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The Right Hand of God Protecting the Faithful against the Demons
Additional Images (4)

The Right Hand of God Protecting the Faithful against the Demons

Jean Fouquet
(French, Tours ca. 1425–ca. 1478 Tours)

Date: ca. 1452–1460
Medium: Tempera and gold leaf on parchment
Dimensions: 7 5/8 x 5 3/4 in. (19.4 x 14.6 cm)
Classification: Manuscripts and Illuminations
Credit Line: Robert Lehman Collection, 1975
Accession Number: 1975.1.2490
Not on view
Description Object Information Related Objects Online Resources Video Audio
The "Hours of Étienne Chevalier" is one of the most famous and lavishly illuminated manuscripts of the fifteenth century. It was painted for the treasurer of France by Jean Fouquet, court artist to kings Charles VII and Louis XI, who worked not only as a miniaturist but also as a panel painter. The Lehman miniature decorates the page that contains the opening words of the evening prayer (vespers) for the Hours of the Holy Spirit. It shows the faithful standing in the foreground on a terrace, looking up at the hand of God, as demons flee to the left and right. The subject is highly unusual, as is the topographically accurate depiction of medieval Paris, in which the cathedral of Notre Dame, the spire of Saint-Chapelle, the Pont Saint-Michel, and other monuments of the Île de la Cité (including the Hôtel de Nesle, where the figures stand) are immediately recognizable.
  • Signatures, Inscriptions, and Markings

    Inscription: [under the miniature, the opening line of the prayer at vespers of the Holy Spirit] Deus in adiutorium meum intende domine ad adiutum

  • Provenance

    Étienne Chevalier (ca. 1410–1474); Nicolas Chevalier, baron of Crissé (1562–1630); his nephew by marriage, the seigneur of Longeuil; Louis Fenoulhet, Shoreham, Sussex, England; sale, Sotheby's, London, December 18, 1946, lot 568; acquired by Robert Lehman in 1946

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Medium: Pen and brown ink, brush and watercolor of various hues, traces of gold paint
Accession Number: 1972.118.10
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Portrait of an Ecclesiastic

Portrait of an Ecclesiastic
Jean Fouquet
(French, Tours ca. 1425–ca. 1478 Tours)
Date: ca. 1461
Medium: Metalpoint, black chalk on white prepared paper
Accession Number: 49.38
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Pietà

Pietà
Simon Bening
(Netherlandish, Ghent (?) 1483/84–1561 Bruges)
Date: probably 1522–23
Medium: Tempera and gold leaf on parchment
Accession Number: 1975.1.2481
Not on view

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