MINIATURIST, Greek
(active around 1570 in Sicily)

Leo VI: Oracles

1566-74
Manuscript (Ms. I. E. 8))
Biblioteca Centrale, Palermo

This Greek manuscript contains fifteen prophecies of the Emperor Leo VI the Wise (886-912) concerning the end of the Comnenian empire and the conquest of Constantinople by the Turks. The manuscript belonged to the Jesuit Collegio Massimo in Palermo. The text takes up fifteen pages each illustrated with coloured pen drawings accompanied by verses.

The second Oracle is shown on folio 2. There is a unicorn with a quarter moon on its right hind flank. At the bottom is a small male figure.