Cleveland Museum of Art

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

Master of Jouvenel des Ursins

Date

1447–60

Medium

ink, tempera, and gold on vellum

Culture

France, 15th century

Department

Medieval Art

Institution

Cleveland Museum of Art

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.

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