Plan your visit. 225 Madison Avenue at 36th Street, New York, NY 10016.

Plan your visit. 225 Madison Avenue at 36th Street, New York, NY 10016.

Aeneas and the Cumaean Sibyl

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Avanzino Nucci
approximately 1552-1629

Aeneas and the Cumaean Sibyl

1590s
8 x 15 1/8 inches (203 x 384 mm)
Pen and brown ink and wash over black chalk, with opaque white, on blue paper.
2014.34

Purchased on the Acquisitions Fund.

Notes
Part of a series of large drawings on blue paper devoted to Virgil's Aneid, this sheet shows a scene from Book VI: Aeneas, accompanied by his loyal friend Acahtes, is seen next to the Cumaean Sibyl pointing him in the direction of the underworld. Aeneas holds a golden bough, which is intended as a gift to Proserpina to insure his safe return. A particularly important detail is the signature bottom left, which identifies not only the artist but also the place of his birth. For another drawing from the same series, see 1988.81.
Inscriptions/Markings
Inscribed "Avantinus Nuccius de Gualdo Nocerie delineabat".
Classification
Century Drawings
School
Department