicted by a rebus showing an illustrated bumblebee next to a plus sign (+ ...

. * ''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 Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officia ...

from the Johann Peter Weyer's collection. * ''Triptych retable of Le Cellier'' (1508); showing the Cistercian abbey of

Flines-lez-Raches Flines-lez-Raches (, literally ''Flines near Raches'') is a commune in the Nord department in northern France. It was once the site of Flines Abbey. Population Heraldry See also *Communes of the Nord department The following is a list of ...

, the porterie, the chevet and the transept. * ''Retable of Saint

Adrian of Nicomedia Adrian of Nicomedia (also known as Hadrian) or Saint Adrian ( el, Ἁδριανὸς Νικομηδείας, Adrianos Nikomēdeias, died 4 March 306) was a Herculian Guard of the Roman Emperor Galerius Maximian. After becoming a convert to Chr ...

'' (1515), oil on oak panel, left panel 75 cm by 33.5 cm, acquired in 1856 by the

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 ...

. The saint is shown in three-quarter profile on foot, in armour and with a sword, standing on the city. *'' Tripych of the mystic bath'' (1525), oil on wood, painted for Charles Coguin, 81 cm high, inscribed with the arms of the Abbaye d'Anchin, acquired in 1882 by the musée des Beaux-Arts de Lille, restored in 1921 and 1966. * ''Polyptych of Anchin'', formed of 9 panels, painted for the Abbaye d'Anchin. Five-year restoration by the musées de France at

Versailles The Palace of Versailles ( ; french: Château de Versailles ) is a former royal residence built by King Louis XIV located in Versailles, about west of Paris, France. The palace is owned by the French Republic and since 1995 has been managed, ...

. Put back on display on 6 March 2007 at the musée de la Chartreuse. *'' Triptych of the

Immaculate Conception The Immaculate Conception is the belief that the Virgin Mary was free of original sin from the moment of her conception. It is one of the four Marian dogmas of the Catholic Church, meaning that it is held to be a divinely revealed truth w ...

'' (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 The Recollects (french: Récollets) were a French reform branch of the Friars Minor, a Franciscan order. Denoted by their gray habits and pointed hoods, the Recollects took vows of poverty and devoted their lives to prayer, penance, and spirit ...

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. * ''

Saint Catherine of Alexandria Catherine of Alexandria (also spelled Katherine); grc-gre, ἡ Ἁγία Αἰκατερίνη ἡ Μεγαλομάρτυς ; ar, سانت كاترين; la, Catharina Alexandrina). is, according to tradition, a Christian saint and virgin, wh ...

'' and ''

Saint Barbara Saint Barbara ( grc, Ἁγία Βαρβάρα; cop, Ϯⲁⲅⲓⲁ Ⲃⲁⲣⲃⲁⲣⲁ; ; ), known in the Eastern Orthodox Church as the Great Martyr Barbara, was an early Christian Lebanese and Greek saint and martyr. Accounts place her in t ...

'' (both 1520), Art Institute of Chicago, which acquired them in 1983 as part of the collection of George F. Harding.

Notes and references

Bibliography

* 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, 186

*J. Turner, J., ''The dictionary of art''. New York: Grove, 1996

External links

Jehan Bellegambe on Artcyclopedia
* https://web.archive.org/web/20091008055836/http://www.insecula.com/oeuvre/O0027697.html {{DEFAULTSORT:Bellegambe 1470 births 1534 deaths 15th-century French painters French male painters 16th-century French painters French Renaissance painters