St Michael vanquishing the devil 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 blue, a prayer to the Archangel Michael opens with the illuminated initial ‘M’ (Michaele archangele veni in adiutorium) painted with white, red, blue and gold ivy-leaf ornament (much of the gold is lost). It is one of an unusually large series of forty-seven suffrages, or short prayers dedicated to the saints, arranged hierarchically. The section opens with prayers to the Trinity, Virgin Mary, Archangel Michael and John the Baptist, followed by the Apostles, Martyrs, Confessors and Virgins. The miniature is painted in demi-grisaille with pigments and gold and depicts the Archangel Michael vanquishing the devil. Michael was one of the most popular saints in the Middle Ages and appears to have been a particular favourite of Prigent de Coëtivy, whose motto, ‘hellas bella mercy’ (a plea for the Virgin’s aid), is written around a mirror in the right margin. The archangel holds a shield and cross-topped lance, restraining the demonic creature under his feet. In the lower margin, Michael holds a scales denoting his other responsibility, weighing souls at the Last Judgment. Two demons try to tip the balance. A small bird pecking at a flower inhabits the right margin. On the verso, the mirror has been replaced by the overpainted single charge of Alain de Coëtivy in an elliptical cartouche.