A sibyl

A lithographic facsimile reproducing, in reverse, a drawing by Raphael now in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford (inv. no.WA 1846.203) of a sibyl, which is generally considered a study for the figure of the sibyl on the 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. Laid down on a backing sheet with a thick gold border. Lettered above the top edge of the border with attribution of the drawing to Raphael, the name of the publication in which this print was published and the plate number; lettering below the bottom edge of the border appears to have been scratched out. Plate 15 of the Lawrence Gallery. A series of facsimiles of original drawings by Raffaelle da Urbino (London 1841).

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.