{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O206205"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O206205/"}},"images":null,"see_also":null},"record":{"systemNumber":"O206205","accessionNumber":"E.262-1995","objectType":"Watercolour","titles":[{"title":"Copy after Raphael’s fresco of the ‘Sibyls’ in the Chigi Chapel in the Church of Santa Maria della Pace, Rome (1514), 1865.","type":""}],"summaryDescription":"This watercolour is a copy after the fresco representing the ‘Sibyls’ (Old Testament characters who predicted events) in the Chigi Chapel in the Church of Santa Maria della Pace in Rome, executed by Raphael in 1514.\r\n\r\nIn 1865, Cesare Mariannecci (c.1819-c.1894) was commissioned by the Arundel Society to copy it. The artist was hired in 1864 by the Society to copy the most important Roman works from the Renaissance. The watercolour was reproduced as a chromolithograph and was published in 1866. When the Arundel Society was dissolved in 1897, the watercolour was given to the National Gallery, which eventually transferred it to the V&A in 1993, where it has remained since.\r\n\r\nThe rich Sienese banker Agostino Chigi (1466-1520) commissioned Raphael (1483-1520) to decorate the Chigi Chapel in the Church of Santa Maria della Pace. Raphael completed the frescoes, which depict Old Testament Sibyls and Prophets, in 1514. ","physicalDescription":"Watercolour on paperboard. Copy after the fresco representing the ‘Sibyls’ on the entrance arch of the Chigi Chapel in Santa Maria della Pace, Rome.  The Sibyls, dressed in colourful clothes, are surrounded by putti and angels holding plaques and scrolls inscribed in Greek and Roman. The figures are arranged in dynamic poses within a spandrel (the area between an arch and the ceiling or moulding above). The   figures have been identified by scholars as the Cumaean, Persian, Phrygian and Tiburtine Sibyls from the Old Testament. The artist has signed the watercolour in the bottom right-hand corner ‘C. Mariannecci’.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Cesari Mariannecci","id":"A8640"},"association":{"text":"maker","id":"AAT251917"},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[{"name":{"text":"Arundel Society","id":"A7579"},"association":{"text":"commissioner","id":"THES258415"},"note":""}],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"paperboard","id":"AAT14224"}],"techniques":[{"text":"watercolour painting","id":"THES250889"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Watercolour on paperboard.","categories":[{"text":"Watercolours","id":"THES277714"},{"text":"Christianity","id":"THES48978"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"PDP","id":"THES48595"},"images":[],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"LVLF","id":"THES49656"},"free":"","case":"DR","shelf":"23","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"watercolour","id":""}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"Rome","id":"x29106"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"1865","earliest":"1865-01-01","latest":"1865-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"National Gallery, 1993.","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"42.2","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"83.8","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[{"content":"C. Mariannecci.","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"","script":"","translation":"","transliteration":"","type":"","note":"Signature"}],"objectHistory":"Watercolour made for the Arundel Society in 1865; given in 1897 to the National Gallery, London; transferred to the V&A in 1993.","historicalContext":"This watercolour is a copy made by Cesare Mariannecci in 1865 (signature in the bottom right-hand corner ‘C. Mariannecci’) for the Arundel Society after Raphael’s fresco of the ‘Sibyls’ in the Chigi Chapel in the Church of Santa Maria della Pace, painted in 1514. \r\n\r\nOriginal work\r\n\r\nAgostino Chigi commissioned Raphael (1483-1520) to paint the Sibyls and Prophets Chigi Chapel in the Church of Santa Maria della Pace, Rome The artist completed the frescoes in 1514, likely conceiving of them as a,  response to those painted by Michelangelo a couple of years earlier on the Sistine Chapel ceiling. \r\n\r\n\r\nArundel Society \r\nThe Arundel Society was founded in 1848 to promote knowledge of the art through the publication of reproductions of works of art. The Society was named after Thomas Howard, 2nd Earl of Arundel (1585-1646), important aristocratic patron and collector of the early Stuart period. The Society was intended to reach the largest possible audience through these reproductions. Subjects were chosen because of their instructive meaning rather than their popularity. In addition to copies of famous paintings, the Society published an English translation of Giorgio Vasari’s Lives of the most excellent painters, made in 1850 by Giovanni Aubrey Bezzi (1785-1789), one of the founding members of the Society.\r\n\r\nThe Arundel Society popularised Renaissance art, particularly that of the Italian Old Masters, echoing a growing interest for ‘primitives’ in the second half of the nineteenth century. The founding members of the Arundel Society were all acknowledge experts on Italian art. For instance, Sir Charles Eastlake (1793–1865; painter and art administrator), whose house was the meeting point of the Society, was Director of the National Gallery in London from 1855 until 1865 and during his tenure, he began one of the finest collections of Italian art in Britain. \r\nOther preeminent members were John Ruskin (1819-1900, English writer, painter and collector), who supervised projects including the watercolours series of the Upper and Lower Church in Assisi, and Sir Austen H. Layard (1817-1894; English archaeologist, politician, diplomat, collector and writer). Layard lived and travelled in Italy for many years and his knowledge of the country’s art was extensive. It was thanks to Layard’s funding that the Society were able to publish copies of the watercolours made at their direction using chromolithography. Although photography was increasingly popular, as photographs could only be made in black and white, chromolithography was chosen as it was felt to be closer to the principals of the Arundel Society: they were coloured and had the aura of traditional prints. In this way, copies were more like the originals. \r\n\r\nThe Society reached the height of its popularity in the 1860s. However, by the end of the century, it faced mounting criticism with regards to the accuracy of its watercolour copies. The Society ceased its activities in 1897. At this time the availability of second-hand prints had increased and the Society found it difficult to find market for its chromolithographs. Moreover, photographic reproductions were becoming increasingly popular thanks to technical advances. The last display of the Arundel Society’s watercolours took place at the National Gallery and when the Society was dissolved, some watercolours were given to that Institution, while others were acquired by the then South Kensington Museum (now V&A). The outstanding watercolours were transferred from the National Gallery to the V&A in the 1990s.\r\n\r\nIn 1865, Cesare Mariannecci was commissioned by the Arundel Society to copy a number of Raphael’s frescoes in Rome in watercolour so as to convey the effect of the fresco technique. The artist gave a polished version of the fresco section with the ‘Sibyls’ trying to evoke all the different colours and tones used by Raphael, and he did not show any sign of deterioration in his copy. \r\n\r\nThe watercolour was reproduced as a chromolithograph and was published in the Arundel Society’s issues, which were available to the public by subscription, in 1866. When the Arundel Society was dissolved in 1897, the original watercolours were given to the National Gallery, which eventually transferred them to the V&A in 1993 where they have remained since.","briefDescription":"Watercolour, Copy after Raphael’s fresco of the ‘Sibyls’ in the Chigi Chapel in the Church of Santa Maria della Pace, Rome (1514), Signed on the bottom right corner ‘C. Mariannecci’, 1865.","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Tanya Ledger, A Study of the Arundel Society 1848-1897, Unpublished thesis submitted for degree of Doctor of Philosophy, University of Oxford,1978, pp. 98-107, 196-197.\r\n\r\nRobyn Cooper, ‘The popularisation of Renaissance in Victorian England: the Arundel Society’ in Art History, vol. 1, issue 3, 1978, pp. 269.\r\n\r\nMichael Hirst, ‘The Chigi Chapel in S. Maria della pace’, in Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes, Vol. 24, No. 3/4 (Jul. – Dec. 1961), pp. 161-185."}],"production":"Commissioned by the Arundel Society.","productionType":{"text":"Copy","id":"THES48865"},"contentDescription":"Four Sibyls, putti, angels","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[{"text":"","id":""}],"contentPerson":[{"text":"Sibyl","id":"N204"},{"text":"sibyl","id":"N12794"},{"text":"","id":""}],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[{"text":"aRUNDEL","id":"A7579"}],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["E.262-1995"],"accessionNumberNum":"262","accessionNumberPrefix":"E","accessionYear":1995,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2025-04-07","recordCreationDate":"2009-03-24","availableToBook":false}}