Cleveland Museum of Art

Augustus and the Tiburtine Sibyl

Marco Angolo del Moro

Date

1570s

Medium

Etching with engraving on paper

Culture

Italy, 16th century

Department

Prints

Institution

Cleveland Museum of Art

The Roman Emperor Augustus and the Tiburtine Sybil (a Roman prophetess) embrace in a lush landscape. A 12th-century legend told that Augustus consulted the sybil to ask if he should be deified after his death. He received a vision of the Virgin and Child, depicted above, which swayed him away from his pagan beliefs. Del Moro’s effortless blend of narrative and landscape was typical of works by artists from the region around Venice. The story portrayed in this etching was understood as a turning point from paganism to Christianity during the Roman era.

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