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Source Description
This 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 twelfth or early thirteenth century, a number of texts and prayers were added in the mid thirteenth 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 Claricia 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, and none are certain.
Scholar Source Context
Document identity
localId
26205
label
Claricia Psalter
core
obj
dtoType
object
citationUrl
pageCount
1
Source metadata
id
26205
sourceUrl
contentType
object
stage
normalized
title
Claricia Psalter
description
This 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 twelfth or early thirteenth century, a number of texts and prayers were added in the mid thirteenth 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 Claricia 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, and none are certain.
provenance
Made for an abbey in southern Germany, probably the Benedictine house of SS. Ulrich and Afra in Augsburg [Ulrich and Afra appear in the calendar and are depicted on fol. 131v; thirteenth-century note in German, top of fol. 2r]; Bénigne-Charles Févret de Saint-Mémin (1770-1852) [date and mode of acquisition unknown] [bookplate originally on front pastedown, no longer extant]; Prince of Stolberg-Wernigerode, Zeisberg sale, Wernigerode, October 10, 1854, no. 37 [no. Za51 on spine]; G. Schar [date and mode of acquisition unknown] [G. Schar 20 on fol. 1r]; Léon Gruel collection, Paris, late 19th-early 20th century [mode of acquisition unknown]; Henry Walters, Baltimore [date and mode of acquisition unknown]; Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.
date
late 12th-early 13th century (Medieval)
citationUrl
rightsUri
CC0
language
en
genreSpecific
illuminated manuscripts
imageCount
1
pageCount
1
source
import
dimensions
units
cm
width
22.8
height
15
dimensionsRaw
H: 9 x W: 5 7/8 in. (22.8 x 15 cm)
Source extras
style
Romanesque
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med
ink and pigments on velvety parchment of medium thickness, well prepared but very worn from use between original (or possibly thirteenth- or fourteenth-century) beech boards covered by much-abraded leather with five metal bosses on upper and lower boards; remains of leather straps visible; thirteenth- or fourteenth-century charters used as pastedowns on both boards (lower board pastedown now numbered as final folio)
creator_ids
6211
collection_ids
MSS
MED
exhibition_ids
2289
105
96
116
3673
Single page context
seq
1
pageIndex
0
type
photo
mediaId
1b95d82d05ac9452