Robin Raybould's 'The Sibyl Series of the Fifteenth Century' examines the startling and sudden change that occurred in the representation of the sibyls throughout Europe during the early Renaissance. Raybould describes how and why during this period the number, names, attributes and prophecies of these archaic prophetesses were selected and stabilized thus providing new witness to the Christian message in sharp contrast to earlier representations where the sibyls had played a minor role in the history of classical and Christian divination and prophecy. The book examines all the fifteenth-century instances of these series, as well as the manuscripts which describe them, identifies the origin of the sibylline prophecies and suggests reasons for the widespread popularity of this new artistic phenomenon.
Author(s): Robin Raybould
Series: Brill's Studies in Intellectual History, 261. Brill’s Studies on Art, Art History, and Intellectual History, 16
Publisher: Brill
Year: 2017
Language: English
Pages: 264
City: Leiden
List of Illustrations
Introduction
Chapter 1. The Sibyls of Greece and Rome
Chapter 2. The Early Christian Era
The Sibylline Oracles
Lactantius
St. Augustine
The Influence of Virgil
Chapter 3. The Middle Ages
The Encyclopaedic Texts
The Apocalpytic Texts
The Pisano Sibyls
Chapter 4. The Sibyls at the Beginning of the Fifteenth Century
Chapter 5. The Cortina Sibyls
Chapter 6. The Orsini Sibyls
The Tradition of Wall Painting in the Palaces of Italy
The New Canon of Twelve Sibyls
The Camera Paramenti
Chapter 7. The Manuscripts of the Orsini Series
The Early Manuscripts: Zwölf Sibyllen Weissagungen
Other Early Manuscripts
Chapter 8. The Theme, Order and Attributes of the Fifteenth-Century Sibyl Series
Chapter 9. The Sibyl Series Derived from the Orsini Frescos
The Ferrara Sibyls
Feo Belcari and the Rappresentazioni
Baccio Baldini
De Barberis
Liber Chronicarum or the Nuremberg Chronicle
Other Series
Chapter 10. The 'Oracula Sibyllina' of St. Gall
Chapter 11. The Lactantius Versions of the Fifteenth-Century Sibyl Series
The Tempio Malatestiano
Ulm Cathedral
Siena Cathedral
The Oxford Paintings
Chapter 12. Conclusion
Appendix 1. The Texts and Origin of the Prophecies of the Orsini Sibyls
Appendix 2. Pausanias: Description of Greece 10.12
Appendix 3. Clement of Alexandria: Stromata
Appendix 4. The Sibyl’s References to Christianity in the Divine Institutes of Lactantius
Appendix 5. Table of the Order of the Sibyls
Bibliography
Index
