Vergilius Vaticanus

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Codex Vaticanus, BAV, latinus 3225, Folio 13r (around 400): Virgil, Aeneid, 1st book, scene: Aeneas and Achates watch the building of Carthage
Codex Vaticanus, BAV, latinus 3225, Folio 31v (around 400): Virgil, Aeneid, 3rd book, scene: Aeneas circumnavigated Sicily and lands in Drepanum

Vergilius Vaticanus is the name of an illuminated manuscript written in Capitalis rustica around AD 400 , which came from the prior possession of Pietro Bembo and Fulvio Orsini in 1602 to the Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana , where the parchment codex under the signature Vatican City, BAV, Vaticanus latinus 3225 is kept. It contains works by the Roman poet P. Vergilius Maro : Fol. 1r-10r: Georgica (fragmentary). Fol.11r-75v: Aeneid (fragmentary). Fol. 76r-v: Aeneid (fragment of the 5th century). In the editions it is listed under the Sigle F.

With its 50 (from originally approx. 245) miniatures on 76 (from originally approx. 420) sheets, it is today considered to be one of the main works of late antique book illumination , the oldest surviving example of an illustrated classic Latin manuscript and possibly the oldest extensively preserved codex of Virgil's works .

The illustrations for Vergilius Vaticanus still show stylistic features of the ancient painting tradition, as we know them today from wall paintings of this epoch. In late antique book illumination, the Ilias Ambrosiana (5th / 6th century), the Cotton Genesis (5th century), the Vienna Genesis (6th century) and the Codex purpureus Rossanensis (6th century) are still in this tradition . Iconographic models can be identified for some of the illustrations by Vergilius Vaticanus , which must go back to much earlier illustrated works in Greek-language Hellenistic literature. In contrast, the illustrations for the so-called Vergilius Romanus , a somewhat later work that deals with the same subjects, suggest a departure from this classical canon of forms. The comparison of the two works can show the further development of a book illustration from antiquity, represented by Vergilius Vaticanus , into medieval illumination .

The layout with a relatively delicate page format of approx. 22.5 cm page height and approx. 20 cm width, but an almost square writing area of ​​21 verses per page, gives the manuscript a less monumental, but more intimate character for the hand of the lover .

There are a number of other famous Virgil manuscripts from late antiquity .

History of ownership and reception

In the 9th century, the then apparently almost complete codex in the Saint-Martin de Tours monastery , where it may have come from Charlemagne's court library , served as a template for the illustrations of the Vivian Bible . The traces of the stylus that were left behind when tracing are evidence of this use. In the early 15th century it was discovered and worked on by an unknown French humanist (determination of missing pages, corrections, annotations, redrawing of outlines). In the 15th century, the codex was transferred to Italy , where further sheet losses occurred and entries were made by two unknown Italian humanists, which have since been deleted and can no longer be deciphered. After Rome he finally came about in 1514, where the painter Raphael made a drawing using motifs from the Vergilius Vaticanus. There is evidence that the codex was also used by other painters in his vicinity.

facsimile

  • David H. Wright: Vergilius Vaticanus. Complete facsimile edition in the original format of Codex Vaticanus Latinus 3225 of the Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana. Commentarium . Graz, Academic Printing u. Publishing house 1984, ISBN 3-201-01147-9 .

literature

  • Angelika Geyer : The Genesis of Narrative Book Illustration. The miniature cycle on the Aeneid in Vergilius Vaticanus. Frankfurt am Main, Klostermann 1989, ISBN 3-465-01888-5 .
  • Johannes Götte (Ed.): Virgil. Aeneid. Heimeran, Munich 1958, pp. 597-609.
  • Herbert L. Kessler : An Apostle in Amor and the Mission of Carolingian Art. In: Arte medievale, 2nd part 4, 1990, pp. 17-41.
  • Florentine Mütherich : The illustrated Virgil manuscripts of late antiquity. In: Würzburg Yearbooks for Classical Studies. NF 8, 1982, pp. 205-221 + 6 panels.
  • Richard Seider : Contributions to the history and palaeography of the ancient Virgil manuscripts. In: Herwig Görgemanns , Ernst A. Schmidt (Ed.): Studies on the ancient epic (= contributions to classical philology. 72). Hain, Meisenheim am Glan 1976, pp. 129-172.
  • Antonie Wlosok : Illustrated Vergil Manuscripts. In: Classical Journal 93 (1998) 355-382.
  • Kurt Weitzmann : Late Antiquity and Early Christian Illumination. Prestel, Munich 1977, pp. 32-39, ISBN 3-7913-0401-1
  • David H. Wright : When the Vatican Virgil was in Tours. In: Katharina Bierbrauer (Ed.): Studies on medieval art 800–1250. Festschrift for Florentine Mütherich on her 70th birthday. Prestel. Munich 1985, ISBN 978-3-7913-0735-0 , pp. 53-66.
  • David H. Wright: From Copy to Facsimile: a Millennium of Studying the Vatican Vergil. In: British Library Journal 17 (1991) 12-35.
  • David H. Wright: The Vergilius Vaticanus. A masterpiece of late antique art (German by Ulrike Bauer-Eberhardt). Graz, Academic Printing and Publishing Company 1993, ISBN 3-201-01584-9 .

Web links

Commons : Vergilius Vaticanus  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ See David H. Wright, Der Vergilius Vaticanus. A masterpiece of late antique art. Akademische Druck- und Verlagsanstalt, Graz, 1993, p. 114f.
  2. ↑ See David H. Wright, Der Vergilius Vaticanus. A masterpiece of late antique art. Akademische Druck- und Verlagsanstalt, Graz, 1993, pp. 106-109.
  3. ↑ See David H. Wright, Der Vergilius Vaticanus. A masterpiece of late antique art. Akademische Druck- und Verlagsanstalt, Graz, 1993, pp. 109–115. For the history of its impact and reception in the 17th and 18th centuries, cf. Pp. 115-120.