Jean Poyer (1465-1503), ‘St.Martha Taming the Tarasque’, from “Hours of Henry VIII
Jean Poyer (1465-1503), ‘St.Martha Taming the Tarasque’, from “Hours of Henry VIII, in Latin”, 1500“Illuminated around 1500 by the artist Jean Poyer, The Hours of Henry VIII receives its name from the possible but unproven eighteenth-century tradition that holds King Henry of England once owned this splendid manuscript.”….“Martha was the sister of Lazarus and Mary Magdalene. After Christ’s Ascension, they were set adrift in a boat, which was guided by an angel to Marseilles.In Marseilles, according to legend, Martha overcame a dragon, the Tarasque, which had been terrorizing the people of Tarascon in Provence. Half- animal and half-fish, the monster slew passersby and sank ships. The people appealed to Martha for help. Armed with an aspergillum (a device to sprinkle holy water) and holy water bucket, she went after the dragon, which she found devouring a man.After subduing the beast with holy water, as in the miniature, she bound it about the neck with her girdle and led it away to be killed. One man plunges a spear into its neck while another—at a considerably safer distance— aims his crossbow.”Source: http://www.themorgan.org/collection/hours-of-henry-viii/54#overlay-context=collection/hours-of-henry-viii/54 -- source link
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