Feminae: Medieval Women and Gender Index



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  • Title: Catherine of Cleves before the Virgin and Child
  • Creator:
  • Description: Catherine of Cleves holds a prayer book in a chemise binding and kneels in prayer before the Virgin, who appears as the Woman of the Apocalypse standing on the moon. The Virgin holds the Christ Child, who writes a response to Catherine using a reed pen and taking ink from a well that his mother holds. He wears a tightly-fitting coif on his head. On the right, an angel tells Joachim that his wife Anna has conceived--their child will be the Virgin Mary. The rabbits that inhabit the field symbolize Joachim's God-given virility. The borders of these folios communicate Catherine's noble lineage: her ancestors' arms occupy each corner of the two folios, and her own arms as duchess of Guelders appear directly below the Virgin. Rather than her husband's crest, her arms are surmounted with her own: the ox of the house of Cleves.
  • Source: Wikimedia Commons
  • Rights: Public Domain
  • Subject (See Also): Books of Hours Catherine of Cleves, Duchess, Consort of Arnold van Egmond, Duke of Gelderland Donor Portraits Duchesses Heraldry Joachim, Father of the Virgin, Saint Mary, Virgin, Saint- Birth Scrolls Woman of the Apocalypse Writing
  • Geographic Area: Low Countries
  • Century: 15
  • Date: ca. 1440
  • Related Work:
  • Current Location: New York, The Pierpont Morgan Library and Museum, MS 945, 1v-2r
  • Original Location:
  • Artistic Type (Category): Digital images; Manuscript illuminations
  • Artistic Type (Material/Technique): Vellum (parchment); Paint; Gold
  • Donor: Laywoman; Catherine of Cleves, Duchess, Consort of Arnold van Egmond, Duke of Gelderland
  • Height/Width/Length(cm): 19.2cm/13cm/
  • Inscription: On Catherine's scroll: O mater dei memento mei [Remember me, oh mother of God]
  • Related Resources: Online exhibit about The Hours of Catherine of Cleves including a full digital facsimile of the manuscript: http://www.themorgan.org/collections/works/cleves/default.asp