Sibilla, XVII - XVIII secolo

oil painting on canvas, & nbsp; School italiana

Sibyls according to Greek and Roman mythology, were virgins endowed with prophetic virtues inspired by a god (usually Apollo), able to provide responses and make predictions. & Nbsp; They lived in caves or near watercourses and vaticinavano in a state of unconscious frenzy, usually writing in Greek hexameters. Geographically they could be located in Cuma (Italy), in Asia Minor, Africa, Greece (Delphi). In the ancient tradition, the "Profetessa Italica" also predicted the birth of Christ, and for this reason in the Middle Ages the number of Sibyls rose to twelve, like the Prophets.

This beautiful oil painting on canvas by an unknown Italian painter depicts one of these sibyls, when they receive divine revelations. The mythological / historical subject is iconographically recognizable thanks to the turban wrapped on the head and a long robe covered by the orange mantle. & Nbsp; The paleness of the complexion and the opulence of the clothes immediately recall the Roman ambit and the seventeenth-century models inspired by Guido Reni, Domenichino and Guercino.

State of preservation: good, reworked and restored canvas, reduced to the margins.