Virgin and Child 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 ‘O intemerata’ prayer concludes on the recto, illuminated in the margins with a peacock and a diamond-shaped mirror inscribed with one of Prigent’s mottos: ‘hellas bella mercy’ (a plea for the Virgin’s aid). On the verso, another prayer to the Virgin opens with the illuminated initial 'S’ (Sancta maria dei genitrix mitissima domina per amorem) painted with red, blue and gold ivy-leaf ornament. It is one of a series of twenty-six prayers to the Virgin Mary in this section of the manuscript. The great many devotions and miniatures dedicated to her is rather unusual. The miniature is painted in demi-grisaille with pigments and gold and depicts Mary as the portentous woman of the sun and moon. The Woman of the Apocalyptic Woman from Revelation is clothed with the sun, stands upon the moon and wears a crown of twelve stars, here replaced with a crown to indicate her role as Queen of Heaven. She is accompanied by red seraphim and a choir of angels playing psaltery and viol. She is also presented as the Virgin of Tenderness, a type of Madonna and Child image that emphasises their earthly relationship, with mother and baby embracing cheek to cheek.