Claricia

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from a psalter on parchment, figure of a woman swinging diagonally over the page forms the tail of the letter Q that begins Psalm 51 (in the counting of the Vulgata, today: Psalm 52) the name, Claricia, is inscribed above her head, Walters Art Museum German - Claricia Psalter - Walters W26 - Obverse Detail.jpg
from a psalter on parchment, figure of a woman swinging diagonally over the page forms the tail of the letter Q that begins Psalm 51 (in the counting of the Vulgata, today: Psalm 52) the name, Claricia, is inscribed above her head, Walters Art Museum

Claricia or Clarica was a 13th-century German illuminator. She is noted for including a self-portrait in a South German psalter of c. 1200, now in The Walters Art Museum, Baltimore. In the self-portrait, she depicts herself as swinging from the tail of a letter Q. [1] Additionally, she inscribed her name over her head.

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Feminist studies in the field of literature and medieval art such as Whitney Chadwick and Dorothy Miner uncovered Claricia's work in one of her manuscripts. [2] "Claricia’s hand is just one of several in this manuscript, leading Dorothy Miner to conclude on the basis of her dress – uncovered head, braided hair, and a close-fitting tunic under a long-waisted dress with long tapering points hanging from the sleeves – that she was probably a lay student at the convent." [3]

There is controversy regarding Claricia's occupation. Scholars such as Miner believe that Claricia was a lay woman - possibly a high-born lady – active in a convent scriptorium in Augsburg. [4] Some, however, rejected that she was employed as a convent assistant, noting that the language of the psalm was derogatory. [5]

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References

  1. Ross, Leslie (2003). Artists of the Middle Ages. Westport, CT: Greenwood Publishing Group. pp.  141. ISBN   978-0-313-31903-7.
  2. Hourihane, Colum (2012). The Grove Encyclopedia of Medieval Art and Architecture. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 647. ISBN   978-0-19-539536-5.
  3. Whitney Chadwick: "Woman, Art, and Society", p. 53
  4. Martin, Therese (2012). Reassessing the Roles of Women as 'Makers' of Medieval Art and Architecture (2 Vol. Set). BRILL. p. 400. ISBN   978-90-04-18555-5.
  5. Smith, Lesley; Taylor, Jane (1997). Women and the Book: Assessing the Visual Evidence. University of Toronto Press. p. 117. ISBN   978-0-8020-8069-1.

See also