(DEVOTION) ~ [Painted miniature on vellum. ?France, late eighteenth century].
(70 × 64 mm, sheet size 89 × 67 mm). Finely painted in colours, manuscript text below, evidence of partial erasure and rewriting), gilt border. Very minor and unobtrusive flaking towards the left-hand side. Neatly stitched in four corners to a paper leaf with ink borders.
A very finely painted devotional miniature with emblems of the Passion and Ressurection: a broken tree (with fire), a flaming heart, discard crowns, rosaries and a cross. In the background are leafy tress and a convent. In the sky is a glowing rebus and a tiny gold butterfly. The text below reads ‘Vuide [sic for ‘vide’] de tout hormis dieu fait son bonheur en ce bas lieu’, the second part of the phrase being rewritten over an erasure. The text, though not identical recalls that of Pascal’s Passion (’Oubli du monde et de tout, hormis Dieu’) — the text recalling his vision of 1654 found sewn into the lining of his coat found on his death.