Sibilla Sambetha

The frame calls her the Persian Sibyl, an ancient prophetess, but that is a later fiction. When Memling painted this young woman in Bruges in 1480, she was simply herself: someone from the city's wealthy merchant class, as her fine headdress, her jewellery and her quiet composure make plain. Only decades afterwards, probably in the 16th century, did someone add the inscriptions and a scroll that turned her into a sibyl, perhaps to make the portrait grander or easier to sell. Memling gives her a small, clever trick. Her hands rest one over the other, and the fingertips of the right hand seem to press on the very edge of the painted frame, as if she were leaning for a moment into our world. Her real name has been lost.