1647
oil
canvas
From the collection of Capitoline Museums
The Persian Sibyl is a 1647 oil by Guercino, a Early Baroque Italian work, held at Capitoline Museums.
This painting depicts a woman sitting at a desk, wearing a red robe with a blue and white undergarment. She has her left elbow resting on the desk, with her hand supporting her head. Her right hand holds a quill pen over a piece of paper. The desk also holds a book titled "Sibilla Persica" and a small cup. The woman's attire and the book suggest a sense of learning and intellectual pursuits. The overall atmosphere of the painting is one of quiet contemplation. If you're interested in learning more about the artist behind this work, you might want to look up Guercino.
The Persian Sibyl is a 1647 oil on canvas painting of the Persian Sibyl by Guercino, now in the Musei Capitolini in Rome.
Source: wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
It was commissioned between 1645 and 1647 by Carlo Rondinelli, governor of Cento. The first definite mention of it is in the painter's account book, which shows the moment of payment for it on completion - 259 lire were paid, equal to just over 64 scudi. The date was two weeks after the completion of his The Phrygian Sibyl, commissioned for Girolamo Albergati, Bologna's ambassador to Rome, now in an English private collection: "On 6 June. Received from Sig. Co. Carlo Rondingelli Gov.re di Cento dopie d'Italia n. 17 1⁄2 [for] the Painting of the Persian Sibyl, which makes 259 lire - which was…
Read the full account in the museum source.
Source: wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Giovanni Francesco Barbieri (8 February 1591 – 22 December 1666), better known as (il) Guercino (Italian pronunciation: ), was an Italian Baroque painter and draftsman from Cento in the Emilia region, who was active in Rome and Bologna.
See the richer artist page
