St Bernard 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 Bernard opens with the illuminated initial ‘M’ (Magnificavit dominus sanctum suum et dedit illi scienciam) 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 Bernard of Clairvaux (1090–1153), dressed in the white habit of the Cistercians and accompanied by a demon. The saint allegedly tricked the devil into revealing the seven psalm verses that when recited daily would ensure salvation. Bernard founded the monastery at Clairvaux in 1115 and aided in the foundation of numerous Cistercian houses throughout Europe. The saint appears again in the lower margin studying and writing, reflecting his role as a reformer and theologian. His writings also encouraged the cult of the Virgin, and under his influence the Cistercians named all their churches Notre Dame. This is the second of two paintings of St Bernard in this manuscript, as an advocate of the Second Crusade he may have had a particular appeal to Prigent as admiral.