BONDOL, Jean
(active 1368-1381 in Paris)

Biography

Netherlandish painter and miniaturist active in France. His name is spelled in various ways (Boudolf, Bandolf, and so on) and he is also known as Jean de Bruges, presumably indicating his birthplace. He is first recorded in 1368 in the service of Charles V of France, an ardent bibliophile. His only known signed work is the dedicatory miniature (1371) in a Bible historiale (a French translation of a Latin compilation of biblical history and legend) made for Charles (Museum Meermanno-Westreenianum, The Hague). The only other work that can be confidently attributed to him is the design of the celebrated series of tapestries on the Apocalypse (woven 1373-82, Musée des Tapisseries, Angers), made for Louis I, Duke of Anjou, Charles V's brother.

Bondol's style combined French courtly sophistication with Netherlandish realism, looking forward to the International Gothic style.