Burne-Jones began designs for the figures of the Sibyls in September 1872 and makes reference to the sea-change in the firms affairs through this last entry for the series in his account book: "1 April 1875. Day of Dissolution. 2 Sibyls — to wit Erythrea & Tiburtina £30." Although they originate in pagan classical mythology, the ten Sibyls — women chosen to convey divine wisdom to mankind — were adopted by the early Christians, and the so-called Sibylline verses were amended to accommodate Christian philosophy. The Sibyls were most famously depicted by Michelangelo on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican, which Burne-Jones had studied assiduously on his third visit to Italy in 1871, lying on the floor and looking up through opera glasses (see cat. no. 52). Perhaps having already supplied enough car- toons for the firms painters to have got the hang of his inten- tions, in this last design for the Tiburtine Sibyl Burne-Jones has taken his draftsmanship to a degree of finish more appropriate for an independent easel picture, and it comes as no surprise to find that he did indeed go on to complete a large watercolour of the subject in 1877. 2 The companion design for the Erythrean Sibyl also survives 3 but is less elaborately finished, and it seems likely that the coloured chalks and gold highlights were added to the present work for its exhibition at the Grosvenor Gallery in 1881, along with other similarly improved stained-glass car- toons (cat. no. 71). Two figures were turned into oil paintings, Burne-Jones for some reason transposing their identification: the Delphic Sibyl in the Jesus College window became the Cumaean Sibyl, one of the artist's eight canvases shown at the first Grosvenor Gallery exhibition in 1877, while the Cumaean equates with the oil known as Sibylla Delphica (fig. 82), exhib- ited at the Grosvenor Gallery in 1886. 4 1. Sewter 1974-75, vol. 2, p. 44. 2. Christie's, March 13, 1990, lot 185. 3. Christie's, June 17, 1975, lot 149. The cartoon for the Cimmerian Sibyl, fur- ther improved with watercolour and bodycolour, is in the Tate Gallery, London (N03427). 4. See Hartnoll 1988, p. 20.
Burne-Jones spent some time studying and copying the marble pavement in the cathedral of Siena in the Spring of 1873. The sketches he made, evidence of the time spent, is shown the sketchbook (no. 64 - Fitzwilliam Acc. No.10705 - 1873 ). In the pavements there are ten figures representing the various Sibyls, of whom five re-occur in Michelangelo's frescoes in the Sistine Chapel, which Burne-Jones also studied. On receiving a large commission to fill the windows of Jesus College Chapel, Cambridge, in the following Autumn, Burne-Jones drew upon his experience and included the Sibyllas Delphica, Cimmeria, Persica, Cumana, Phrygia, Libyssa, Erythraea, and Tiburtiana. He was here manifesting himself as academically sound, justifying his commission for the Chapel associated with an academic establishment. The drawing was given special attention and retained by Burne-Jones, it must have been photographed in his studio and the photograph used in the workshop as the cartoon, Burne-Jones possibly having already other ambitions for the drawing as an independent creation, which was later exhibited in 1881 in the Winter exhibition at the Grosvenor Gallery. In 1887 the design was repeated in St Paul's Church, Irton, Cumbria, which supports the arguement that Hollyer had photographed the drawing and this was used as the cartoon for the second working.