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Description: | 1/2 portrait, facing left. Shoulder-length light brown hair, wearing pearl drop earrings, pearl necklace, red gown with white scalloped collar, and a brown bodice. Holds 3 ears of wheat in right hand and brown leather-bound book left hand. Wears pearl diadem on head.
"A sibyl, in antiquity, was a woman endowed with the gift of prophecy. By the middle ages the western church had accepted 12 of them as prophets of the coming of Christ. Their attributes are varied. They commonly hold a book, one of the Sibylline books in which their prophecies were recorded. They are mostly represented as young women. The Aberdeen sibyls, 10 of which survive, are not always equipped with the standard attributes (on this occasion a sheathed sword and an olive branch). The attribution to Jamesone is much challenged though he was related to the donor of the works, Principal of King's College, William Guild (1640-51). It is possible that at a time of religious turmoil and Presbyterian ascendancy the donation and display of the paintings form a covert tribute to the institutions Episcopal identity and Stuart loyalty. All the sibyls were heavily restored by Cosmo Alexander in 1761 making attribution problematic."
Author: Morrison,John Date: 2002 Purpose: HA3541
Acquisition source: Guild, William | License: | http://www.abdn.ac.uk/historic/Copyright_terms_conditions.shtml | Publisher: | ABDUA University of Aberdeen, Marischal Museum | Rights holder: | 47718 | Temporal: | 1640-1761 | Source: | University of Aberdeen | Creator: | Attributed to Jamesone, George. Restored by Alexander, Cosmo 1763. | Identifier: | http://calms.abdn.ac.uk/Geology/dserve.e... | Go to resource |
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