Last Judgement 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. The sixth article of faith in French concludes on the recto, illuminated in the margins by the rescuing of souls from hell. The seventh article of faith in French opens on the verso with an initial ‘C’ (Cest article) painted with white, red, blue and gold ivy-leaf ornament. The miniature is painted in demi-grisaille with pigments and gold and depicts the Last Judgment. Christ in a mandorla, displaying his wounds and flanked by trumpeting angels, sits on a rainbow as he watches over the rising of souls from their graves below. Mary as Queen of Heaven is on his right with a number of saints while John the Baptist in his distinctive camel-hair shirt kneels on his left with a group of souls. In the lower margin angels fight back demons to release souls from the fires of hell, while other angels escort them to heaven. The scene extends beyond the frame to incorporate an extended similar to how the scene is laid out on f.74.