- 87
* Gian Domenico Cerrini Perugia 1609 - 1681 Rome
bidding is closed
Description
- Gian Domenico Cerrini
- Apollo and the Cumaean Sibyl
- oil on canvas
Exhibited
Anonymous sale, New York, Sotheby's, December 2, 1976, lot 15;
There purchased by the present collector.
There purchased by the present collector.
Catalogue Note
The subject of the present painting is taken from Ovid's Metamorphoses (14:130-153). The god Apollo had fallen in love with the young and beautiful Sibyl of Cumae. She refused his advances but eventually the god tricked her into wishing that her, "...years might be as many as there were sand-grains in that mound...". The Sibyl forgot, however, to mention perpetual youth along with her wish and she lived for hundreds of years as a wizened crone.