The Collection Drawings

ANONYMOUS

18th century, France

Sibyl or Sabine, School of David, c. 1730
Red chalk on paper
34.5 x 29.5 x 3 inches

This red chalk image is quintessentially art of the 18th century in its quest for ideal form and contour. Artists of the Neoclassical age emulated the Classical style in order to capture the sense of ideal beauty in which Classical art sought to exemplify. To achieve this, many of these artists traveled to Rome to study and copy the works of Classical artists such as Raphael and Michelangelo. As a “cartoon,” this study would have been done for the purpose of completing a fresco painting.

This particular study was likely drawn by an artist studying the Classical art of Michelangelo, as the face and headdress of the woman are reminiscent of Michelangelo’s Sibyls drawn and painted for the Sistine Chapel.

Derived from its roots in Greek antiquity, the word “sibyl” comes from the word “sibylla,” meaning prophetess. The earlier oracular seeresses known as the sibyls of antiquity prophesied at certain holy sites.

Treatment: A fitted period frame with hand-painted, French matting.