Painting depicting a couple praying, followed by men and women in prayer between two bishops. Front view.

The Jouvenel des Ursins family in prayer, RF 9618 © GrandPalaisRmn / Michel Urtado

Detail of a painting depicting an angel with outspread wings holding an armorial shield in an architectural setting. Front view.

The Jouvenel des Ursins family in prayer, RF 9618 (detail) © GrandPalaisRmn / Michel Urtado

Detail of a painting depicting two richly dressed women in bust form, with hands clasped in prayer. Front view.

The Jouvenel des Ursins family in prayer, RF 9618 (detail) © GrandPalaisRmn / Michel Urtado

Detail of a painting depicting an angel with outspread wings holding a heraldic shield in an architectural setting. Front view.

The Jouvenel des Ursins family in prayer, RF 9618 (detail) © GrandPalaisRmn / Michel Urtado

The Jouvenel des Ursins family in prayer

Description

On display - room 15

Between 1445 and 1449

Late Middle Ages

The members of the opulent Jouvenel des Ursins family are lined up on this long painting showing their tabards with their coats of arms. It includes a provost of the merchants of Paris, a president of the Parliament of Poitiers, two bishops and archbishops, and a royal chancellor.

Among the ladies are a widow, two nuns, and two married women, recognised thanks to their horned hairstyles. Set against a backdrop of textured gold brocade, this collective portrait was displayed in the family chapel established in the choir of Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris. It represents one of the few surviving works of Parisian painting in the middle of the 15th century, at a time still troubled by the Hundred Years’ War.

Between 1445 and 1449.

Donated to the Musée des Monuments Français in 1795; acquired by the Louvre in 1829; deposited by the Louvre in 1985.
 

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