Physical description
A richly dressed half-length female figure is holding a book in her hands. She wears a red velvet dress with fur at the elbows and green velvet on the forearms, a white cap with a jewelled coronet, and a scroll at the bottom identifies her as the 'Sibilla Persica'.
Place of Origin
Bruges, Belgium (possibly)
London, England (probably)
Date
late 19th century (painted)
Artist/maker
Benson, Ambrosius, born 1490 - died 1550 (Follower of, painter (artist))
Materials and Techniques
Oil on panel
Marks and inscriptions
'SIBILLA. PERSICA. GREMIV. VIRGINIS.ERIT.SALVS.GETIV.ET.IN.VIS..'
Dimensions
Height: 59 cm estimate, Width: 42 cm estimate
Object history note
Bequeathed by Constantine Alexander Ionides
Ref: Basil S. Long, Catalogue of the Constantine Alexander Ionides collection.Vol. 1, Paintings in oil, tempera and water-colour, together with certain of the drawings, London : Printed under the authority of the Board of Education, 1925.
C. Monkhouse, 'The Constantine Ionides Collection' in Magazine of Art, vii, 1884, pp. 36-44, 208-214.
The collection formed by Constantine Ionides includes works of a wide variety of schools, periods and artists. His collection includes Old Masters, 17th century works, contemporary British works and French 19th century works. Constantine formed friendships with artists of the day, especially Legros, who, having spent 17 years in Britain, became a naturalise British citizen. Constantine proved a stable and generous buyer of Legros work, while Legros, in turn, became an advisor in the matters of art to the attentive Constantine. Under the influence of Legros Constantine developed a keen interest in French 19th century paintings purchasing works by Delacroix, Degas, Millet and Rousseau.
Constantine's plans concerning his collection conformed to a more 'public-welfare' vein of thought than his father or brother. He decided to donate his collection to the Victoria & Albert Museum, instead of privately distributing it or disposing of it in a Sales room.
His will states:
'All my pictures both in oil and water colors and crayon or colored chalks (but subject as to my family portraits to the interest herein before given to my said Wife) and all my etchings drawings and engravings to the South Kensington Museum for the benefit of the nation to be kept there as one separate collection to be called "The Constantine Alexander Ionides Collection" and not distributed over the Museum or lent for exhibition. And I desire that the said Etchings Drawings and Engravings shall be framed and glazed by and at the expense of the authorities of the Museum so that Students there can easily see them.'
The collection bequeathed to the museum in 1901 comprises 1138 pictures, drawing and prints, to which a further 20 items were added on the death of his widow in 1920. The works are listed in the V&A catalogue of the Constantine Alexander Ionides collection.
It was one of the last paintings purchased by Constantine Alexander Ionides, on 13 May 1896 for £100
Historical significance: This painting is a nineteenth-century pastiche, ultimately derived from the figure of the Persian Sibyl in the right corner of Ambrosius Benson's Madonna with Prophets and Sybils in the Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten, Antwerp (no. 262). Essentially the same figure was utilised for various other representations of half-length females, such as the Woman at Prayers, Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten, Antwerp and the Mary Magdalene reading, National Gallery, London (NG655).
The jewelled coronet in the present work recalls that Benson's Woman reading also called Portrait Marguerite of Austria or Sybilla Persica, Louvre Museum, Paris.
Historical context note
Ambrosius Benson (ca. 1495/1500-1550) was a Flemish painter of Italian origin, probably born in Lombardy. He was a member of the Guild of St Luke in Bruges by 1519 and initially worked in the studio of Gerard David (ca.1460-1523), the leading painter in the city. He became a successful painter, with a prolific output, principally of religious subjects.
The Persian Sibyl is one of ten prophetic priestesses mentioned in various classical sources. She was believed to have presided over the Apollonian Oracle, and to have prophecied the deeds of Alexander the Great. The Sibyls acquired a Christian significance comparable with the prophets of the Old Testament because they were believed to have prophecied the coming of Christ, and two half-length representations of Sibyls holding books appear on the exterior shutters of the Ghent Altarpiece by Jan van Eyck, dated 1432.
Descriptive line
Oil painting, 'Sibilla Persica', after Ambrosius Benson, late 19th century
Bibliographic References (Citation, Note/Abstract, NAL no)
Athenaeum, 15 January 1898, p.93 (as an original work by A. Benson)
Kauffmann, C.M. Catalogue of Foreign Paintings, I. Before 1800. London: Victoria and Albert Museum, 1973, p. 27-28, cat. no. 22
The following is the full text of the entry:
"Ambrosius BENSON (active 1519; d. 1550)
Early Netherlandish School
Apparently a native of Lombardy, he was accepted as a master in the Guild of St Luke at Bruges in 1519. He was dean of the Guild in 1537-38 and 1543-44. His style was formed under the influence of Gerard David; it is similar to that of Adriaen Ysenbrandt.
Lit. G. Marlier, Ambrosius Benson et la peinture à Bruges au temps de Charles-Quint, 1957.
After Ambrosius BENSON
22
SIBILLA PERSICA
Panel, rounded at the top
23¼ x 16½ (59 x 42)
The scroll at the bottom is inscribed 'SIBILLA. PERSICA. GREMIV. VIRGINIS. ERIT. SALVS. GETIV. ET. IN. VIS …'
Ionides Bequest
CAI.106
This is a copy of a composition of which there are several versions:
Antwerp Museum (no. 264; Catalogue, maîtres anciens, 1958, p. 15, listing two copies); Mrs Frank A. Vanderlip Collection, New York (sale New York, 17 Feb. 1911, lot 110 repr., previously Beurnonville, Hainauer and Hoe collections), and (with variations and without the inscription) Doistau sale, Paris, 22 Nov. 1909, lot 55. All these paintings are ultimately derived from the Sibilla Persica in the right hand corner of Ambrosius Benson's Madonna with Prophets and Sibyls in the Museum at Antwerp (no. 262; Friedländer, 1933, pl. lxxxvi.) The Antwerp single figure is catalogued as 'attributed to A. Benson.' CAI.106 is a 19th century copy; the copyist appears to have been known to W. H. James Weale (1832-1917) (Long, 1925, p. 68).
Prov. Constantine Alexander Ionides before 1897; bequeathed to the Museum in 1900.
Exh. New Gallery, Winter Exhibition, 1897-98, no. 105 (as early German School).
Lit. Anon. in Athenaeum, 15 January 1898, p. 93 (as an original work); Long, Cat. Ionides Coll., 1925, p. 67 f. (a modern imitation). For the original Benson composition and the copies of the single Sibyl see M. J. Friedlander, Die Altniederländische Malerei, xi, 1933, p. 145, nos. 270, 270A & 271; Marlier, op. cit., no. 80, pl. xliii and pp. 172-88; pp. 173-76 on Sibyls in the work of 15th century Bruges painters."
B.S. Long, Catalogue of the Jones Collection, 1923, p.67f.
M. J. Friedlander, Die Altniederländische Malerei, xi, 1933, p. 145, nos. 270, 270A & 271.
On the original composition and copies.
G. Marlier, Ambrosius Benson et la peinture à Bruges au temps de Charles-Quint, 1957, no. 80, pl. xliii and pp. 172-88; pp. 173-76.
On Sibyls in general in Benson's work.
Exhibition History
New Gallery Winter Exhibition (New Gallery 01/01/1897-31/12/1898)
Materials
Oil paint; Panel
Techniques
Oil painting
Subjects depicted
Book; Sibilla Persica
Categories
Paintings
Collection code
PDP
