Sibyl Announcing the Birth of Christ to the Emperor Augustus
Medium
Pen and brown ink, brush and pale brown wash, over black chalk
Dimensions
10 1/2 x 8 1/16in. (26.6 x 20.4cm)
Classification
Drawings
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gift of Cornelius Vanderbilt, 1880
Accession Number
80.3.147
Tags
Art Historical Context
In the intricate drawing *Sibyl Announcing the Birth of Christ to the Emperor*, Bartolomeo Neroni, as Il Riccio (5–1571), captures a pivotal moment from Christian legend. Created during the Renaissance in Siena, Italy, this work depicts the Tiburtine Sibyl—a prophetic figure from classical antiquity—revealing a vision of the Virgin Mary and infant Christ to the Roman Emperor Augustus. Such scenes bridged pagan mythology and Christian theology, popular in 16th-century art to affirm the faith's divine precedence over imperial Rome. Neroni, a Sienese artist influenced by the Mannerist tendencies...
About the Artist
Bartolomeo Neroni (Il Riccio) · 1505–1571
Bartolomeo Neroni, known as Il Riccio or Riccio Sanese, was a multifaceted artist of the Sienese School, born around 1505 in Siena, Italy, where he spent his life and died in 1571. A painter, sculptor, architect, engineer, and even manuscript illuminator, Neroni exemplified the Renaissance ideal of the polymath, blending artistic creativity with practical ingenuity. His nickname "Il Riccio," meani...