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. A prayer to the Virgin Mary concludes on the recto, illuminated in the margin with a bird, a supplicant in prayer and an angel supporting the frame. A prayer to the Virgin Mary on the verso opens with the illuminated initial 'O’ (Obsecro te beatissima mater incorrupta inviolata intemerata) painted with white, 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 the Virgin and Child standing on a podium, like a devotional statue. She is crowned as the Queen of Heaven and the Christ Child holds a goldfinch and possibly a pomegranate, both of which foreshadow his Passion. They are surrounded by a choir of angels, including two that play harp and lute.