St Jerome and the lion from the Coëtivy Hours

Dunois Master, attributed to

Folio with three-quarter page miniature from a book of hours attributed to the Dunois Master, written in Latin and French in a bastarda script, made in Paris and dated 1443–1445. It was commissioned by Prigent de Coëtivy (1399?–1450) on the occasion of his marriage to Marie de Rais (1429–1457). Removed from the bound volume between 1933 and 1960. The Office of the Dead is followed by the Psalter of St Jerome, an abbreviated version of a psalter (book of psalms). Beneath rubrics in blue, the text opens with the illuminated initial 'V' (Verba mea auribus percipe) painted with white, red, blue and gold ivy-leaf ornament. The miniature is painted in demi-grisaille with pigments and gold and depicts St Jerome wearing his red cardinal robe and hat, holding a book and touching a lion’s paw. A popular hagiographical story records how Jerome tamed a lion by removing a thorn from its paw. The gold and coloured diaper pattern of the background was a popular device in earlier manuscripts and is primarily replaced by more naturalistic landscapes. In the lower margin, a shepherd plays the bagpipes while a dog scares a fox away from his flock of sheep. A bearded-man with sword and crown in the upper left corner is perhaps Kind David, to whom the psalms are traditionally attributed. A parrot and butterfly also inhabit the margins. The bird is unfinished on the verso.