2-733-759 - Heritage Art/Heritage Images

Leaf from the Hours of Duke Louis of Savoy: Saints Nereus and Achilleus, mid-1400s. Once illustrating a book of hours made for Louis, Duke of Savoy and Prince of Piedmont (1413-65), this miniature depicts two Roman martyrs of the early church, Nereus and Achilleus. Their feast day was jointly honored on May 12 suggesting this illustration comes from the Suffrages. The remainder of this book of hours is currently preserved in the Bibliothèque nationale in Paris. Louis is noted in history for receiving the famous Shroud of Turin from Margaret de Charny in 1453. The shroud was held by the House of Savoy before being bequeathed to the Holy See in 1983.