Cy apres sensuit hystoire de niobe fille du roy tantale et royne des thebans · Centre for Early Modern Visual Culture

Title: Cy apres sensuit hystoire de niobe fille du roy tantale et royne des thebans
Subject: King Amphion; Important Women; Famous Women; Important Queens; Latona; Apollo; Diana; Roman Mythology; Gods; Goddesses; Niobe
Period: 1400-1450;
Geographic: Ancient Greece; Thebes
Description: This illustration depicts Niobe, queen of Thebes, in the centre of the image with her many children lying dead in front of her. Niobe is looking over to her husband, King Amphion, who is on the left side of the image wearing a crown. Niobe had many sons and daughters with her husband which made her incredibly proud. Boccaccio explains that when the city of Thebes was making sacrifices to Latona, the mother of Apollo and Diana, Niobe declared that she was more worthy of the sacrifices than Latona because she had more children than her. Every one of Niobe’s children died of the plague as punishment for her hubris against the goddess.
Image Creator: Anonymous (Illuminator)
Type: Text; Illumination
Identifier: mta:18429
Language: frm
Source Name: Livre que fist Jehan BOCACE de Certalde des cleres et nobles femmes, lequel il envoia à Audice de Accioroles de Florence, contesse de Haulteville [Book from Giovanni Boccaccio of Certaldo called the cleric and noble women, of which he sent to Audice Accioroles of Florence, Countess of Haulteville]
Parent Collection: 1401 Florence
Image: mta_18429_OBJ.jpg