2-735-062 - Heritage Art/Heritage Images

Miniature from a Book of Hours: The Pentecost, c. 1500. The city of Tours in the Loire Valley, then the seat of the French court, was the center of an important school of illuminators and painters during the latter half of the 15th century. An important artist in this school was Jean Poyet, whose work was much in demand within court circles. Poyet illustrated several devotional books for his patroness, Queen Anne of Brittany, and is also known to have worked for the French king, Charles VIII. This miniature depicting the Pentecost would have introduced the Hours of the Holy Spirit in a luxury book of hours likely made for an aristocratic patron.