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| Guercino (Giovanni Francesco Barbieri) Sibyls 1627 frescoes Duomo di Piacenza |
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| Guercino (Giovanni Francesco Barbieri) Sibyl (detail) 1627 fresco Duomo di Piacenza |
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| Guercino (Giovanni Francesco Barbieri) Sibyl (detail) 1627 fresco Duomo di Piacenza |
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| Guercino (Giovanni Francesco Barbieri) Sibyl (Figure Study) 1627 drawing Nasjonalgalleriet, Oslo |
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| Guercino (Giovanni Francesco Barbieri) Sibyls 1627 frescoes Duomo di Piacenza |
"In the early 17th century, very likely before Morazzone began work, the Gothic windows in alternate walls were blocked up to provide an uninterrupted field for decoration, and in these four arched lunettes Guercino painted his Scenes from the Nativity of Christ. The windows of the other four walls were enlarged to a rectangular shape to make up for the loss of light caused by the filling in of four windows. In the four lunettes with enlarged central windows, Guercino painted pairs of seated Sibyls, represented as eight handsome young women, one to each side of the window. . . . At the end of the 19th century, with the 'restoration' of the Cathedral to its 'original' Gothic style, the enlarged windows between the Sibyls were reduced again to smaller lancet windows and the stucco frames were removed. In the process, an awkward neutral area of wall was created, with no immediate logic as to why the two seated sibyls to either side seem compressed within so narrow a field."
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| Guercino (Giovanni Francesco Barbieri) Sibyl (detail) 1627 fresco Duomo di Piacenza |
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| Guercino (Giovanni Francesco Barbieri) Sibyl (detail) 1627 fresco Duomo di Piacenza |
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| Guercino (Giovanni Francesco Barbieri) Sibyl (Figure Study) 1627 drawing Staatsgalerie, Stuttgart |
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| Guercino (Giovanni Francesco Barbieri) Sibyls 1627 frescoes Duomo di Piacenza |
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| Guercino (Giovanni Francesco Barbieri) Sibyl (detail) 1627 fresco Duomo di Piacenza |
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| Guercino (Giovanni Francesco Barbieri) Sibyl (Drapery Study) 1627 drawing Staatsgalerie, Stuttgart |
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| Guercino (Giovanni Francesco Barbieri) Sibyl (detail) 1627 fresco Duomo di Piacenza |
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| Guercino (Giovanni Francesco Barbieri) Sibyl (Drapery Study) 1627 drawing Staatsgalerie, Stuttgart |
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| Guercino (Giovanni Francesco Barbieri) Sibyls 1627 frescoes Duomo di Piacenza |
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| Guercino (Giovanni Francesco Barbieri) Sibyl (detail) 1627 fresco Duomo di Piacenza |
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| Guercino (Giovanni Francesco Barbieri) Sibyl (Figure Study) 1627 drawing Royal Library, Windsor |
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| Guercino (Giovanni Francesco Barbieri) Sibyl (detail) 1627 fresco Duomo di Piacenza |
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| Guercino (Giovanni Francesco Barbieri) Sibyl (Drapery Study) 1627 drawing Staatsgalerie, Stuttgart |