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. Beneath rubrics in red, a prayer to the Virgin Mary opens with the illuminated initial 'S’ (Sancta et imperpetua uirgo maria gloriosa domina et aduocata mea) 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 Madonna and Child enthroned. Mary is presented as the Seat of Wisdom (sedes sapientiae) in which she serves as the throne for Jesus. The child holds a piece of fruit, either an apple alluding to Jesus’ role as the second Adam, or a pomegranate, a symbol of his Passion. The throne is set in a garden, a reference to Mary as the doorway to Paradise. They are surrounded by a choir of angels reading or playing musical instruments, like the viol and trumpet. The shape of the base cleverly echoes the shape of the frame, which is broken by the top of the canopy. Additional angels emerge from flowers in the margins, playing trumpet, viol and harp.