Cy apres sensuit histoire de la tres feable tisbe qui su vierge en babilone · Centre for Early Modern Visual Culture

Title: Cy apres sensuit histoire de la tres feable tisbe qui su vierge en babilone
Subject: Famous Women; Thisbe; Pyramus; Suicide; Forbidden Love; Important Women
Period: 1400-1450;
Geographic: Mesopotamia; Babylon
Description: This illumination depicts a young maiden named Thisbe finding her lover, Pyramus, dead in the forest. The lovers were meant to meet at a fountain in the woods where they would run away together. Boccaccio explains that when Thisbe arrived at the fountain, a lioness appeared, and she ran into the trees to hide. She left behind a cloak which the lioness picked up in her already blood-stained mouth. When Pyramus arrived, the lioness was gone, however she left the blood-stained cloak of Thisbe. Pyramus believed Thisbe to be dead, so he plunged his sword into his chest. There is a wound visible on his chest in the image as he lies on the ground. Thisbe is illustrated using Pyramus’ sword to plunge it into her neck.
Image Creator: Master of Boethius (Illuminator)
Type: Text; Illumination
Identifier: mta:19824
Language: frm
Source Name: Des cleres et nobles femmes, De claris mulieribus in an anonymous French translation
Parent Collection: 1410 Paris; 1410 Paris
Image: mta_19824_OBJ.jpg
Collection: Early Modern Women
Subject: Famous Women; Thisbe; Pyramus; Suicide; Forbidden Love; Important Women