Jean Colombe

He is best known for his work in Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry. He was a son of Philippe Colombe and his wife Guillemette and thus the brother of the sculptor Michel Colombe.

The recorded working language is Middle French. Jean Fouquet is recorded as an influence. Works named in the authority record are Très Riches Heures du duc de Berry, Heures de Louis de Laval - BNF Lat920, Passage outremer, Apocalypse figurée des ducs de Savoie - Escorial E Vit.5 and Morgan Library MS M. Work by Jean Colombe is recorded in the collections of Nationalmuseum, The Morgan Library & Museum, Condé Museum, Carnegie Museum of Art and Bibliothèque nationale de France.

• Name — Jean Colombe • Born — c. 1430 • Birthplace — Bourges, Kingdom of France • Died — c. 1493 • Place of death — Bourges, Kingdom of France • Notable Works — Les Très Riches Heures du duc de Berry • Patrons — Louis de Laval, Charles I, Duke of Savoy, Charlotte of Savoy • Illustration — Les Très Riches Heures du duc de Berry, November • Illustration — The Council of Clermont from the Passages d'outremer

In 1470–1472, Colombe created the miniatures of the Heures de Louis de Laval; around 1475, he illuminated the crusader chronicles, Les Passages d'oultre mer du noble Godefroy de Bouillon, du bon roy Saint Loys et de plusieurs vertueux princes, by Sébastien Mamerot. Both works had been commissioned by Louis de Laval. Between 1485 and 1490, Jean Colombe completed the decoration of the Très Riches Heures which had been left unfinished in 1416. He executed the image for the month of November (below the zodiac arch), completed the Limbourg brothers’ design for September, and retouched other images.