Sibyl and Prophet

Sibyl and Prophet is a grisaille distemper painting by Andrea Mantegna c. 1495. It is now in the Cincinnati Art Museum.^[1]

Sibyl and Prophet
Artist	Andrea Mantegna
Year	c. 1495
Medium	distemper and gold on canvas
Dimensions	56.2 cm × 48.6 cm (22.1 in × 19.1 in)
Location	Cincinnati Art Museum, Cincinnati

History

Mantegna produced several grisailles in the last eleven years of his life; this style imitated relief sculpture and was then popular in the Mantuan court due to the duchy's lack of major sculptors and stone quarries. Possibly a fragment from a larger work, it was probably a commission by Isabella d'Este for her apartments and shows a sibyl in a crown and toga debating with a bearded Old Testament prophet who holds the scroll they are discussing.^[2]