Arcadópolis
The Erythraean Sibyl
Michelangelo, c. 1509
What you see
The sibyl sits on a painted stone throne, her body facing us and her head in profile to the right. She stretches out an arm to turn a page of a large book, open on a stand draped in blue cloth. Behind the book, a child holds a small dish and raises a curved rod. The eye follows the sibyl’s arm to the pages.
The tones look muted: olive green, faded pink and white over stony grays, with many cracks in the plaster. Her crossed legs show through the folds of the mantle. Look for the bare foot reaching forward, the wrapped cloth turban, the reliefs of children on the pillars and the plaque reading “ERITHRAEA.”
About Michelangelo
Michelangelo Buonarroti saw himself above all as a sculptor, but the pope asked him to paint the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in Rome. He worked for four years on scaffolding, painting hundreds of giant figures above his head. He was also an architect and a poet, and lived to be almost 89.
More by Michelangelo
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