NARRATOR:
The early Christian martyr Cecilia is the patron saint of musicians. According to tradition, she heard the angels singing, and could play any musical instrument. Here, as she gazes up in rapture, she accompanies the heavenly voices on the violin.
Like many Baroque artists, the Italian master Guido Reni wanted us to experience his work in a very immediate way. So he brings the figure close to the surface, and rests her instrument on a ledge that seems to continue into our space. Appearing dramatically out of the darkness, she’s illuminated by a shaft of celestial light. Her slightly parted lips and glistening eyes testify to the intensity of her spiritual communion.
At the same time, the graceful folds of her blouse and shawl, her plump, rosy lips, and her white flesh caressed by wisps of hair, give the work a sensuous quality that verges on the erotic. Perhaps Reni has lavished attention on the soft expanse of the saint’s throat to call attention to her martyrdom.
Born to a wealthy Christian family in ancient Rome, Cecilia was condemned to grisly death for refusing to sacrifice to the gods. But suffocation did not work, and after repeated blows of the executioner’s axe, her neck still remained intact. She finally succumbed to her wounds three days later, after distributing her wealth to the poor. This painting is dated 1606, soon after this third-century saint’s body was unearthed in a Roman church
Saint Cecilia
1606
Guido Reni (Italian, 1575-1642)
On View
Cecilia, the patron saint of musicians, was venerated for her chastity. According to legend, on the day of her forced marriage to a pagan, Cecilia used the cadence of wedding music to sing to God in her heart. Seventeenth-century representations often visualize this private melody by depicting Cecilia as a musician. In this painting by Guido Reni, she holds a violin in an unusual position—balanced on a table rather than cradled against her shoulder or chest—though the careful placement of her fingers suggests knowledge of the instrument. Cecilia’s upturned eyes guide her music heavenward. In the saint’s dedicated church in Rome, devotees used this painting for meditation, imagining Cecilia’s devout song, perhaps mingled with audible music filling the church around them.
Details
- Artist Name: Guido Reni (Italian, 1575-1642)
- Title: Saint Cecilia
- Date: 1606
- Medium: Oil on canvas
- Dimensions: 37-3/4 x 29-1/2 in. (95.9 x 74.9 cm)
- Credit Line: The Norton Simon Foundation
- Accession Number: F.1973.23.P
- Copyright: © The Norton Simon Foundation
Object Information
Commissioned by Cardinal Paolo Emilio Sfondrati, Rome, 1606, sold 1608 to;
Cardinal Borghese Caffarelli, Scipione, by descent to heirs;
Lucien Bonaparte, Prince of Canino (1775-1840), Rome, by 1812, ceded in 1820 to;
Maria Louisa Josephine, Duchess of Lucca (Queen of Etruria), by inheritance to her son Carlo Lodovico di Borbone, Duke of Lucca; 1824-1840, brought to London for sale in 1840;
Marquess of Lansdowne (1854-1952), Lansdowne House, Bowood, Wiltshire, as Domenichino.
[David M. Koester, New York].
Walter P. Chrysler, Jr., New York, by 1962.
Robert Manning, New York, sold 29 May 1970 to;
[Wildenstein & Co., Inc., New York, sold to];
The Norton Simon Foundation.
Cardinal Borghese Caffarelli, Scipione, by descent to heirs;
Lucien Bonaparte, Prince of Canino (1775-1840), Rome, by 1812, ceded in 1820 to;
Maria Louisa Josephine, Duchess of Lucca (Queen of Etruria), by inheritance to her son Carlo Lodovico di Borbone, Duke of Lucca; 1824-1840, brought to London for sale in 1840;
Marquess of Lansdowne (1854-1952), Lansdowne House, Bowood, Wiltshire, as Domenichino.
[David M. Koester, New York].
Walter P. Chrysler, Jr., New York, by 1962.
Robert Manning, New York, sold 29 May 1970 to;
[Wildenstein & Co., Inc., New York, sold to];
The Norton Simon Foundation.
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