Claricia
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]
See also
References
- Ross, Leslie (2003). Artists of the Middle Ages. Westport, CT: Greenwood Publishing Group. pp. 141. ISBN 978-0-313-31903-7.
- Hourihane, Colum (2012). The Grove Encyclopedia of Medieval Art and Architecture. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 647. ISBN 978-0-19-539536-5.
- Whitney Chadwick: "Woman, Art, and Society", p. 53
- 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.
- 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.
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