Vatican Aratea

Courtly Astronomy from Naples

The Vatican Aratea is not only an artistic testimony of the Italian Renaissance, but also one of the most luxurious copies of the famous astronomical didactic poem by Aratos of Soloi (ca. 310–245 BC). Its splendor perfectly reflects its royal patron from the Neapolitan royal court: the precious manuscript was presumably illuminated for King Ferdinand I of Naples (1424–1494) or his son Giovanni (1456–1485) by Matteo Felice with 40 gold-decorated miniatures and numerous decorated initials.

Ancient myths in the starry sky

Aratos of Soloi combined complex astronomical mathematics with vivid mythological stories in his Phainomena, which he wrote around 370 BC. This probably explains the work's popularity in antiquity and throughout the Middle Ages: the text was rediscovered as early as the Carolingian Renaissance, and Italian humanism brought it to the height of its reception. The Greek didactic poem was also translated into Latin several times. The Aratea Vaticana contains the Latin prose version of Germanicus (15 BC – 19 AD), which is complemented in the magnificent miscellany by Pliny's (23/24–79 AD) Naturalis historia and Hyginus' (1st or 2nd century AD) De Astronomia.

Radiant colors and opulent gold decoration

The manuscript begins with the Aratea, which is introduced by a beautiful decorative page. The beginning of the text is framed by a broad gold-decorated border made of white vine ornament typical of the period, in which putti and animals frolic. On fol. 3r follows arguably the most famous miniature in the manuscript: The Planisphere. This stunning circular depiction of the firmament shows all the constellations in vivid colors. The remaining 39 miniatures show the constellations and celestial phenomena inspired by Greek and Roman mythology, mostly one by one and in splendid golden frames and against a celestial background, while the stars shine in red and gold. They visually introduce the respective sections of the text. The typesetting itself – masterfully written in humanistic minuscule – is also adorned and structured by 60 golden champie initials.

A velvet binding for the later Barberini pope

When this astronomical manuscript came into the hands of one of the greatest patrons of the arts in Baroque Rome, Maffeo Barberini (1568–1644), later Pope Urban VIII, in the 16th century, he arranged for it to be rebound. The manuscript received a richly embroidered red velvet binding bearing the Barberini coat of arms on the back cover. The front shows St. Thomas kneeling before a Madonna with child, who appears as the Woman of the Apocalypse, as she is standing on a crescent moon. The manuscript, enhanced with this beautiful binding, was incorporated by Pope Leo XIII in 1901, together with the entire Barberini collection, into the Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, where it is still kept today under the signature Barb. lat. 76.