Antiquitates Judaicae by Flavius Josephus - c. 1440-1470: Manuscript in Latin on vellum, illuminated by a Neapolitan workshop

1 full-page composition with the portrait of the author in a historiated initial, surrounded by lush borders in bianchi girari technique inhabited by reading figures and two angels holding a coat of arms; 20 decorative initials

This is a beautiful example of a manuscript text that was extremely popular in the Middle Ages. The Antiquitates Judaicae is a history of the Jewish people, told by the erudite Jewish priest and historian Flavius Josephus, who led an exciting life as commander of the Jewish army, was later a captive of Emperor Vespasian in Rome, and who finally regained his liberty. Josephus tells the history of the world in general and of the Israelites in particular, beginning with the creation of Adam and Eve and ending with the Jewish-Roman war in which he participated as a commander.

This text is extremely important both historically and religiously, because it is one of the few extra-biblical, non-Christian sources that verifies the historical existence of Jesus of Nazareth.

The border on the title page is beautifully executed in the white vine technique (bianchi girari) that is usually a speciality of Tuscan book illumination. Here however, we encounter a variant that is more typical for Naples, displaying not uniformly white but rather finely shaded stems, which loop and twine before a multi-coloured background in gold, blue, green, and pink, another Neapolitan rather than Tuscan phenomenon.