"Claricia" swinging on an initial "Q" - Self-Portrait 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, a 13th-century German nun, living in a Bavarian convent, was a manuscript illuminator.
We know of her from a signature and what may be a self-portrait in a twelve-century German psalter (a manuscript of the psalms).
The 'Claricia Psalter' was made for, and most likely by, a group of Benedictine nuns at the abbey of Saints Ulrich and Afra in Augsburg, Germany.
Although the psalter itself, along with its calendar, dates to the late-12th or early 13th century, a number of texts and prayers were added in the mid-13th century.
Most striking about the manuscript are its illuminations, which include a prefatory cycle, full-page miniatures, and historiated initials.
While all are Romanesque in style, they vary greatly in quality and technique, and three or four different artists seem to have been at work.
The psalter takes its name from one of the initials, which depicts a young girl in secular dress swinging from the initial "Q," who has "Claricia" written around her head.
It has been suggested that the image represents a novice artist who signed her work, but there are many other theories, none of which is certain.
Generally, she is noted for including this self-portrait in a South German psalter of c. 1200, now in The Walters Art Museum, Baltimore.
As mentioned before, in the self-portrait, she depicts herself as swinging from the tail of a letter Q.
Additionally, she inscribed her name over her head.
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.
"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."
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.
Some, however, rejected that she was employed as a convent assistant, noting that the language of the psalm was derogatory.
Other works by Claricia:
St. Michael and The Dragon
St. Ulrich and St. Afra
Holy Bishop St. Nikolaus
Nativity
Thank you for your support of Lichtblick and for being a patron of humorists, writers and the arts.
Best wishes!
“One ought, every day at least, to hear a little song, read a good poem, see a fine picture, and, if it were possible, to speak a few reasonable words.”
~ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
If you can afford it and appreciate my work ~ consider becoming a paid supporter for as little as $1 - Thank you! :)
