Plan your visit. 225 Madison Avenue at 36th Street, New York, NY 10016.

Plan your visit. 225 Madison Avenue at 36th Street, New York, NY 10016.

321. MS M.917/945, pp. 256–257

Conversion of St. Hubert

ca. 1440
The Netherlands, Utrecht
MS M.917/945, pp. 256–257

Purchased on the Belle da Costa Greene Fund with the assistance of the Fellows, 1963

Hubert, patron of the hunt, is pictured on the ride that changed his life. While in pursuit of a deer, a vision of the Crucifixion appeared to him between the antlers of a stag, and he heard a voice telling him to exchange his life of frivolity for one dedicated to God. In the miniature Hubert sports a fancy hat with two long feathers and a turned-up brim and wears a white and crimson gown split for riding. He pulls hard on the reins of his long-legged steed as the stag rears up in front of him. Three hunting dogs cavort at the feet of the horse, the foremost of them back on its haunches with paws upraised as if in prayer. The border also contains a hunting scene: a small fawn is attacked by an eagle.