De Claudia quinta una dueña muy noble romana · Centre for Early Modern Visual Culture

Title: De Claudia quinta una dueña muy noble romana
Subject: Famous Women; Claudia Quinta; Chastity; Virtue; Goddesses; Important Women
Period: 1450-1500;
Geographic: Italy; Ancient Rome
Description: This engraving depicts Claudia Quinta, a Roman woman, standing on land as she pulls a ship to shore. Her name, written as Quinta Claudia, is engraved at the bottom of the image. Boccaccio explains that after Claudia Quinta was accused by other matrons of not being chaste, she prayed to the goddess Ceres to help prove her virtue. After a ship that contained a statue of Ceres had gotten stuck on a sandbar, Ceres gave Claudia Quinta the power to pull the ship to shore as proof of her chastity. The women who accused Claudia Quinta of being unchaste are standing behind her in the engraving as they watch her pull the ship to shore. The statue of the goddess is illustrated on top of a platform on the ship. Claudia Quinta’s name is engraved below her body to identify her.
Image Creator: Anonymous (Engraver)
Type: Text; Woodcut Engraving
Identifier: mta:16711
Language: spa
Source Name: De Las Mujeres Ilustres [On Famous Women]
Parent Collection: 1494 Mujeres Ilustres
Image: mta_16711_OBJ.png