A sibyl

A print reproducing, in reverse, the figure of the sibyl on the far right-hand side of the fresco The four sibyls painted by the workshop of Raphael c.1511-14 in the Chigi Chapel in Santa Maria della Pace, Rome. Lettered with attribution of the composition to Raphael and publication details. Numbered top right: Page 269. Annotated on verso. Plate 9 to John Burnet, The Discourses of Sir Joshua Reynolds (London, 1842).

Ruland's catalogue entry for this print infers that it is a copy after a drawing by Raphael for this figure now in the Albertina, Vienna (inv.no.181; see RCIN 853829). However, the details of the decoration of the vase and the ledge beneath the sibyl's feet, as well as the indication of a pillar in the background, suggests that the print derives from the finished fresco. Burnet cites the print of this sibyl made by Jan de Bisschop in 1679 (for an example, see British Museum inv.no.1896,0528.1.22), where Bisschop erroneously attributed the figure to Michelangelo; it seems highly likely that Burnet made his print from that of Bisschop.

Raphael was commissioned, probably early in 1511, by the banker Agostino Chigi to decorate his chapel in Santa Maria della Pace. The initial plan of decoration for the chapel included frescoes, two bronze roundels and an altarpiece; however, whilst Raphael executed some designs for the altarpiece, which was to depict the resurrection, it was never executed, and the bronze roundels, whilst cast, appear to never have been installed. The frescoes comprise two registers, with four prophets on the top (flanking a window) and four sybils below. According to Vasari, portions of the frescoes were painted by Timoteo Viti.