Baptism of Christ 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, the second article of faith in French opens with an initial ‘O’ (O vertueux) painted with white, red, blue and gold ivy-leaf ornament. The miniature is painted in demi-grisaille with pigments and gold and depicts the Baptism of Christ. Jesus stands in the River Jordan covering his nakedness, his cloak in the hands of an angel, while John the Baptist in his distinctive camel-hair tunic reads from a book and pours water on Christ’s head. The other two parts of the Trinity appear above Christ’s head with the words from God coming from heaven proclaiming his son: hic est filius meus dilectis. In the lower margin, two angels read or sing from a book while a third on the right also holds Christ’s clothing. Beneath this angel is a mirror around which was written one of Prigent’s mottos, possibly dame sans per, but no longer legible. The angel in the side margin is replaced on the verso with a unicorn, which usually has sexual connotations.