Claricia of Augsburg (fl. 1220)
Claricia of Augsburg (fl. 1220)
German manuscript illuminator. Flourished in 1220 in Augsburg, Germany.
Claricia worked as a manuscript illuminator at the convent of Augsburg. She is one of the very few women illuminators who actually signed one of her creations, an ornate initial Q in the text of a Psalter. For the tail of the Q, she even painted a whimsical portrait of herself dangling happily from the body of the letter, a young woman with long braided hair and wearing secular clothing. These clues tell us that Claricia was not a nun but probably a student of professional illumination at the Augsburg convent at the time she worked on the Psalter. Her convent education and vocational training indicate that she was born into an artisan family with the means to pay for her education, although no other details are known about her life.
Laura York , Riverside, California