De Cloelia romana virgine · Centre for Early Modern Visual Culture

Title: De Cloelia romana virgine
Subject: Cloelia; Hostages; Important Women
Period: 1450-1500;
Geographic: Italy; Ancient Rome
Description: This engraving depicts Cloelia, a young Roman woman, riding a horse through a deep river with many women looking at her. Boccaccio explains that Cloelia was given to a foreign king as a hostage, and when she escaped, she took many other hostages with her. While escaping, she came across a river that was too treacherous to pass. She found a horse, and despite never having ridden one, she got herself and the other women across safely by means of this horse. This image depicts her taking the other women across the river one by one as there is only one other female on the horse with Cloelia. We know that this figure on the horse is Cloelia as her name is engraved above her head.
Image Creator: Anonymous (Engraver)
Type: Text; Woodcut Engraving
Identifier: mta:11959
Language: lat
Source Name: De Claris Mulieribus
Parent Collection: 1473 Ulm; 1473 Ulm
Image: mta_11959_OBJ.jpg
Collection: Early Modern Women
Subject: Cloelia; Hostages; Important Women