( fl c. 1460; d before 23 Dec 1484).
French painter and
draughtsman. Although first mentioned in Uzes (Languedoc) in 1465, he probably
originated from Artois or Picardy, where he acquired his early training,
subsequently working in the southern Netherlands. His first documented work,
signed and dated 18 May 1461, is a triptych of the Raising of Lazarus
(Florence, Uffizi). Executed on oak panels, it is distinctive for its grimacing,
gesticulating figures and intense realism (e.g. the prominent fly on the
tablecloth). It is painted in a style largely dependent on Rogier van der Weyden
and Dieric Bouts, but also on the illuminator Loyset Liedet and other artists at
the court of Burgundy whose work was of a graphic nature. The figure at the far
left in the central panel may be a self-portrait of Froment. The altarpiece was
commissioned by Francesco Coppini, Bishop of Terni and Papal Legate, who is
depicted on the exterior of the wings praying to the Virgin. The prelate, who
was recorded in the southern Netherlands in 1459–62, probably ordered the
triptych as a political gift for Cosimo de’ Medici. The latter, in turn,
presented the work in 1462–3 to the Franciscan convent of Bosco ai Frati,
Mugello. To Froment’s period in the southern Netherlands have also been
ascribed, in collaboration with Jacques Daret of Tournai, cartoons for
tapestries produced in 1460 for Guillaume de Hellande, Bishop of Beauvais (Beauvais
Cathedral; Boston, MA, Mus. F.A.; Paris, Mus. Cluny). Attributable to Froment
and in a related style are a Mourning Virgin, a fragment on oak of a
larger panel (USA, priv. col.), and a drawing with the upper part of a
Transfiguration (Berlin, Kupferstichkab.).
