Giorgio Ghisi (Italian, 1520-1582)
after Michelangelo Buonarroti (Italian, 1475-1564)
The Eritrean Sibyl
INV-1354
Giorgio Ghisi (Italian, 1520-1582)
after Michelangelo Buonarroti (Italian, 1475-1564)c. 1570
The Eritrean Sibyl
Giorgio Ghisi (Italian, 1520-1582) after Michelangelo Buonarroti (Italian, 1475-1564) →engravingprint
Date
c. 1570
Medium
Engraving on ivory laid paper
Dimensions
57.2 × 43.6 cm (22 9/16 × 17 3/16 in.)
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Location
Chicago, IL
Credit
William McCallin McKee Memorial Endowment
Giorgio Ghisi engraved six of the twelve prophets and sibyls from the pendentives of Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel ceiling fresco almost 60 years after its completion. This prophetess, a priestess of Apollo in ancient Greece, was included as part of the Sistine cycle because she was said to have prophesied the coming of the Redemption through Christ. (The presence of Michelangelo’s nude staffage figures elicited a later, censored state of the print with fig leaves.)
Also notable
Works in the same vein
The Persian Sibyl
Giorgio Ghisi (Italian, 1520-1582) after Michelangelo Buonarroti (Italian, 1475-1564)
The Prophet Jeremiah
Giorgio Ghisi (Italian, 1520-1582) after Michelangelo Buonarroti (Italian, 1475-1564)
The Prophet Joel
Giorgio Ghisi (Italian, 1520-1582) after Michelangelo Buonarroti (Italian, 1475-1564)
The Delphic Sibyl
Giorgio Ghisi (Italian, 1520-1582) after Michelangelo (Italian, 1475-1564)