St Yves of Brittany 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). The folio was removed from the bound volume between 1933 and 1960. Beneath rubrics in red, a prayer to St Yves the Confessor opens with the illuminated initial ‘I’ (In yvonis sollempuis exultent nostris precibus piis) painted with white, red, blue and gold ivy-leaf ornament. 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 St Yves of Brittany (1253–1303) with petitioners. Yves studied at the University of Paris and later became an ecclesiastical judge. He was known for his fair judgements, and as an advocate for the poor, windows and orphans. He was canonised in 1347 and his relics are housed in the cathedral in Tréguier (Brittany), alongside his tomb and cenotaph (a late 19th century replacement). Two additional petitioners emerge from flowers in the lower margin, each appears to hold a begging bowl or pan in addition to a document. Other depictions of the saint show him between a rich and poor man to illustrate his fairness. The figures in the lower margin perhaps presented in contrast to those in the main paintings.