Portrait of Petrarch in the Incipit Letter “N”

Nature and garden imagery abound in the poetry of Petrarch (d. 1374), one of the great scholars and authors of the Renaissance. This letter N depicts Petrarch holding branches of a laurel tree, a symbol of poetry and knowledge personified by his beloved deceased Laura, his muse. Laurel crowns denoted military victory in the days of the Roman Empire but came to represent the ideals of knowledge and learning in the age of Petrarch. The poem itself recounts Petrarch's dream vision of six allegorical processions (Love, Chastity, Death, Time, Fame, and Faith).