After Giovanni Francesco Romanelli, Italian 1610-1662- The Cumean Sybil; oil on canvas, indistinctly inscribed and dated '1806' on the reverse, 104.5 x 77.2 cm. Provenance: Private Collection, UK. Note: An early 19th-century copy after the original...

After Giovanni Francesco Romanelli,

Italian 1610-1662-

The Cumean Sybil;

oil on canvas, scrubbed signature (lower right), indistinctly inscribed and dated '1806' on the reverse, 104.5 x 77.2 cm.

Provenance: Private Collection, UK.

Note: An early 19th-century copy after the original painting by Romanelli, held in the collection of the Galleria Borghese, Rome. The Cumaean Sybil was a historical priestess of the oracle at Cumae, an Ancient Greek colony near Naples, largely known to Romans through her appearance in Virgil’s ‘Aeneid’. Serving as a popular subject amongst 16th-century Italian artists, including Raphael (1483-1520) and in Michelangelo’s (1475-1564) fresco on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, Romanelli’s treatment of the subject imparts her with a sense of learned authority, emphasised through the book in her hands, whilst her demeanour expresses a calm composure.
Please refer to department for condition report