TheAmbrosian Iliad orIlias Picta (Milan,Biblioteca Ambrosiana, Cod. F. 205 Inf.) is a 5th-centuryilluminated manuscript on vellum, which depicts the entirety ofHomer'sIliad, including battle scenes and noble scenes. It is considered unique due to being the only set of ancient illustrations that depict scenes from the Iliad. The Ambrosian Iliad consists of 52 miniatures, each labeled numerically. It is thought to have been created inAlexandria, given the flattened and angularHellenistic figures, which are considered typical of Alexandrian art inlate antiquity,[1] in approximately 500 AD, possibly by multiple artists. The author(s) first drew the figures nude and then painted the clothes on, much like inGreek vase painting.[2] In the 11th century, the miniatures were cut out of the original manuscript and pasted into a Siculo-Calabrian codex of Homeric texts.
Comparisons of texts per page to other late antique manuscripts (Vatican Vergil,Vienna Genesis)[3] has led some to speculate these miniatures were originally part of a large manuscript.[4] This manuscript was unlike other illuminated manuscripts in its lack ofgilding. Instead, the author(s) choseyellow ochre to represent gold within the individual images, i.e. the gold cuirasses of noble figures, and the halo of Zeus (folios XXXIV).[5]
CardinalAngelo Mai, librarian of the Ambrosiana in the early 1800s, became convinced that the manuscript was from the 3rd century, and therefore philologically extremely important. He labelled the miniatures, and applied harsh chemicals to the manuscript in an attempt to improve the legibility of the text. His actions caused the miniatures' colors to bleed through the pages and left them in the damaged state they are in today.[4]
Today the Ambrosian Iliad is held in theBiblioteca Ambrosiana inMilan,Lombardy,Italy, which is also the manuscript's namesake. It was purchased fromGenoese collectorGian Vincenzo Pinelli's library and added, by the famed CardinalFederico Borromeo, to the Biblioteca Ambrosiana on June 14, 1608.[6] The manuscript's images can be viewed on theWarburg Institute Iconographic Database.
