Étienne Colaud

A number of surviving archives indicate that he was based on the Île de la Cité, close to the cathedral of Notre-Dame, and that other family members also worked in the book trade.

Étienne Colaud's style is strongly influenced by his near contemporary, the Parisian illuminator Jean Pichore, but his work indicates that he was also networked with virtually every other Paris book-artist of the period.

A piece of preliminary university-level research by Marie-Blanche Cousseau returned to the "Statutes of the Order of Saint Michael" concluded in 1999 that there had been a "Colaud Group" of illuminators producing the miniatures included in the manuscript.

[1] Several documents, notably accounting records, in the archived include elements from which it is possible to trace or infer aspects of Colaud's life.

This evidences a transaction whereby Colaud was paid 72 Tours pounds for producing six handwritten decorated books containing the chapters, statutes and ordinances of the Order of Saint Michael.

This time the information included indicates expressly that Colaud had looked after not merely the production and decoration of the books, but also had seen to having them bound and placed in their covers.

Nevertheless, he was evidently still working as an illuminator himself: on 23 December 1534 he was paid 36 sous by the cathedral chapter for having added gilded initials in four recently copied manuscripts.

[8] A certain amount is known about Martial Vaillant: in 1523 he assumed the position of governor with the Fraternity of St. John the Evangelist which was a business association for members of the books trade.

[1][8] Using both the archive records and the attributions to him found in surviving collections it becomes possible to identify many if Colaud's principal customers, and to gain a sense of the success of his business.

The most socially important of his customers was King Francis I who, in addition to the "Statutes of the Order of Saint Michael, probably also commissioned from him an Evangeliary or Gospel Book and a treatise on "The Sufferings of Italy".

All the other illustrations, of which there are approximately fifteen, are indeed believed to have been produced by the "Master craftsman" responsible for the creation of the book, clearly identified as Étienne Colaud.

As an example, the arrangements of the interiors and the disposition of the kneeling figures in a miniature showing Palamon and Arcite at the feet of Theseus re-appear in a number of his paintings.

For instance, Colaud re-used an image of the "Crowding of the Blessed Virgin Mary" that had made its first (known) appearance in a Book of Hours illustrated by Pichore.

Colaud was also influenced - if less directly - by the work produced in Tours by the illuminator Jean Poyer, notably by some of the illustrations appearing in the Book of Hours of Guillaume Briçonnet, which he had most likely encountered only through a copy of it in Pichore's possession.

As for the workshop-studios of the "Maître des Entrées parisiennes", another well-regarded illuminator whose actual name remains unknown, the influence was in the other direction.

For instance, the depiction of the Battle of Fornovo included in an edition of "La Mer des histoires", printed by Vérard at Lyon in around 1506, turns up in an illustration of the same title in Colaud's copy of "Mémoires" by the writer-diplomat Philippe de Commines.

The frontispiece of "La Victoire du roy contre les Véniciens" printed by Vérard in around 1510, is partially reproduced in Colaud's illustration of the "Vie de saint Jérôme".

Colaud also found inspiration from beyond the Paris basin, notably from the engravings of Albrecht Dürer whose work, partly due to the technological advances of the time, was already much celebrated across much of Europe, and on both sides of the Rhine.

In addition to working with traditional manuscript publications, he contributed illuminated illustrations in high-end prestigious printed books produced for those highest echelons of society, bishops and secular lords alike.

After that he picked up his quills and pens infrequently, concentrating instead on his work as a book seller and agent allocating manuscripts requiring illumination-illustrations to others.

It is difficult to determine the identity of each individual knight for whom each manuscript edition was intended, because the volumes seldom include any heraldic indications or written dedications.

Most of the time, the point of departure will be the relatively large illustration at the front of the manuscript showing the king seated on his throne and surrounded by his knights.

Another interesting example is the miniature showing the Court of the Duke of Burgundy in the Mémoires of Philippe de Commines, which closely follows the overall compositions employed in the statutes, while differing from Colaud's work in terms of important stylistic details.

The details in question include a number specific to miniatures from the "Principal producer of the statutes", such as the way in which images are framed by bulging columns topped with an ogee arch, and a court-chamber interior intersected with small windows and protected by a courtine wall.

His human figures frequently feature exceptionally prominent Adam's apples and faces/heads that are strongly illuminated, apparently by the ambient lighting, around the eyes and the base of the neck.

[12] This master's style differs from that of Colaud himself most clearly by the application of softer brush strokes, a less firm approach to outlines and the reduced scale of the people in the images.

Myra Orth believed that in addition to his work with Colaud, he also produced a miniature included in a Pontifical Liturgy manuscript for Philippe de Lévis[10] A small triptych painted on vellum durned up in a sale in 2013.

The side panels, both of which are attributed to his co-worker known as, the "Master of François de Rohan", feature respectively the Emperor Charlemagne and Saint Augustine of Hippo.