Aristotle's Historia Animalium, the fundamental treatise on biology for Renaissance humanists



Pope Nicholas V commissioned two translations himself. This manuscript is a revised version of Theodore's translation dedicated to Pope Sixtus IV. The richly decorated title page imagines Aristotle at work surrounded by animals and a naked human couple, probably Adam and Eve. The medallion below portrays Pope Sixtus IV and is inscribed "sacricultor" (keeper of sacred things); the medal above shows the Ponte Sisto and alludes to Sixtus's building program and role as ruler of the city of Rome.