The Primer of Claude of France was the first book owned by the French princess

Claude of France Claude of France (13 October 1499 – 20 July 1524) was Queen of France by marriage to King Francis I. She was also ruling Duchess of Brittany from 1514 until her death in 1524. She was a daughter of King Louis XII of France and his second wife ...

, eldest daughter of

Louis XII of France Louis XII (27 June 14621 January 1515), was King of France from 1498 to 1515 and King of Naples from 1501 to 1504. The son of Charles, Duke of Orléans, and Maria of Cleves, he succeeded his 2nd cousin once removed and brother in law at the tim ...

and

Anne of Brittany Anne of Brittany (; 25/26 January 1477 – 9 January 1514) was reigning Duchess of Brittany from 1488 until her death, and Queen of France from 1491 to 1498 and from 1499 to her death. She is the only woman to have been queen consort of France ...

. Commissioned by Anne for Claude and produced in c. 1505, it is a rare surviving example of a manuscript designed for a medieval child. The book measures 26 cm by 17.5 cm, and its 14 pages contain the text of the

canonical hours In the practice of Christianity, canonical hours mark the divisions of the day in terms of fixed times of prayer at regular intervals. A book of hours, chiefly a breviary, normally contains a version of, or selection from, such prayers. In ...

shortened and simplified as a devotional elementary reading book or

primer Primer may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Primer'' (film), a 2004 feature film written and directed by Shane Carruth * ''Primer'' (video), a documentary about the funk band Living Colour Literature * Primer (textbook), a t ...

, along with two full-page miniature paintings – the first showing Claude kneeling before her patron saint

Claudius of Besançon Saint Claudius of Besançon (french: Saint Claude), sometimes called Claude the Thaumaturge (ca. 607 – June 6, 696 or 699 AD), was a priest, monk, abbot, and bishop. A native of Franche-Comté, Claudius became a priest at Besançon and late ...

, with

Saint Anne According to Christian apocryphal and Islamic tradition, Saint Anne was the mother of Mary and the maternal grandmother of Jesus. Mary's mother is not named in the canonical gospels. In writing, Anne's name and that of her husband Joachim come o ...

and the Virgin Mary in the right background, the second showing St Claudius presenting Claude to Saint Anne and the Virgin Mary – and 37 smaller miniatures. It is now held by the

Fitzwilliam Museum The Fitzwilliam Museum is the art and antiquities museum of the University of Cambridge. It is located on Trumpington Street opposite Fitzwilliam Street in central Cambridge. It was founded in 1816 under the will of Richard FitzWilliam, 7th Vis ...

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...

as MS 159. The "loose brushwork and relatively pale palette" and use of gilded frames of gothic architecture are typical of the Master of Antoine de Roche, who is tentatively identified with Guido Mazzoni of Modena (d. 1518).

References

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External links

The ''Primer of Claude de France'' (quaternio.ch)

Manuscripts of the Fitzwilliam Museum 16th-century illuminated manuscripts 1505 books 1505 in art

See also

References

External links