Augustus and the Tiburtine Sibyl

The combination of complicated construction, formulaic elegance, and incipient narrative clarity identify this drawing as the effort of a progressive Tuscan artist, grounded in the graphic style of Vasari but persuaded by the reforms of Santi di Tito and Passignano. The rhythms, however, are sufficiently intricate, the types stylized, and the application of wash ornamental that the style is best referred to late-century Rome, where numerous Florentine artists gravitated after the elec-tion of the Aldobrandini pope, Clement VIII, and assimilated elements of the draftsmanship of the Zuccari. A similar admixture is found in certain drawings by one such artist, Agostino Ciampelli, and, with a comparably heavy touch and insistent hatching, in many by the prolific etcher Tempesta. In any case, the drawing is a very good example of late Tuscan Mannerism on the cusp of the Baroque.