Miniature from a Speculum Historiale: Claudius Designates Nero as His Successor
Medium
ink, tempera, and gold on vellum
Dimensions
sheet: 12.9 × 9.7 cm · framed: 44.5 × 34.3 cm
Classification
Manuscript
Department
Medieval Art
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Credit
John L. Severance Fund
Accession Number
1987.4
Tags
male
About this artwork
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 orig...