Giambettino Cignaroli (Verona, 1706 – 1770), Tiburtine Sibyl

Giambettino Cignaroli (Verona, 1706 – 1770) Tiburtine Sibyl Oil on canvas, 95.5 x 70.5 cm With frame, 113.5 x 88.5 cm Critical analysis by Prof. Stefano Agresti The female figure is depicted in a bust view, her gaze turned upwards in an attitude of contemplative ecstasy, typical of sibyls in 18th-century iconography. The woman wears a coral-pink robe with wide sleeves, overlaid with a golden mantle and embellished with a fur stole knotted on the chest with a blue ribbon, the same color as the bow in her hair, which is styled in elaborate braids. Her raised right arm supports her face in a pensive gesture, while her left hand rests on an open book bearing a prophetic inscription referring to the birth of Christ, an element that clearly identifies the subject as the Tiburtine Sibyl, herald of the advent. The dark, neutral background focuses attention on the figure, enhanced by a warm light that softly models the face, flesh, and drapery with an elegant and luminous painterly rendering. The writings in the book precisely identify her as the Tiburtine Sibyl. This figure was well-known both in the Middle Ages and in modern times. Although not depicted by Michelangelo in the Sistine Chapel, she is frequently mentioned in ancient texts and has numerous pictorial representations, among which the most famous is an intarsia on the floor of the Siena Cathedral. The text faithfully transcribed in the painting, illustrated here for the first time, refers to the birth of Christ, not by chance, as this prophecy is the most famous among those preserved from antiquity. Indeed, a whole literary tradition, dating back to Roman times, recounts the prophecies of the Tiburtine Sibyl, a figure for whom a historically identifiable counterpart is highly unlikely. Varro, the first author to compile a list of these ancient wise women and their prophecies, is worth mentioning; significantly, he excluded the Tiburtine Sibyl, whose prophecy is transmitted separately. It is told that she came to Rome, astounding with her beauty, summoned by Augustus to interpret a dream that one hundred Senators had had simultaneously. She invited them to follow her to the Aventine, where they witnessed the vision of nine suns, differing in size and shape. The Tiburtine Sibyl interpreted the suns as future generations: the fourth, populated by unbelievers, would witness the birth of the Virgin, her future husband Joseph, and their son Jesus. Legend further narrates that, accompanied by Emperor Augustus on the Capitoline Hill, she pointed to the sky, where the Virgin and Child appeared: in that place, the basilica of Santa Maria in Ara Coeli, still existing today, would later be built. Thus, the text reproduced on the canvas, which foretells the birth of Jesus, is not coincidental. Giambettino Cignaroli was born in Verona in 1706. After studying rhetoric with the Jesuits, he turned to painting, training first with Sante Prunati and then, alongside his contemporary Pietro Rotari, in Antonio Balestra's school. In 1728, he opened his own studio and later moved to Venice for a period, where he could study the works of Titian, Veronese, and Palma il Vecchio firsthand, an experience that profoundly influenced his color palette. Upon his return to Verona, his career experienced growing success, extending to numerous Italian cities such as Milan, Parma, Turin, Bologna, and Ferrara, with significant commissions from Emilian religious orders. Although he never left Italy, he worked for important European courts, from the Elector of Saxony to the King of Poland, from the Empress of Russia to the Prince-Bishops of Bressanone, and even for the Spanish crown, for which he created the large altarpiece of the Madonna and Child with Saints, now at the Prado Museum. He was also a central figure in Veronese cultural life, promoting and serving as the first director of the art academy that now bears his name, as well as authoring theoretical writings on painting. His style is generally placed in a position of balance between echoes of late Raphael and the early signs of Neoclassicism. This Sibyl fits coherently into Cignaroli's catalogue, showing affinities with several works by the Veronese master. The luminous rendering and the softness of the drapery recall the grand Transfiguration of Christ in Verona Cathedral, where light plays an equally central role in the construction of the sacred figures. The compositional framing, focused on a female figure with graceful bearing and an upward gaze, finds a parallel in the Saint Agatha in the Basilica of San Martino at Alzano Lombardo, where similar attention is dedicated to the expressiveness of the face and the rendering of precious fabrics. The Madonna and Child in a private collection and the Madonna and Child in the church of Santa Maria Formosa in Venice also share with our Sibyl that sense of lightness and spiritual rapture translated through open poses and upward glances. Different, but useful for comparison, is the Danaë in a private collection, a work that demonstrates Cignaroli's ability to tackle more sensual and mythological subjects, showing a thematic versatility that coexists with the same technical quality in the rendering of flesh tones and drapery.