St Eutropius of Saintes 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 Eutropius opens with the illuminated initial ‘O’ (O christi martir inclite eutropii nunc respice) 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 Eutropius of Saintes. He is said to have travelled to France in the company of St Denis where he became the first bishop of Saintes. He carries a crozier and wears a bishop’s mitre and vestments, offering a gesture of blessing to the men kneeling at his feet. According to the Golden Legend, a popular collection of saints’ lives, among those he baptised was the governor’s daughter, Eustelle, an act that led to his martyrdom. That night, Eustelle buried him and is perhaps pictured in the lower margin emerging from a flower. The second figure appears to hold his hand to his ear, perchance listening to the prayer. On the verso, an ape or monkey wearing a hat and eating a piece of fruit has been added to the upper margin. The imagery alludes to the Fall of Man in the Garden of Eden.