Vergilius Vaticanus

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Folio 22r from the Vatican Virgil contains an illustration from the Aeneid of the flight from Troy.

The Vergilius Vaticanus (also known as the Vatican Virgil) is an illuminated manuscript containing fragments of Virgil's Aeneid and Georgics made in Rome in about 400. It is one of the oldest surviving sources for the text of the Aeneid and is the oldest and best preserved extant illustrated manuscript of classical literature. The two other surviving illustrated manuscripts of classical literature are the Vergilius Romanus and the Ambrosian Iliad. It is now in the Biblioteca Apostolica in the Vatican (Cod. Vat. lat. 3225).

There are 76 surviving leaves in the manuscript with 50 illustrations. If, as was common practice at the time, the manuscript contained all of the canonical works of Virgil, the manuscript would originally had about 440 leaves and 280 illustrations. The text was written by a single scribe in rustic capitals. As was common at the time, there is no separation between words. The scribe worked first leaving spaces for the illustrations. The illustrations were added by three different painters, all of whom used iconographic copybooks. The illustrations are contained within ornate golden frames and include landscapes and architectural and other details. The human figures are painted in classical style with natural proportions and drawn with vivacity. The style of these miniatures has been compared to the frescos found at Pompeii. The framed miniatures are set within the text column, although a few mimiatures occupy a full page.

The manuscript was probably made for a pagan noble. Annotations in the manuscript indicate it was in Italy until 7th century and in Tours in the second quarter of the 9th century. A French scribe made further notes around 1400.

The Vergilius Vaticanus is not to be confused with the Vergilius Romanus (Vatican City, Biblioteca Apostolica, Cod. Vat. lat. 3867) or the Vergilius Augusteus, two other ancient Vergilian manuscripts in the Biblioteca Apostolica.

[edit] References

Calkins, Robert G. Illuminated Books of the Middle Ages. Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Press, 1983.
Weitzmann, Kurt. Late Antique and Early Christian Book Illumination. New York: George Braziller, 1977.