Vergilius Publius Maro
Bucolicon Georgicon Aeneis

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The Illuminated Manuscript

ost cured in all details – the smoothest and finest parchment, the wide margins, the regular and elegant handwriting with just very few marginal corrections - this marvellous illuminated manuscript is mostly appreciated for the decorations which show, besides the rich array of scenes, majuscule scripts that distinguish the partitions of the text with moderate elegance, although being customary of the Florentine tradition.

Apollonio di Giovanni's and his workshop style has been unanimously recognized in the 88 tabular miniatures, of which 19 are incomplete. They are arranged in sequence on the inferior margin as iconographic apparatus of the incipient pages of the Bucoliche, Georgiche and of the entire Eneide (up to the interruption of c.105).

Even if the presence of help is visible in some scenes, the decorative apparatus can be considered the result of this artist's labour. He represented the courtly and chivalrous world of chests and backs he had worked on for a long time.

Revisiting the classic poems leads the story into present, actualised by the fashion diligently followed in the splendid clothes and in the numerous reproductions of buildings. First of all. the Palazzo di Via Larga repeatedly represented as the Reggia di Priaino, in all the scenes of Troia's fall (cc. 82 ss.), and as the Reggia di Didone in Carthago, first. during its construction (c. 72r), then with the perspective gap in the courtyard showing the meeting between Didone and Ascanio-Cupido (74v)., and last with the subsequent view of the well-laid table (c. 75r).

Medicis' halo certainly inspires the illuminated manuscript. Although there are no clear deeds or heraldic insignia, Lorenzo de' Medici has been recognized as the young blonde man between the sheperds (c. 1r).

A subtle plot of references unfolds Apollonio's essential language and, in some part, it is still to be decoded.

The marvellous document, which evocatively alludes to various facts in Florence, was probably ordered not directly by the Medicis but by a family, tied up with them: the seaport recently conquered with the millponds in the views of the landscapes, the leadership over the Tuscan towns with reference to Pisa's monuments (the Baptistry, the Tower), the resemblance to Rome as beacon of civilization (the Pantheon, the Traian's Column); the Pax recovered in the calm agricultural works, promoted by Cosimo after the inland wars, probably shown by the hanged man in the background of the opening folio (c. 1r).

The construction of the palace and the decoration of the Cappella dei Magi (1459-60) with the Gozzoli's frescos, Cosimo's death (1464) and Apollonio's death (1465) can be important chronological points of reference for the manufacture of this sumptuous illuminated manuscript.

The Facsimile

• TPS 305 x 200 mm
• 256 Pages
• Light brown goats leather binding
• Two frame keylines, dry embossed on the front and back cover
• Two metallic stretchers and two metallic tips
• Patented system for paper aging
• Pages cut as per the original
• Hand sewn and bound
• Coloured H & T hand sewn
• Limited edition of 999 copies

The Commentary

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