Holy Unction 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. The Litany with standard prayers concludes on the recto, illuminated in the lower margin with a weasel or ferret driving a rabbit from its hole. The Litany is followed by the Office of the Dead, read immediately before the requiem or funeral Mass, with Vespers read on the night before and Matins and Lauds on the day of the Mass and burial. In this manuscript, the Office is unusually illuminated with not one but six miniatures. On the verso, beneath rubrics in red, Vespers for the Office opens with the illuminated initial 'D' (Dilexi quoniam exaudiet dominus) painted with white, red, blue and gold ivy-leaf ornament. The miniature is painted in demi-grisaille with pigments and gold and depicts Holy Unction, or Last Rites, the final absolution of the dying man. A priest, attended by deacons, administers the Eucharist to a man in his death bed. Relatives pray at the foot of the bed, with young boys (altar boys?) holding candles behind. A procession of religious and secular figures with candles, lantern and chalice fill the lower margin.