Apollo and the Cumaean Sibyl

The subject is taken from Ovid's Metamorphoses (Book XIV: 130-153) and tells of the Sibyl of Cumae, in southern Italy, who was loved by Apollo. In return for her love, the god tried to bribe her by offering to prolong her life for as many years as there were grains in a heap of dust. She refused him and although he kept his word, he denied her perpetual youth and condemned her to live for centuries as a wizened crone. In the present painting the Sibyl is seen holding in her hands the heap of dust.