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The last Duchess of Brittany, Anne - who added her duchy to France by marrying first King Charles VIII and then King Louis XII - erected this monument to her parents. It is a work of collaboration, the story of which complex and in many points obscure. In 1500 the Italian sculptor Girolamo da Fiesole was commissioned by Anne to carry out at any rate some part of the work. At the end of the same year Anne seems to have turned towards French artists, Michel Colombe and Jean Perréal. Work has been started by these two artists in 1502, apparently with Perréal in charge and supplying the general design and Colombe working out the detail of the sculpture. It is, however, likely that the sarcophagus was made by an Italian, Girolamo da Fiesole. The tomb was finally erected in 1507.
The general design with altar-tomb and gisants is the usual translation of the Late Gothic tomb into Italian terms At the corner stand four allegorical figures of Virtues. These figures and the gisants are the work of Colombe and his studio. They are idealized and belong to a French Late Gothic style, classical in its calm, but not in its forms, more individual and more harmonious than anything produced by the Italian sculptors imported into France.
A new conception of the human form, a preoccupation with plastic qualities, a pronounced inclination towards harmony and balance, and a great refinement in execution distinguish this work as one of the great landmarks of the Renaissance in the northern countries.
The tomb is located in the southern transept of the cathedral. It is also the tomb of Marguerite de Bretagne (first spouse of François II) and of Arthur III de Bretagne (uncle of François II).
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