The Apostle Matthew and the Prophet Micah
The Apostle Jude and the Prophet Daniel
Prayer Book of Anne de Bretagne
Illuminated by Jean Poyer
The Pierpont Morgan Library, Purchased in 1905
The Apostle Matthew and the Prophet Micah (fol. 6v, left)
Poyer was a master of perspective, a talent praised even in his own time. The receding floor tiles, as well as the shadows cast by Matthew and Micah, simply but convincingly describe the depth of the room.
Before being called by Christ, Matthew was a tax collector for the Romans (an occupation particularly despised by his fellow Jews). His attribute is a bag of money.
The Apostle Jude and the Prophet Daniel (fol. 7, right)
Jude and Daniel stand in a beautiful landscape, rendered convincingly vast through Poyer's use of aerial or atmospheric perspective, in which the features become blurred and the colors cooler as the landscape recedes.
Jude holds the long saw by which he was purportedly cut in two.