Frescoes in the Sistine Chapel: Prophets

On the side walls of the chapel, five prophets alternate with the same number of sibyls, so that each prophet is paired with a sibyl on the opposite wall: the Delphic Sibyl and Joel, Isaiah, and the Erythraean Sibyl, the Cumaean Sibyl and Ezekiel, Daniel and the Persian Sibyl, the Libyan Sibyl, and Jeremiah. This studied parallelism alludes both to the theme of the universality of the message of Redemption and the idea of the perfect concordance of the Revelation in the Judaic world and in the pagan one.

The other two prophets - Zechariah and Jonah - are represented on the major axis of the Sistine Chapel. This arrangement has a particular significance, too, since Zechariah, depicted above the chapel door that the pope solemnly passed through on Palm Sunday - recalling the regal entry of Christ into Jerusalem and beginning the ceremonies of Holy Week - was considered to be the main prophet of the Passion of Christ, while Jonah, placed above the altar, was usually thought to be the precursor of the risen Christ.

View a slide show of the 7 prophets and 5 sibyls.