This prayer book was commissioned by Anne de Bretagne, wife of two successive kings of France, Charles VIII and Louis XII, to teach her son, the dauphin Charles-Orland (1492–1495), his catechism. It was painted in Tours by Jean Poyer, an artist documented as working for the queen. The book is richly illustrated, and its thirty-four airy, light-flooded miniatures are among the most delicate examples of late-fifteenth-century art.
The Apostle John and the Prophet Zachariah (fol. 3v, left)
Poyer employed subtle and
dramatic juxtapositions.
Here he contrasts the typical
colors of his light palette—the
pale pinks and blues of the
clothing of John and Zachariah
—the dark chiaroscuro of the
interior behind them.
John's gold cup containing a
serpent alludes to the attempt
on his life by the high priest
Aristodemus, who challenged
the Apostle to drink a draught
of poison. John's miraculous
imbibing of the deadly liquid
with no ill effect converted the
priest.
The Apostle Thomas and the
Prophet Hosea (fol. 4, right)
Thomas, holding the lance of
his martyrdom, is shown in
active conversation with Hosea,
whose response is written on
his scroll, O mors ero mor(s)
tua morsus (O death, I will be
thy death).
The active communication
between the two figures is a
visualization of the link between
the Old and New Testaments,
between the Articles of the
Apostles' Creed and the
declarations of the prophets.
The pairing of Apostles and
prophets in Anne's manuscript
draws on a tradition dating
back to the early fourteenth
century.