Michelangelo Buonarroti

Ceiling fresco for the story of creation in the Sistine Chapel, scene in Bezel: The Delphic Sibyl. Michelangelo Buonarroti

1508-1512, Fresco
Rome, Vatican, Sistine Chapel

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Deckenfresko zur Schöpfungsgeschichte in der Sixtinischen Kapelle, Szene in Lünette: Die Delphische Sibylle. Michelangelo Buonarroti

1508–1512, Fresko
Rom, Vatikan, Sixtinische Kapelle

Michelangelo's rendering of the Delphic Sibyl , The number of sibyls was given as ten or twelve, and of these Michelangelo selected five. His idea here, as with the prophets, seemed to be to represent some in old age and some in youth.... The scroll which she unrolls in her left hand is the scroll of her prophecy. The two little figures holding a book, just behind her right shoulder, are genii, or spirits, symbolic of her inspiration. One reads eagerly from the volume while the other listens with rapt attention. The picture makes a very interesting study in the composition of lines. Starting from the topmost point of the turban, draw a line on the right, coming across the shoulder along the outer edge of the drapery to the toe. On the left, let the line connecting the same two points follow the outer curve of the scroll, along the slanting edge of the mantle, and we get a beautiful pointed oval as the basis of the composition The sibyl's left arm drops a curve across the upper part of the figure, and this curve is repeated a little lower down by the creases in the drapery across the lap. Such are the few strong, simple lines which compose the picture, producing an effect of grandeur which a confusion of many lines would entirely spoil. ", Estelle M. Hurll

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. Μιχαήλ Άγγελος

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