St Mathurin, miniature on a leaf from a Book of Hours, in Latin and French [France, Brittany or perhaps Normandy, c.1430-40]

single leaf, 195x140mm, vellum, with a large miniature and borders to both sides for the suffrage to St Mathurin, verso ruled for 23 lines, 145x95mm, last line with a rubric ‘De sancto Florentino episcopo’, ink foliation ‘309’, small crease in outer border

This leaf is from a quire of 8 leaves, foliated 304-311, containing 11 suffrages to saints, each with a miniature, sold in our rooms, 29 November 1990, lot 33, with a full-page plate. It was bought by Maggs, and leaves appeared in their European Bulletin 18 (1993), no.5 (St Nicholas, St Sebastian), and Catalogue 1167 [1994] nos.31A (St Florentinus, St Leonard), 31B (St Eligius). The style of illumination suggests that the manuscript was painted in north-west France, probably Brittany, where Rennes was a major centre of book illumination (see also previous lot). Another possibility may be Normandy, perhaps Caen. St Mathurin is very rarely depicted in medieval art. The iconography is based on the Golden Legend: this tells how Mathurin’s father persecuted Christians until one night he had a vision of his son with a multitude of sheep, foretelling his future missionary work.