Jehan Bellegambe or Jean Bellegambe (sometimes Belgamb or Belganb) (ca. 1470ca. June 1535–March 1536) was a French painter of religious paintings, triptychs and polyptychs, the most important of which are now held at Douai

Douai

-Main sights:Douai's ornate Gothic style belfry was begun in 1380, on the site of an earlier tower. The 80 m high structure includes an impressive carillon, consisting of 62 bells spanning 5 octaves. The originals, some dating from 1391 were removed in 1917 during World War I by the occupying...

, Arras

Arras

Arras is the capital of the Pas-de-Calais department in northern France. The historic centre of the Artois region, its local speech is characterized as a Picard dialect...

, Aix

Aix, Nord

Aix is a commune in the Nord department in northern France.It is southeast of Lille.-Heraldry:-References:*...

, Lille

Lille

Lille is a city in northern France . It is the principal city of the Lille Métropole, the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the country behind those of Paris, Lyon and Marseille. Lille is situated on the Deûle River, near France's border with Belgium...

, Saint Petersburg

Saint Petersburg

Saint Petersburg is a city and a federal subject of Russia located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea...

 and Chicago

Chicago

Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...

. He was known as the 'master of colours

Anonymous masters

In the history of art and architecture, an anonymous master is an architect, Old Master painter, or printmaker whose work is known, but whose name is not.-Pre-Renaissance:...

' for the transparency and interplay of his colours. He is known as Jehan Bellegambe the elder to distinguish him from his descendents who were also called Jehan.

Life

Bellegambe was born and died in Douai. 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). 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. 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

Rebus

A rebus is an allusional device that uses pictures to represent words or parts of words. It was a favourite form of heraldic expression used in the Middle Ages to denote surnames, for example in its basic form 3 salmon fish to denote the name "Salmon"...

.

• Triptych retable of Le Cellier (1508) ; showing the Cistercian abbey of Flines-lez-Raches
  Flines-lez-Raches
  Flines-lez-Raches is a commune in the Nord department in northern France.-Heraldry:-References:*...
  
  , the porterie, the chevet and the transept.
• Retable of Saint Adrian of Nicomedia
  Adrian of Nicomedia
  Saint Adrian or Adrian of Nicomedia was a Herculian Guard of the Roman Emperor Galerius Maximian. After becoming a convert to Christianity with his wife Natalia, Adrian was martyred at Nicomedia on March 4, 306.-Martyrdom:...
  
   (1515), oil on oak panel, left panel 75 cm by 33.5 cm, acquired in 1856 by the Louvre
  Louvre
  The Musée du Louvre – in English, the Louvre Museum or simply the Louvre – is one of the world's largest museums, the most visited art museum in the world and a historic monument. A central landmark of Paris, it is located on the Right Bank of the Seine in the 1st arrondissement...
  
  . 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
  Versailles
  Versailles , a city renowned for its château, the Palace of Versailles, was the de facto capital of the kingdom of France for over a century, from 1682 to 1789. It is now a wealthy suburb of Paris and remains an important administrative and judicial centre...
  
  . Put back on display on 6 March 2007 at the musée de la Chartreuse.
• Triptych of the Immaculate Conception
  Immaculate Conception
  The Immaculate Conception of Mary is a dogma of the Roman Catholic Church, according to which the Virgin Mary was conceived without any stain of original sin. It is one of the four dogmata in Roman Catholic Mariology...
  
   (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
  Recollets
  The Récollets were a French branch of the Roman Catholic order, the Franciscans , which developed out of a reform movement that began in the 15th century in Spain and established itself in France in Tulle in 1585, at Nevers in 1592, at Limoges in 1596 and in Paris in 1603...
  
   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 and Saint Barbara
  Saint Barbara
  Saint Barbara, , Feast Day December 4, known in the Eastern Orthodox Church as the Great Martyr Barbara, was an early Christian saint and martyr....
  
   (both 1520), Art Institute of Chicago
  Art Institute of Chicago
  The School of the Art Institute of Chicago is one of America's largest accredited independent schools of art and design, located in the Loop in Chicago, Illinois. It is associated with the museum of the same name, and "The Art Institute of Chicago" or "Chicago Art Institute" often refers to either...
  
  , which acquired them in 1983 as part of the collection of George F. Harding.

External links

• Jehan Bellegambe on Artcyclopedia
• http://www.insecula.com/oeuvre/O0027697.html