
Isabella Wolff
<p>Produced over the course of 12 years, this portrait depicts Isabella Wolff, one of Sir Thomas Lawrence’s most intimate friends, contemplating a printed image of the Delphic Sibyl from <a href="https://www.artic.edu/artists/33808/michelangelo-buonarroti">Michelangelo’s</a> famous Sistine Chapel ceiling. Wolff’s serpentine pose cleverly echoes another Sibyl from that same work. The Sibyls were priestesses of Classical legend who made enigmatic judgments and prophecies. They were often pictured according to Western fantasies of the Near East, hence Wolff’s elaborate turban here. Lawrence was famed for his ability to evoke the surface effects and textures of clothing; that talent is on full display in Wolff’s shimmering satin gown.</p>
Catalogue
- Year
- 1803
- 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.)
- Collection
- Art Institute of Chicago
- Artist
- Sir Thomas Lawrence
Artist

Painting
Sir Thomas Lawrence (English, 1769-1830)
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Record
Verified by WattsOS- Artist
- Sir Thomas Lawrence
- Year
- 1803
- 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.)
- Watts ID
- WW-1803-019601
Source
- Collection
- Art Institute of Chicago
- Source
- aic
- Reference
- View at source
- Status
- verified





