The Sibyl and a Child Bearing a Torch (1520-40): Artwork and History

The Sibyl and a Child Bearing a Torch (1520-40) is in the Art Institute of Chicago collection. The museum lists its creator attribution as Artist Unknown (16th century) after Ugo da Carpi (Italian, c. 1480-after 1535) after Raffaello Sanzio, called Raphael (Italian, 1483-1520).

The work and its context

The Art Institute of Chicago describes the work:

This mysterious composition of a woman reading a book by torchlight was made by printing two woodblocks on top of each other, one for the beige tone, the other for the black lines. The initial R in the upper left attributes the design to Raphael, who collaborated with Ugo da Carpi, the first artist to practice color-printing in Italy. This is an impression of one of three versions by unknown artists who copied Ugo’s original print, attesting to the popularity of this design.

Object facts

• Title: The Sibyl and a Child Bearing a Torch
• Date: 1520-40
• Artist attribution: Artist Unknown (16th century) after Ugo da Carpi (Italian, c. 1480-after 1535) after Raffaello Sanzio, called Raphael (Italian, 1483-1520)
• Place of origin: Italy
• Medium: Chiaroscuro woodcut from two blocks in black and ochre on ivory laid paper
• Dimensions: 27.6 × 21.9 cm (10 7/8 × 8 5/8 in.)
• Type: Print
• Department: Prints and Drawings
• Reference number: 1958.559

Collection credit

Print and Drawing Club Fund

View the original

Explore the artwork in the Art Institute's collection, including its image and the museum's current catalogue details.

The description above is credited to the Art Institute of Chicago and reused under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0; HTML formatting has been converted to plain text. Other catalogue metadata and the public-domain image are provided under CC0 1.0.