Persian Sibyl from the Prophets and Sibyls cycle

The ceiling of the Sistine Chapel is one of Michelangelo’s best known and most admired artistic achievements. In 1508, Pope Julius II entrusted him with painting the chapel’s ceiling, proposing that he should portray the twelve apostles enthroned. Michelangelo is believed to have considered this project „quite pitiful“ and instead he designed the ceiling’s pictorial programme as it still appears today, with central scenes from Genesis, episodes from the Old Testament and the multiple figures of prophets, Sibyls, the ancestors of Jesus and further figural staffage. The work lasted four years and the outcome surpassed expectations. Vasari called the masterpiece an „Academy of Drawing“, which was visited perhaps by every artist staying in Rome intent on copying the famous figures. The Sistine Chapel’s paintings were also widely emulated in graphic art that rapidly and widely disseminated the fresco’s various motifs. Giorgio Ghisi produced a series of prints of seven prophets and five Sibyls, depicted in an generous architectural framework.