Crucifixion of St Peter 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 Peter the Apostle opens with the illuminated initial ‘T’ (Tu es pastor omnium princeps) 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 to saints, arranged hierarchically. The section opens with a number of prefatory prayers, followed by the Apostles, Martyrs, Confessors and Virgins. The miniature is painted in demi-grisaille with pigments and gold and depicts the Crucifixion of St Peter. According to the apocryphal Acts of Peter, the saint was executed at the direction of the Roman prefect Agrippa in the time of Nero (r. 54–68 AD). At his own request Peter was crucified upside down, not wanting to meet his death in the same way as his Lord. The executioner braces his foot against the saint for leverage to tighten the bonds. The figure wearing a crown on the left is likely intended to represent the emperor. He holds a wand, a common attribute of pagans employed both as a sign of authority and a belief in false gods. In the lower margin, a guard pushes Peter through a prison doorway.