Riccardiana Virgil - Bucolica, Georgica, Aeneid

The so-called Riccardiana Virgil is a true masterpiece of the great literature of the Latin poet Virgil. The manuscript contains the three main works of the poet, namely the Bucolica, Georgica, and the Aeneid, the Roman foundation myth. The illuminated codex was made at the behest of the Renaissance prince Lorenzo de Medici and is one of the most magnificent masterpieces stored today in the Riccardiana Library in Florence. The pages of the manuscript are illustrated with 88 staggering miniatures, numerous patterns in the borders, and excitingly adorned initials.

The Literature of Virgil

Virgil is unanimously celebrated today by experts as the most important author of Roman antiquity. His famous works in particular, the Bucolica (Eclogues), the Georgica, and the Aeneid, and their ideas revolutionized Latin literature. Shortly after his death, these were continuously copied, re-edited, commented on, and intertextually processed. The Roman national epic, the Aeneid, conveys the foundation myth and the pre-history of the founding of the city of Rome, processing the mythological fabrics from the Homeric epics of the Iliad and the Odyssey. The Eclogues or Bucolica, are a collection of ten pastoral poems that describe the life of Romans in the countryside in ancient times and the relationship of heads of state with their people. Similar themes were also addressed in the Georgica.

Interesting Book Art of the Renaissance

The miniatures of the manuscript are attributed to the Italian illuminators Apollonio di Giovanni and the staff of his artist studio. The astounding pictures show discernable influences from the political and social events of that time. For example, an image of people in oriental garments in the text section of the Aeneid is interpreted as a symbol for the fall of the Byzantine Empire in 1453. The splendid miniatures show the first-rate Florentine architecture of the Renaissance in the background, in front of which people bustle in eccentric clothes made of red and purple fabrics with embellishments of gold and silver. The pages of the text are decorated with numerous embellished initials in various sizes and designs. 19 of the total of 88 illustrations were not completed. These sketches and only partially-colored pictures gives the modern beholder a glimpse in the workings of the medieval illuminator and offers them an unforgettable journey through the art of the Renaissance.