In 2003 the Getty Museum acquired three miniatures from the fifteenth-century manuscript "The Hours of Louis XII", created by the court artist and painter of the French Renaissance Jean Bourdichon

In 2003 the Getty Museum acquired three miniatures from the fifteenth-century manuscript "The Hours of Louis XII", created by the court artist and painter of the French Renaissance Jean Bourdichon. One of the miniatures, depicting King Louis XII surrounded by four saints, seemed incomplete: the saints were looking off to one side, where something was plainly missing.

Two decades later the museum found the missing piece. "The Lamentation", the lost part of the miniature, surfaced at an auction in France in 2018. The art dealer Sandra Hindman, stumbling upon the lot by chance, at once recognised the hand of Jean Bourdichon. Expert examination confirmed it: this was indeed the second half of the diptych, created around 1498–1499. The colours, the composition and the gazes of the saints on the first half of the diptych matched the scene of the Lamentation perfectly.

Now, after almost 200 years, the diptych will be shown together in an exhibition at the Getty Museum.

"The Hours of Louis XII" is one of the most sumptuous prayer books of the Renaissance. Today only 16 surviving miniatures from this manuscript are known, scattered through collections across the world, including the British Library, the Louvre and the Victoria and Albert Museum. The discovery of the missing half of the diptych is a rare stroke of luck, which sheds light on the history of this unique monument.