Sibylla Cumana

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.