The Vatican Vergil: A Masterpiece of Late Antique ArtMade in Rome around A.D. 400, the Vatican Vergil is the most famous and the most attractive illustrated book surviving from classical antiquity. David H. Wright introduces this masterpiece of late antique art and shows why it is such an impressive example of the new form of book, the codex, that replaced the traditional papyrus roll and permitted more elaborate illustrations. Here are thirty-two of the most interesting illustrations from the Vatican Vergil, reprinted in full color from the 1980 facsimile published in Graz, Austria, in collaboration with the Vatican Library. Facing each reproduction is the appropriate text from Vergil, in Latin and in English, together with explanatory comments. Wright discusses how the manuscript was made, describing the style of the capital script and of the illustrations as well as their sources in older classical traditions. He examines the Vatican Vergil as an example of the revival of classical culture in pagan circles in Rome at a time when Christian authority was systematically suppressing pagan religion. Finally, he surveys the "afterlife" of the codex, tracing how the work was studied and copied first in the Carolingian era and then in the Italian Renaissance. All the illustrations not reproduced in color are given at full size in black and white in a concluding list of the illustrations that have survived in this unique masterpiece. Made in Rome around A.D. 400, the Vatican Vergil is the most famous and the most attractive illustrated book surviving from classical antiquity. David H. Wright introduces this masterpiece of late antique art and shows why it is such an impressive example of the new form of book, the codex, that replaced the traditional papyrus roll and permitted more elaborate illustrations. Here are thirty-two of the most interesting illustrations from the Vatican Vergil, reprinted in full color from the 1980 facsimile published in Graz, Austria, in collaboration with the Vatican Library. Facing each reproduction is the appropriate text from Vergil, in Latin and in English, together with explanatory comments. Wright discusses how the manuscript was made, describing the style of the capital script and of the illustrations as well as their sources in older classical traditions. He examines the Vatican Vergil as an example of the revival of classical culture in pagan circles in Rome at a time when Christian authority was systematically suppressing pagan religion. Finally, he surveys the "afterlife" of the codex, tracing how the work was studied and copied first in the Carolingian era and then in the Italian Renaissance. All the illustrations not reproduced in color are given at full size in black and white in a concluding list of the illustrations that have survived in this unique masterpiece. |
Common terms and phrases
Aeneas Aeneas and Achates Aeneas sails Aeneid Aeneid illustrations AFTERLIFE ANALYTICAL INTERPRETATION Anchises ancient antiquarian artist Ascanius atque background badly damaged bulls bulls page Carolingian Cassiano dal Pozzo century Cerberus classical Codex Romanus Codices Column copied Creusa cycle Cyclopes Deiphobus diagonal stroke Dido engraving episode ev'ry example exomis facsimile figures Folio foreground frame French humanist Georgics Georgics illustrations gesture iconographic model imagine ivory landscape Laocoön late antique Latinus Latinus giving lines of text manuscript Maria Maggiore Massimi Messapus model in papyrus mosaic motifs nymphs pagan painting papyrus style parchment pigment Polydorus Pow'rs PRESENTATION Folio presumably probably Quedlinburg raises his right Raphael receding recto right hand Romanus of Vergil Rome scene of Aeneas scribe script second painter ships Sibyl Silvia space spatial composition stag surviving illustrations temple third painter tomb tradition turn underworld Vatican Library Vatican Vergil Vergilius Vaticanus verses verso