St Mark 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. Following the calendar, the manuscript opens with the Gospel lessons, excerpts from the life of Christ presented chronologically and all associated with major feasts: John (Christmas), Luke (Annunciation), Matthew (Epiphany), and Mark (Ascension). The lesson of Matthew concludes on the recto, with a peacock in the lower margin. On the verso, beneath rubrics in red, the lesson from the Gospel of Mark (16.14-20) opens with the illuminated initial 'I' (In illo tempore, recumbentibus undecim disapulis apparuit illis Ihesus) painted with white, red, blue and gold ivy-leaf ornament. The miniature is painted in demi-grisaille with pigments and gold and depicts St Mark the Evangelist writing in a codex on a lectern with knife and pen, accompanied by his symbol, a lion. His pen case and ink pot sits on the desk with a closed book, other books lay on the floor.