Isabella Wolff

1803–15

This portrait depicts Isabella Wolff, one of Sir Thomas Lawrence’s closest friends. Shown contemplating a printed image of the Delphic Sibyl from Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel ceiling, Wolff assumes a pose that cleverly echoes another Sibyl from that same work. Sibyls, priestesses of Classical legend who made enigmatic judgments and prophecies, were often pictured according to Western fantasies of the Near East, hence Wolff’s elaborate turban.

Public domain · CC0
Free to download and reuse. Image courtesy of Art Institute of Chicago.

Artist

Sir Thomas Lawrence (English, 1769-1830)

Date

1803–15

Medium

Oil on canvas

Dimensions

128.2 × 102.4 cm (50 1/2 × 40 5/16 in.); Framed: 156.2 × 130.5 cm (61 1/2 × 51 3/8 in.)

Origin

England

Collection

Art Institute of Chicago

Credit

Mr. and Mrs. W. W. Kimball Collection