Virgil: Works

This manuscript contains the Eclogues, Georgics and Aeneid by Virgil. It is carefully decorated with white vine scrolling, enriched with fruit, and inhabited by birds and deer. This decoration suggests a Florentine origin and a date c. 1440.

The only full-page miniature on folio 45v, shown here, was added by Guglielmo Giraldi in c. 1480. It is set within a large architectural frame, on the pediment of which is written verse 289 of the second book of the Aeneid. Aeneas is shown carrying his father Anchises on his shoulders and leading his son Ascanius by the hand as they make their way toward the boats, leaving Troy in flames.

Above the portico framing the scene, two winged putti support the Garter of England set with pearls and precious stones and with the motto “hony soyt qui mal y pense’, within which an eagle supports the coat of arms of Federico da Montefeltro, Duke of Urbino.