Leiden Aratea
The Aratea manuscript in Leiden is a Carolingian illuminated manuscript which contains the astronomical treatise Phainomena des Aratos (310–245 BC) on the constellations in the Latin translation of Claudius Caesar Germanicus , the Aratea of Germanicus . The manuscript originated after 825 in Lotharingien ( Aachen or Metz ). It is possible that Emperor Ludwig the Pious was the client.
The 35 full-page miniatures are of outstanding importance. The framed opaque color pictures take on an ancient original that has not been preserved in a very high quality with great stylistic fidelity. Four representations of the illustration cycle are missing. The codex comprises 99 sheets of parchment , its format is 225 × 200 mm.
The manuscript must have been in northern France around 1000, possibly in the Saint-Bertin Abbey , where two copies were made. In 1573 Jacob Susius acquired the manuscript from a painter in Ghent , later it was owned by Hugo Grotius , then by Queen Christine of Sweden and Isaac Vossius . With his estate, the manuscript came to the Leiden University Library in 1690 , where it is still today under the signature Voss. lat. Q 79 is located.
Some miniatures
Hercules
Ophiuchus, Serpens & Scorpius
Boötes
Auriga
Andromeda
Aries
literature
- Florentine Mütherich , Joachim E. Gaehde: Carolingian book painting , pp. 68–71. Prestel, Munich 1979. ISBN 3-7913-0395-3
- Aratea, illuminated manuscript (Ms. Voss. Lat. Q. 79), Vol. 1: Facsimile, Lucerne 1987; Vol. 2: Commentary volume: Bernhard Bischoff (et al.): Commentary on the Aratea of the Germanicus library of the Rijksuniversiteit Leiden, Ms. Voss. Lat. Q. 79, Lucerne 1989
- Ingo F. Walther, Norbert Wolf: Masterpieces of Illumination , Cologne a. a., Taschen 2005, ISBN 3-8228-4747-X , pp. 92-93.