Panorama of Rome in 1457

Postcards of Rome are two a penny, but panoramic views of the city in the early Renaissance are special. This week's surprise digitization at the Vatican Library is a miniature painted from near the Vatican in or just before 1457. Arnold Esch captions it as below (my translation):

An unusual perspective on Rome, more or less the view that would be seen from Pope Pius II's apartment. Until this period, it had been usual to do landscapes from Monte Mario, and these tended to be idealized rather than actual views. This is the first realistic panorama of Rome, a miniature for a manuscript of Euclid completed in 1457 that had been commissioned by Francesco del Borgo, Pius II's architect.

The view is from the Vatican garden above the papal palace, with, at center, the Cortile del Maresciallo (with the Capella Magna in front, the small tower of the east facade behind) and the Campanile of St Peter's, towards the city in the curve of the Tiber River. At left is a footpath to the Castell San Angelo and the Tiber, in the center the dome of the Pantheon, with the trees of the Capitol on both sides and St Maria in Ara Coeli and the Senatorial Palace; at right in foreground the northern slope of the Gianicolo.

Anthony Grafton adds in the Rome Reborn catalog that the image may have been the first view of Rome to use new methods by Leon Battista Alberti to plot positions of buildings accurately. For a comparison, check out this reconstruction on Tomaso Paynim's blog: I think the miniature is from a standpoint on the high ground at left. San Angelo is at right.

Here are the newly digitized manuscripts, including tweeted annotations from the eagle-eyed @LatinAristotle

1. Ott.lat.3385.pt.1
2. Reg.lat.1452, eTK incipits: A philosophis astronomiam sic diffinitam accepimus (14C); Philosophis astronomiam sic diffinitam accepimus
3. Reg.lat.1494
4. Reg.lat.1508
5. Reg.lat.1514
6. Reg.lat.1518
7. Reg.lat.1534
8. Reg.lat.1536
9. Reg.lat.1538
10. Reg.lat.1543
11. Reg.lat.1615 ,

    Geoffrey of Vinsauf, "Poetria nova", medieval didactic poetry in hexameters.
    HT @JBPiggin (again!)https://t.co/8proPSE8Nv pic.twitter.com/qkzHjulg8t

    — Pieter Beullens (@LatinAristotle) November 12, 2017

12. Reg.lat.1640
13. Urb.lat.1104
14. Urb.lat.1106
15. Vat.lat.1420
16. Vat.lat.1884
17. Vat.lat.1950
18. Vat.lat.2019
19. Vat.lat.2112 , Aristotle, Problemata (tr. Bartholomew of Messina), HT to @LatinAristotle

    "Iste liber, non obstante dicto aliquorum in oppositionem, compilatus fuit ab Aristotele". Glossator defends authenticity in copy of "Problemata" (tr. Bartholomew of Messina).
    HT @JBPigginhttps://t.co/Lhv9zCIZyH pic.twitter.com/LrS9ra1XVG

    — Pieter Beullens (@LatinAristotle) November 12, 2017

20. Vat.lat.2155
21. Vat.lat.2178 ,

    Moerbeke's version of Alexander of Aphrodisias' "Meteora" commentary, "translata de greco in latinum apud niceam urbem grecie anno christi 1260". HT @JBPigginhttps://t.co/0RqsZrK3N3 pic.twitter.com/rYcoRjjHMa

    — Pieter Beullens (@LatinAristotle) November 12, 2017

22. Vat.lat.2180
23. Vat.lat.2207
24. Vat.lat.2218
25. Vat.lat.2224, panoramic view of Rome (above) in Euclid Geometry
26. Vat.lat.2225, eTK incipit: Circa dictum Campani in quo dicitur quod magnitudo (15C) (Nicole Oresme)
27. Vat.lat.2230, HT to @gundormr: Vitruvius, On Architecture
28. Vat.lat.10293

    https://t.co/nvxFdwgGFC.10293 - very small (105x75mm) late 15th-early 16th C BoH from Ghent-Bruges area. Similar to @britishlibrary MS Add 18852, the _Hours of Joanna the Mad_https://t.co/XSZPIMkVSU

    — AaronM (@gundormr) November 14, 2017

New in color (previously online in black and white only): Vat.lat.2185, eTK incipit: Cum in singulis scientiis secundum by 14th century author English mathematician Richard Suiseth, also known as The Calculator. Another manuscript of the same work arrived online last week.

In Heidelberg eight Vatican manuscripts of the Pal.lat. series are newly online:

1.  Vatikan, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Pal. lat. 1947 Katalog der Privatbibliothek Ludwigs VI. (1584)
2. Vatikan, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Pal. lat. 1948 Katalog der Palatina in Rom, lateinische (sowie griech., hebr. und arabische) Handschriften
3. Vatikan, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Pal. lat. 1952 Sammelband: Verzeichnis lat. und griech. Autoren, Alexander de Villa Dei, Pflanzenglossar, Rezepte, Metrik (Fragm.), de iure naturali, tituli decretalium (12.-16. Jh.)
4. Vatikan, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Pal. lat. 1953 Luther, Martin: Apophtegmata etc. (Johannes Aurifaber?)
5. Vatikan, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Pal. lat. 1954 Luther, Martin: Opera diversa (Schülerabschrift?)
6. Vatikan, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Pal. lat. 1955 Luther, Martin: Diverses lat. und deutsch ; Briefabschriften
7. Vatikan, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Pal. lat. 1956 Katalog der Palatina (1581). Geschichte (1581)
8. Vatikan, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Pal. lat. 1959 Theologische Sammelhandschrift (1. Hälfte 15. Jh.)

This is Piggin's Unofficial List number 136. If you have corrections or additions, please use the comments box below. Follow me on Twitter (@JBPiggin) for news of more additions to DigiVatLib.