Heures de Charles d'Angoulême

This miniature is adapted by Testard from an engraving by van Meckenem, itself a copy of an earlier 1466 print by Master E. S. The original print features John the Baptist in the centre, whom Testard has replaced with Christ amongst angels. Surrounding, the four symbols of the evangelists are arranged in a Latin cross: John's eagle (top), the winged lion of Mark (left), the bull of Luke (right), and Matthew's angel (bottom). The other medallions show the four doctors of the Church: Jerome with lion (top left); Gregory (top right), Augustine (bottom right), and Ambrose (bottom left).

Testard largely keeps to original composition, which may have been a design for a paten. He has made some alterations to the faces and postures of the other characters, and added four prophets to the corners, skillfully extending and elaborating the foliate motifs to unify the image.[3][4]

An overpainting of a van Meckenem engraving, itself a reversed version of a c. 1480 print by Martin Schongauer. The ground and sky have been extended through use of additional overpainted strips.[5]

A scene of a country dance which at first seems unconnected to this part of the book of hours. Closer examination reveals it to be a combination of religious and picturesque elements: a shepherd in the background points to an angel in the sky who is accompanied by a phylactery bearing the words of the Gloria in excelsis Deo.[6]

The composition of this scene is based upon a print by Master FVB. Testard has altered the faces, costumes and number of characters, introduced a lower viewpoint and made minor modifications to architectural details.[7]

Testard has been influenced here by Netherlandish printmaker Master I. A. M. of Zwolle's Battle of Two Men with a Centaur, to which he introduces Death, a lion and a wild-woman.[8] Interpretation of this scene is problematic. Typically understood to represent a Centaur battling the Lapiths, a purely mythological tale and unusual subject for use in the "Office for the Dead", Belkin posits that this contest between man and beast is "symbolic of the struggle against dark forces. The Centaur and the wild woman form a single unit—the personification of vice in terms of Christian allegory. The private nature of the Book of Hours leads one to infer that Charles used the allegory of the struggle with the Vices for his own political vendetta against his rivals, conveying in this enigmatic miniature his bitter enmity towards those who had wronged him."[9]

17 historiated letters on a background of gold which spell "Ave Maria, gracia ple[na]" from the first chapter of Luke. This is the reading for the Feast of the Annunciation (March 25)

The first letter is copied from the alphabet of Master E. S. (itself inspired by the late-14th century pattern-book by Giovannino de' Grassi). Testard seems to have modeled the rest of the letters upon another woodblock alphabet of around 1464 from Flanders or the Netherlands.[10]

On the reverse of the Ave Maria is a diagram for calculating the date of Easter. Originally, "the vivid colours of the concentric circles behind the diagram must have stood out more clearly against the cream-coloured parchment [however] one of the components used to make the golden ground of the Ave Maria, probably silver, has gone rusty and seeped deep into the parchment". The main spoke, pointing up, features a sequence of nineteen Roman numerals representing years in the Metonic cycle.[11]

A print by van Meckenem, lightly coloured by Testard, depicting St George, patron saint of chivalry and military orders across medieval Europe. "The choice of this dragon-slaying saint rather than St Michael, the patron saint of the crown of France from Louis XI onwards, was probably the result of a desire to disassociate Charles from the king of France".

Testard leaves the original print largely unaltered except for the conical hat and veil of the princess which he has replaced with a turban reflecting contemporary fashion.[12]