Sibyls
by MICHELANGELO

On the side walls of the chapel, five prophets alternate with the same number of sibyls, so that each prophet is paired with a sibyl on the opposite wall: the Delphic Sibyl and Joel, Isaiah, and the Erythraean Sibyl, the Cumaean Sibyl and Ezekiel, Daniel and the Persian Sibyl, the Libyan Sibyl, and Jeremiah. This studied parallelism alludes both to the theme of the universality of the message of Redemption and the idea of the perfect concordance of the Revelation in the Judaic world and in the pagan one.

View a slide show of the 7 prophets and 5 sibyls.

Preview Picture Data Info
The Delphic Sibyl
1509
Fresco, 350 x 380 cm
Cappella Sistina, Vatican


The Delphic Sibyl (detail)
1509
Fresco
Cappella Sistina, Vatican


The Delphic Sibyl (detail)
1509
Fresco
Cappella Sistina, Vatican


The Erythraean Sibyl
1509
Fresco, 360 x 380 cm
Cappella Sistina, Vatican


The Erythraean Sibyl (detail)
1509
Fresco
Cappella Sistina, Vatican


Putti
1511
Fresco
Cappella Sistina, Vatican


The Erythraean Sibyl (detail)
1509
Fresco
Cappella Sistina, Vatican


The Cumaean Sibyl
1510
Fresco, 375 x 380 cm
Cappella Sistina, Vatican


The Cumaean Sibyl (detail)
1510
Fresco
Cappella Sistina, Vatican


The Persian Sibyl
1511
Fresco, 400 x 380 cm
Cappella Sistina, Vatican


The Libyan Sibyl
1511
Fresco, 395 x 380 cm
Cappella Sistina, Vatican


The Libyan Sibyl (detail)
1511
Fresco
Cappella Sistina, Vatican



Summary of works by Michelangelo
All genres
Sculptures | Paintings | Sistine Chapel | Drawings | Architecture
Sculptures
-1501 | 1502- | David | Julius II's Tomb | Medici Tomb | Pietās
Paintings
Easel paintings | Frescoes in Pauline Chapel
Sistine Chapel
Division of the ceiling | Genesis | Prophets | Sibyls | Ignudi
Spandrels | Lunettes | Triangles | Medallions
Last Judgment
Architecture
until 1530 | after 1530



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