Flight into Egypt 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). Removed from the bound volume between 1933 and 1960. Following the calendar, Gospel lessons and Passion story are the mixed Hours of the Virgin (8), Holy Cross (7) and Holy Spirit (7). Beneath rubrics in blue, Vespers of the Virgin opens with the illuminated initial 'D' (Deus in adiutorium meum intende) painted with white, red, blue and gold ivy-leaf ornament. The miniature is painted in demi-grisaille with pigments and gold and depicts the Flight into Egypt of the Holy Family. Warned by an angel to flee, Joseph leads a donkey carrying Mary and the swaddled infant Jesus out of Judea, attended by an angel carrying a staff and strongbox. The Massacre of the Innocents, the ordered execution of all male children around Bethlehem under the age of two by King Herod, is depicted in the right and lower margins, one mother pulling her hair in grief. The grieving mother is replaced on the verso with an owl.