Egyptische sibille 1688

This is Romeyn de Hooghe's "Egyptische sibille," an engraving from the late 17th century. During this period in the Dutch Republic, there was a surge of interest in classical antiquity, and the figure of the Sibyl, a Greco-Roman prophetess, was a popular subject. De Hooghe presents the Egyptian Sibyl, one of the more well-known of these figures, not as an exoticized other, but as a woman of learning. She is shown in a contemporary, European style dress, absorbed in a large, leather-bound book. The inscription S.AEGYPTIA on her gown identifies her, while also suggesting a tension between her identity and her dress. This work invites us to consider how early modern Europeans imagined the intersection of classical wisdom and their own cultural identities. How did they reconcile the perceived authority of the past with their contemporary worldview? And what did it mean to associate wisdom with a female figure, especially one from a non-European culture?