Michel Colomb

Michel Colomb , c.1430-1512, French sculptor, one of the masters of the French Renaissance. Few of his works survive. His name is associated with the execution of the tomb of Francis II, duke of Brittany (completed 1507; Nantes). A relief by Colomb, St. George and the Dragon (Louvre), shows a high degree of imagination and skill.

Colombe, Michel (b ?Bourges, c.1430; d Tours, ?1514). French sculptor. He had a great name in his day, but only two works that are certainly by him survive, both from late in his life. They are: the tomb of Francis II of Brittany and Marguerite de Foix (1502–7, Nantes Cathedral), done in collaboration with Jean Perréal and Girolamo da Fiesole, an Italian sculptor working in France; and a relief of St George and the Dragon (1508–9, Louvre, Paris), done for an altarpiece for the chapel of the Château de Gaillon. The altarpiece too was a work of collaboration, for the frame was carved by Jérôme Pacherot, another Italian expatriate (he was perhaps originally called Girolamo Pacchiarotti). Colombe's fame rests mainly on the St George, for it is a captivating work, blending the fantasy of the French Gothic style with elements of the Italianate Renaissance taste that was coming into vogue in southern France at this time, yet without copying particular Italian models. His brother Jean Colombe (d c.1495) was a manuscript illuminator; his work included the completion of the Très Riches Heures of the Limbourg brothers.