Feminae: Medieval Women and Gender Index
Home
What is Feminae?
What's Indexed?
Subjects
Broad Topics
Journals
Essays
All Image Records
Contact Feminae
SMFS
Other Resources
Admin (staff only)
There are 45,382 records currently in Feminae
Quick Search
Advanced Search
Article of the Month
Translation of the Month
Image of the Month
Special Features
Click to view high resolution image
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