La sibilla eritrea

In 1508 Pope Julius II pulled Michelangelo off the marble tomb he was carving and put him up a scaffold to paint the Sistine Chapel ceiling. Michelangelo thought of himself as a sculptor and took the job reluctantly, then spent four years working high above the chapel floor. Among the prophets he set five sibyls, the prophetesses of the pagan world, whom Christians believed had also foretold the coming of Christ. This one is the Erythraean Sibyl, turning the pages of a huge book while a small nude boy behind her tends a lamp. Even in paint, her arms and shoulders are heavy and muscular, built more like one of his carved figures than a woman quietly reading.