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Sibylla Cumana

Edward Burne-Jones1873

Art Gallery of New South Wales

Art Gallery of New South Wales
Sydney, Australia

The Cumaean sibyl is shown standing inside a temple next to a tripod altar with a fire burning upon it. She is dressed in classical drapery and gazes at the laurel leaves in her right hand. In her left hand she holds a bough of the same plant. According to the Roman poet Virgil, the sybil was believed to write her prophecies on leaves which she placed at the mouth of her cave. This decorative watercolour was painted for the artist’s friend and patron, Mrs Euphrosyne Cassavetti, and it displays Edward Burne-Jones’s enthusiasm for the art of Renaissance painter Sandro Botticelli.

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  • Title: Sibylla Cumana
  • Creator: Sir Edward Burne-Jones
  • Date Created: 1873
  • Physical Dimensions: 36.5 x 26.0 cm image; 37.2 x 26.7 cm sheet; 52.0 x 41.0 x 2.5 cm frame
  • Provenance: Euphrosyne Cassavetti, 1873, England, Painted for Mrs Euphrosyne Cassavetti.; Piccadilly Gallery, 20 Nov 1969, London/England, Purchased from Sotheby's London, 20 Nov 1969, lot 160.; Frank Gallery, post 20 Nov 1969-Jul 1970, England, Purchased from Piccadilly Gallery. Purchased by the AGNSW in 1970.
  • Type: Watercolour
  • Rights: Purchased 1970
  • External Link: https://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/collection/works/34.1971/
  • Medium: watercolour and bodycolour with gold and silver highlights over pencil on vellum
  • Signature & Date: Signed and dated l.r., "EBJ 1873".
  • Artist Country: England
Art Gallery of New South Wales

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