Copy after Cortona's Augustus and the Tiburtine Sibyl
ArtistWorkshop of
Pietro da Cortona
(Italian, 1596 - 1669)
Dateca. late 1660s
CultureItalian
MediumOil on canvas
ClassificationPaintings
ProvenanceSir Richard Worsley (1751–1805), 7th Baronet, Appuldurcombe, Isle of Wight; by inheritance to his niece, Henrietta Anna Maria Charlotte Bridgeman Simpson (1788–1813, from 1806, Henrietta Anna Maria Charlotte Anderson- Pelham), Appuldurcombe, Isle of Wight, and Brocklesby Park, Lincolnshire; by inheritance to her husband, Charles Anderson-Pelham (1781–1846), 1st Earl of Yarborough, Brocklesby Park, Lincolnshire; by inheritance to his son, Charles Anderson Worsley Anderson-Pelham (1809–1862), 2nd Earl of Yarborough, Brocklesby Park, Lincolnshire; by inheritance to his son, Charles Anderson-Pelham (1835–1875), 3rd Earl of Yarborough, Brocklesby Park, Lincolnshire; by inheritance to his son, Charles Alfred Worsley Pelham (1859–1936), 4th Earl of Yarborough, Brocklesby Park, Lincolnshire; (sold Yarborough sale, Christie’s, London, 12 July 1929, lot 52, as Carlo Maratta, Vision of a Saint, to Arthur U. Newton); (Arthur U. Newton, New York); John Ringling (1866–1936), Sarasota, Florida; bequest in 1936 to the John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art, Sarasota, Florida.
Credit LineBequest of John Ringling, 1936
Object numberSN133
The Roman Emperor Augustus was shown a vision of Christ by the Tiburtine Sibyl. Although Christ was not born until later, Augustus built an altar consecrated to the god whose arrival was heralded by the prophetess. This scene was a popular subject in Baroque Rome because it reinforced the connection between pagan and Christian epochs of the city's history. This work is based on a composition by Cortona now in the Museum in Nancy (France) that was originally made for Marsileo Tomassi da Cortona. It was a common practice for replicas of important paintings to be made by the artist or their workshop either as records or for delivery to patrons who preferred a copy of an excellent work to an original composition.
On View
Not on viewImage: 57 1/4 x 53 1/2 in. (145.4 x 135.9 cm)
Girolamo Romanino
