The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of April 19, 2024

Miniature from a Speculum Historiale: Claudius Designates Nero as His Successor

Miniature from a Speculum Historiale: Claudius Designates Nero as His Successor

1447–60
(French, active 1447–60)
France, 15th century
ink, tempera, and gold on vellum
Sheet: 12.9 x 9.7 cm (5 1/16 x 3 13/16 in.); Framed: 44.5 x 34.3 cm (17 1/2 x 13 1/2 in.); Matted: 40.6 x 30.5 cm (16 x 12 in.)
John L. Severance Fund 1987.4
Location: not on view

Description

This miniature came from a sumptuous copy of the Speculum Historiale (Mirror of History) written by 13th-century Dominican friar Vincent de Beauvais. It covers a history of the world from creation through to De Beauvais’s own time. Here a seated Claudius, emperor of Rome (AD 41–54), is appointing a kneeling Nero, his grand-nephew and adopted stepson, to be his successor. Although an event from antiquity, contemporary dress and setting was used and would have been familiar to the reader. The original work remained much in demand and numerous copies were produced after De Beauvais’s lifetime. This miniature belonged to a deluxe copy made for René d’Anjou (1409–1480), king of Jerusalem and a major patron of art and books.
  • -1819
    Daniel Burckhardt-Wildt (1715-1819), Basel, Switzerland, by descent to his heirs
    April 25, 1983
    (Sale: Sotheby's, London, 4/25/1983, lot 129d)
    -1987
    Mark Lansburgh, Tesque, New Mexico, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art
    1987-
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Turner, Evan H. "The Year in Review for 1987." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 75, no. 2 (1988). p. 65 www.jstor.org
    Cleveland Museum of Art, and Holger A. Klein. Sacred Gifts and Worldly Treasures: Medieval Masterworks from the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, Ohio: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2007. cat. 81, p.220
    Eikelmann, Renate, Holger A. Klein, Stephen N. Fliegel, and Virginia Brilliant. The Cleveland Museum of Art: Meisterwerke von 300 bis 1550. München: Hirmer, 2007. p. 216-17, no. 81
  • The Glory of the Painted Page: Manuscript Illuminations from the Permanent Collection. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 6, 2010-April 17, 2011).
    Sacred Gifts and Worldly Treasures: Medieval Masterworks from the Cleveland Museum of Art. National Museum of Bavaria, Munich, Germany (May 10-September 16, 2007); J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, CA (October 30, 2007-January 20, 2008); Frist Art Museum, Nashville, TN (February 13-June 7, 2009).
    Illuminated Manuscripts. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (October 10, 2004-October 2, 2005).
    The Year in Review for 1987. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 24-April 17, 1988).
  • {{cite web|title=Miniature from a Speculum Historiale: Claudius Designates Nero as His Successor|url=false|author=Master of Jouvenel des Ursins|year=1447–60|access-date=19 April 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1987.4