Nicolas Colombel (c. 1644 – 1717) was a French painter, much influenced by Poussin.

Life

Colombel was born at Sotteville, near Rouen, in about 1644. He went to Rome when quite young, and remained there until 1692, forming his style by a study of the works of

Raphael Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino, better known as Raphael (; or ; March 28 or April 6, 1483April 6, 1520), was an Italian painter and architect of the High Renaissance. His work is admired for its clarity of form, ease of composition, and visual a ...

and Nicolas Poussin. His pictures met with considerable success, but most later critics dismissed him as a mere imitator of Poussin. He was admitted into the Academy of St Luke at Rome in 1686, and in 1694 into that of Paris. 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 ...

possesses the ''Mars and Rhea Sylvia'', which he painted for his reception to the Academy, and a work representing the ''Saint Hyacinth Saving the Statue of the Virgin from the Enemies of the Name of Christ ''. He was employed by

Louis XIV , house = Bourbon , father = Louis XIII , mother = Anne of Austria , birth_date = , birth_place = Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France , death_date = , death_place = Palace of Ver ...

at both

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, ...

and

Meudon Meudon () is a municipality in the southwestern suburbs of Paris, France. It is in the département of Hauts-de-Seine. It is located from the center of Paris. The city is known for many historic monuments and some extraordinary trees. One of t ...

. Many of his works were engraved by Dufloc, and by Michel Dossier. He died in Paris in 1717. Sir Edmund Head, writing in 1848, described Colombel as "in some sense a master who stood alone among his contemporaries in dignity of feeling, and in the solid character of his art." More recently, Didier Rykner has described his work as "generally easy to recognise", adding " olombeldoes indeed have his own style, consisting in a gentle Classicism, at times a bit affected, a fondness for subtle and porcelain-like colors, deep blues (close to Sassoferrato)." A considerable number of paintings have been attributed to Colombel in recent years, including an altarpiece, ''Saint Dominic Presenting the Dominican Order to Christ'', in the collection of the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Grenoble, identified in 2000. An exhibition of Colombel's work was held between November 2012 and February 2013 at the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Rouen.

References and sources

;References ;Sources Attribution: * {{DEFAULTSORT:Colombel, Nicolas 1644 births 1717 deaths People from Seine-Maritime 17th-century French painters French male painters 18th-century French painters Painters from Paris Painters from Rome 18th-century French male artists