User:Alekjds/Bellechose

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Finished This article was rewritten. The original was far too similar to the source, and was tagged as a copyvio. I apologize, as it is embarassing to my credibility as an editor, and so I made up for it by rewriting the article.

Henri Bellechose (fl. 1415; died before 28 January 1445) was a painter from the South Netherlands (some sources say Flanders). He was one of the most significant artists in his genre of Gothic art.

[edit] Biography

Bellechose was an artist who came from the South Netherlands to work for the French royal family. The was appointed court painter to John the Fearless, Duke of Burgundy in Dijon.

The Last Communion and Martyrdom of Saint Denis, by Henri Bellechose, 1416

Almost all of his work were commissions from the Dukes of Burgundy, including his famous Martyrdom of Saint Denis, the materials for which were allotted out by the Duchy in May 1415. In April of 1420, John the Fearless had died, and so Bellechose was reappointed to his successor, Philip the Good. His work at this time was mostly decorative, including commissions such as coats of arms for funerals, et cetera.

Bellechose had a dynamic studio which at its zenith consisted of eight assistants and two apprentices. Also at this time, circa 1424, Bellechose married Alixant Lebon, the daughter of a notary.

In August 1429, it appears that Bellechose received his last commission, for exactly a year later his name disappears from the ducal accounts. Indeed, Bellechose's salary had been decreased by two thirds since 1426 and from 1429 he was paid nothing at all. Philip the Good had moved the his administrative focus to the Netherlands and employed the prodigious Jan van Eyck. The last that we know of Bellechose was that he was still alive in 1440, but absent from Dijon.

[edit] Source

"Bellechose, Henri". The Grove Dictionary of Art. (2000). Published by artnet, with permission from Macmillan Publishers Limited. Retrieved on 2007-04-16.