Claricia

Who is Claricia?

Claricia or Clarica was a 13th-century German illuminator. She included a self-portrait in a South German psalter of c. 1200, now in the The Walters Art Museum, Baltimore. In the self-portrait, she depicts herself as swinging from the tail of a letter Q. Additionally, she inscribed her name over her head.

"Claricia’s hand is just one of several in this manuscript, leading Dorothy Miner to conclude on the basis of her dress – uncovered head, braided hair, and a close-fitting tunic under a long-waisted dress with long tapering points hanging from the sleeves – that she was probably a lay student at the convent."