Infrared know-how exhibits how Fifteenth-century French ruler erased his deceased spouse from artwork historical past

It was a tragedy for Francis I of Brittany when his wife Yolande of Anjou died in 1440. But she was soon replaced — both as his wife and in her own prayer book, where her image and coat of arms were painted over and replaced with those of her successor.

Yolande had appeared as a tiny figure kneeling before the Virgin Mary on one of the most glorious pages of her magnificent “Book of Hours,” now one of the treasures of the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge, UK.

Within two years of her death, Francis had married Isabella Stuart, the daughter of James I of Scotland, and — as new research by the museum proves — even before then, the marriage craftsmen were obliterating Yolande’s image.

Original underdrawings shows a kneeling figure of the Duke’s first wife, Yolande, wearing a headdress. Credit: The Fitzwilliam Museum, University of Cambridge

The spectacularly illuminated book, with more than…