Jean Bellegambe
French, 1470-1535
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Jehan Bellegambe or Jean Bellegambe (sometimes Belgamb or Belganb) was a French-speaking Flemish painter of religious paintings, triptychs and polyptychs, the most important of which are now held at Douai, Arras, Aix, Lille, Saint Petersburg and Chicago. 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.
Bellegambe was born and died in Douai, then in the county of Flanders (today in French Flanders). 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.