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The Delphic Sibyl. Traditionally credited with predicting the coming of a savior “who shall be betrayed into the hands of the infidels and crowned with a crown of thorns,” the Delphic Sibyl is one of 12 priestesses recognized in antiquity as oracles and later acknowledged by the church as presaging the coming of Jesus. As part of his program to present Old Testament and pagan events as precursors to the salvation offered by Jesus, Michelangelo surrounded the Sistine Chapel ceiling with alternating portraits of enthroned sibyls and Old Testament prophets. The recent restoration of the 16th-century paintings, beautifully recorded in the book under review, offers an opportunity to reconsider the artist’s careful arrangement of Old Testament and pagan subjects in the most celebrated work of Christian art.