3-041-662 - Heritage Art/Heritage Images

Coat of Arms Held by a Woman; Hours of Simon de Varie, 1455. Additional Info: Introducing the reader and viewer to Simon de Varie's exquisite book of hours, a woman holds up an escutcheon, or shield, in the first illumination of the book's series of frontispiece Miniature. With its profusion of heraldry, Jean Fouquet designed this page to emphasize not only Varie's piety but also his pride in his lofty new status: Varie had only been ennobled shortly before he commissioned this manuscript. The shield was overpainted in the 1600s with the arms of the Bourbon-Condé family but originally held Varie's arms. The banner supporting the shield displays Varie's motto: Plus que jamais (More than ever) and Vie à mon desir (Life according to one's desire).