Single Miniature Excised from Boccaccio's Des Cleres et nobles femmes: Queen Medusa and Her Court
c. 1470
Maître François
Maître François (French)
Medieval Art
Single Miniature Excised from Boccaccio's Des Cleres et nobles femmes: Queen Medusa and Her Court, c. 1470. Circle of Maître François (French). Tempera and gold on vellum; sheet: 13 x 9.1 cm (5 1/8 x 3 9/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift from J. H. Wade 1924.1015 This miniature comes from the French translation of a book by the Italian poet Giovanni Boccaccio (1313–1375). A compilation of biographies of famous women, Boccaccio’s work remained popular in France throughout the 1400s, especially with aristocratic bibliophiles, and was usually beautifully illustrated in the form of a deluxe manuscript. Shown here is the miniature introducing the chapter dealing with the legend of Queen Medusa. Surrounded by her courtiers, Medusa instructs the reader on the disadvantages of possessing wealth, which brings fear and superstition as well as loss of sleep, security, and peace of mind. Medusa is shown here with her attendants before she was turned into the gorgon, a fierce frightening monster.
- Maker/Artist
- Maître François
- Classification
- Manuscript
- Formatted Medium
- tempera and gold on vellum
- Dimensions
- Sheet: 13 x 9.1 cm (5 1/8 x 3 9/16 in.)
- Departments
- Medieval Art
- Accession Number
- 1924.1015
- Credit Line
- Gift from J. H. Wade
- Exhibitions
- The Silver Jubilee Exhibition, The World of Miniature Painting, Juxtapositions, Treasures of Medieval France, Textiles in Daily Life in the Middle Ages, Detroit Institue of Art, "French Gothic Decorative Arts, 13th-15th Centuries" 11/9/1928-12/10/1928, no. 19.<br><br>Brooklyn Museum, "European Art, 1450-1500" 4/21/1936-6/3/1936, no. 94.<br><br>Baltimore Museum, "Illuminated Books of the Middle Ages and Renaissance" 12/29/1948-3/22/1949, no. 110.<br><br>Royal Ontario Museum of Archeology, Toronto, "Medieval Illuminated Manuscripts" 3/10/1950-6/13/1950.<br><br>Carnegie Institute, "French Painting, 1100-1900" 9/27/1951-12/10/1951, no. 18.<br><br>Los Angeles County Museum, "Medieval and Renaissance Illuminated Manuscripts" 11/12/1953-2/3/1954.<br><br>University of Kansas, 10/23/1975-01/22/1976<br><br>University of Michigan Museum of Art, "Images of Love and Death in Late Medieval and Renaissance Art" 10/23/1975-01/22/1976.
- Rights Statement
- CC0
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