The artist Jean Fouquet, who was active in Tours between 1450 and 1480, is considered the greatest French painter of the 15th century. He made several panel paintings, while ten manuscripts are known of which he executed the decoration either in full or, in most cases, only in part.
Thus he supplied only six miniatures (on either side of three leaves) for the small Book of Hours. The representation of the Madonna with the Christ child is considered one of the undisputed masterpieces of the painter's oeuvre. It has an unparalleled atmosphere of tenderness and intimacy, evoked by the overhanging veil of the Virgin Mary also partly covering the child's head. Equally noteworthy is the way in which the child puts his little hand on the edge of the columbine-decorated border, a trompe-l'oeil which creates the illusion of space between figures and border.
The decoration of the actual Book of Hours, consisting of no fewer than 80 miniatures with decorated borders, was executed by two Paris artists, Master Francois and the Master of the Dunois Book of Hours. These artists were specialized in "little white books," small-scale Books of Hours with white as their predominant color.
The Book of Hours of Simon de Varie also belongs to this group, as can be seen from the page opposite the representation of the Virgin Mary. In the garments of Christ walking upon the sea and of the three apostles in the miniature, as well as in the foliage of the border decoration, white is the dominating color.
