The Trinity 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 Psalter of St Jerome is followed by the Athanasian Creed, or Quicunque Vult, which iterates the equality of the three persons of the Trinity. Beneath rubrics in blue, the text opens with the illuminated initial 'Q' (Quicunque vult esse) painted with white, red, blue and gold ivy-leaf ornament. The miniature is painted in demi-grisaille with pigments and gold and depicts the Trinity as three bearded men seated upon a throne supported by red seraphim and blue cherubim and/or thrones (both are among the highest order of angels). Each person of the Trinity touches the book with their left hand and gives a gesture of blessing with their right. A bearded monk reading a book and a bishop with crozier, perhaps intended to represent the then assumed author of the creed, Athanasius of Alexandria (c.296–373), inhabit the lower margin. A parrot is included on the right. The margins on the verso are more or less identical.