Baptism of Catechumen by 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. A prayer to the Trinity concludes on the verso, illuminated in the margins by birds, including a peacock, and a putti trying to catch a butterfly in his net. On the verso, beneath rubrics in red, a prayer to the son of God opens with the illuminated initial 'I' (In manus tuas domine ihesu christe fili dei vivi commendo animam) painted with white, red, blue and gold ivy-leaf ornament. The miniature is painted in demi-grisaille with pigments and gold and depicts the sacrament of Baptism. A man stands naked in a large baptismal font, his scroll reads ‘Salvum me fac quoniam intraverunt aquae’ (Psalm 68 (69).2). The Holy Spirit in the form of a dove pours holy water on the catechumen’s head. Flanked by red seraphim, God and Jesus appear in the arch of the frame. God wears the papal tiara and Jesus holds his cross and chalice. Either side of the font, men and women pray in segregated groin-vaulted vestibules.