Among the most important manuscripts held at the Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana is their "Vatican Virgil," one of only two illustrated manuscripts written in the characteristic hand of the imperial era. This manuscript is thought to be Italian from the fourth or fifth century.

Only portions of the manuscript survive today, though in its original form, the manuscript would have contained the full text of all three major Virgilian works, The Aeneid, The Georgics and The Eclogues. It was illustrated throughout with small miniature paintings interspersed within the verses as well as with larger full-page compositions.