Ambrosian Virgil of Francesco Petrarca

Ambrosian Virgil of Francesco Petrarca

This famous manuscript containing the principle works of the influential Roman poet Virgil (70–19 BC) was commissioned and owned by the humanist scholar Petrarch (1304–74) and furnished with a gorgeous frontispiece by the master painter Simone Martini. Additional texts include the commentaries of Servius as well as texts from Horace, Statius, and Donatus. As such, the specimen is a physical manifestation of the early Renaissance and the rediscovery of works from antiquity as well as an artifact from the lavish court of the Avignon Papacy. It is a coveted manuscript with a turbulent history that also gives insights into Petrarch’s personal life because he noted various events in the codex including the deaths of his son Giovanni and his beloved Laura.

Origins in Avignon

The text of the manuscript was written in Avignon during the first quarter of the 14th century and is adorned by blue and red initials as well as a large gold initial at the beginning of each work. Almost every page of the codex has a wide inner column and a narrow outer column: the wide one consists of Virgil's original text, the narrow Servius' commentary. However, the codex was stolen ca. 1325 before being recovered by Petrarch in 1338. During the meantime, the artist Simone Martini (c. 1284–1344) came to Avignon and found employment at the court of Pope Benedict XII (r. 1334–42), where he befriended Petrarch. Martini created a full-page miniature for the manuscript between 1338 and 1340, presumably as a gift for his friend. This manuscript also reflects the generous patronage of the arts at the decadent and worldly papal court in Avignon, which Petrarch referred to as the “Babylon of the West”.

Martini’s Magnificent Miniature

This fine full-page miniature is a testament both to Martini’s skills as an artist as well as his friendship with Petrarch. It is distinguished by a refined style with soft coloring, a wealth of naturalistic details, and is pregnant with symbolism. Servius, the Late Antique Roman grammarian and author of a series of commentaries on the works of Virgil, figuratively reveals the meaning of these works when he literally unveils the author by pulling back a curtain. A soldier, farmer, and shepherd serve as allegorical figures representing the respective themes of the Aeneid, Georgics, and Eclogues. All of the figures have unique and tremendously expressive faces while Servius gestures in an exaggerated manner.

A Turbulent History

After Petrarch’s death, the manuscript was bequeathed to Francesco da Carrara in Padua. When the city was conquered by Gian Galeazzo in 1388, it passed along with the rest of the Carraresi’s collections into the great Visconti-Sforza Library in Pavia. The manuscript was lent to Alessandro Sforza for twenty days in 1471 so that he could have it copied. After the defeat and capture of Ludovico Sforza, Pavia was occupied along with the rest of the Duchy of Milan by French forces in 1499 and the codex was supposed to be among 900 manuscripts that were brought back to France as plunder but was stolen once again by a certain patriotic Pavian named Antonio di Pirro. The manuscript found itself in Rome at the end of the 16th century until it was sold in the year 1600 by Cardinal Agostino Cusani to the Archbishop of Milan, Federico Borromeo, who purchased it on behalf of the Biblioteca Ambrosiana.