95-A - Genoese School, 18th Century

Genoese School, 18th Century Persian Sibyl Oil on canvas Dimensions: 193.5 x 116 cm Seated at a desk, the Persian Sibyl holds the book of her prophecies while raising her right hand to the sky. Beside her are various attributes associated with writing and knowledge, including a book, an inkwell, a quill, and a water clock. Behind her right foot, a book lies open, bearing the Latin inscription “Ille Deus casta nascetur virgine magnus” (“The great God will be born of a chaste virgin”), a famous prophecy of this sibyl interpreted by Christian tradition as a prefiguration of the birth of Christ. The composition belongs to the tradition of Sibyl depictions that spread throughout Italy following the models of Guercino, whose Persian Sibyl of 1647 was the subject of later graphic adaptations. The presence of this iconography in Genoa during the 18th century is particularly significant in relation to the circle of Paolo Gerolamo Piola, a painter closely associated with the decorative tradition of Sibyls and Prophets in early 18th-century Genoa.