Death and the Maiden
As discussed in “A remaining puzzle,” the Anderson Galleries catalog for the sale of Estelle Getz’ collection in November of 1936 provides quite a complete description of FOL 47 as an intact codex.
In its original state the manuscript apparently featured seven miniatures, on the following subjects: “St. John on the Island of Patmos, the Crucifixion, Pentecost, the Annunciation, King David, and Death in the act of striking down a young woman with his spear” (American Art Association 302). With one possible exception (a miniature depicting Pentecost in the collection of the Lima Public Library), the present whereabouts of these miniatures are unknown.
Given that FOL 47 was made for a female owner (see “A woman addresses the Virgin”), it is poignant that the final miniature, presumably prefacing the Office of the Dead, depicted a female victim. The images at left, both from contemporary French Books of Hours, show similar scenes of women confronted by Death as an armed and dangerous figure. In the miniature at bottom left, the woman facing this threat (with a prayerbook to help her) has actually been identified as the book’s owner, Denise Poncher.
While this can only be a matter of conjecture, it is not out of the question that FOL 47 also originally included a portrait of its first user, in an imagined setting emphasizing the fragility and transience of earthly existence.