St Martin and the beggar 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 blue, a prayer to St Martin opens with the illuminated initial ‘O’ (O Beatum virum cuius anima possidet paradisum) 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 the Charity of St Martin of Tours. During his military service in the Roman army, Martin was stationed in Gaul. As recorded in the Golden Legend, a popular collection of saints’ lives, on a cold winter day he passed a poor man by the gate of Amiens. Overcome with a desire to help, Martin drew his sword and cut his military cloak (paludamentum) in half to share. While Martin rides a horse, the poor man requires a cane, the ermine-lined purple cloak juxtaposed with the beggar’s tattered rags. Following a vision, Martin converted to Christianity and became a disciple of Hilary of Poitiers and then bishop of Tours, allegedly founding the first monasteries in France. The lower margin also illustrates the saint’s generosity. Having given his chasuble to a poor man, Martin was forced to say Mass wearing an ill-fitting, tattered robe with sleeves that only reached his elbows. While he was singing, an angel descended in a ball of fire with golden sleeves to cover his arms.