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'Music Sweet Music' (Saint Cecilia)

style of Evelyn De Morgan (London 1855 - London 1919)

Category

Art / Oil paintings

Date

1880 - 1889

Materials

Oil on canvas

Measurements

750 x 500 mm

Order this image

Collection

Wightwick Manor, West Midlands

NT 1288983

Caption

St. Cecilia was a Christian saint and virgin martyr. Her patronage of music is to be found in a passage from the account of her life, or ‘Passion’, which recounts how ‘Cecilia was being led into the house of her betrothed on her wedding day to the sound of musical instruments, she invoked only God in her heart, asking him the favour of keeping her soul and body without stain.’

Summary

Oil painting on canvas, 'Music Sweet Music' (Saint Cecila) in the style of Evelyn de Morgan (London 1850 or 1855 - London 1919), 1880s. A full-length female figure, possibly representing Saint Cecilia, is standing - wearing a long red dress, with her hair tied back with a red scarf, playing, with her right hand fingering the keys, a type of piano/organ with pipes and holding her dress with her left hand -on a colonnaded terrace overlooking a landscape. The stool with a sheet of music on is behind her, on the right.

Full description

Oil painting on canvas, 'Music Sweet Music' (Saint Cecila) in the style of Evelyn de Morgan (London 1850 or 1855 - London 1919), 1880s. A full-length female figure, possibly representing Saint Cecilia, is standing - wearing a long red dress, with her hair tied back with a red scarf, playing, with her right hand fingering the keys, a type of piano/organ with pipes and holding her dress with her left hand -on a colonnaded terrace overlooking a landscape. The stool with a sheet of music on is behind her, on the right. This painting was previously attributed to Evelyn De Morgan but the following text by Sarah Hardy, Director of The De Morgan Foundation tells us otherwise. The painting is now attributed to 'the style of' Evelyn De Morgan.'There is a distinct lack of dynamism is the figure of St Cecilia as she stands quite limply over the piano, playing the key with just one hand whilst she scoops her robe with her spare hand. The engagement with the music, you would expect for Evelyn, to be active, not passive like this, looking as though it was impacting the player on a higher, spiritual level. If we look at Demeter, for example, we can see that the figure is disengaged with her background and the symbols which identify her and instead is engrossed in her own grief. The narrative and human emotion of the story are the key focus, where as St Cecilia is descriptive. As a student of the Slade, who excelled in life drawing and took anatomy classes, Evelyn was a master of the human form and would painstakingly study the nude pose, before adding the drapery. The proportions of this figure are completely out - look at the huge foot and awkward neck! It would have had to have been a very bad day for Evelyn to execute this figure. The detail of the piano itself is roughly drawn and the pencil lines are visible through the paint, as they are on the figure's playing hand. This is completely atypical of Evelyn De Morgan, who was a methodical and technically brilliant artist. She painted very thickly and was able to cover her outlines We know this from technical examination of venus and cupid by our conservator, which shows that the wings of cupid were moved completely from their original position, but this pencil line is invisible to the naked eye. Whilst the subject - a female Christian martyr - is one I would associate with Evelyn De Morgan and happily accept, the subtitle 'music, sweet music' suggests an aesthetic painting with no depth or meaning beyond what can be seen. Her only other saint painting I am aware of is Saint Catherine, sadly lost in the 1991 fire and the attached is the only photograph we have :( In this, you can see that the figure, her engagement with her attributes - the wheel and bible - are active, dynamic and meaningful. We also have this drawing of St Jerome, maybe for an unrealised or untraced painting: https://www.demorgan.org.uk/collection/study-of-st-jerome-seated-male-figure-in-drapery/ again, the story and spiritualism of the saint are more important than narrive. Also, the St George on the piano has no meaning or link to the story of St Cecilia - it would have been unusual for Evelyn to dilute meaning like this. - The canvas is G Rowney & Co and the style of the stamp allows the canvas to be dated to 1902 - 1942 (https://www.npg.org.uk/assets/files/pdf/research/artists_materials_9_Rowney.pdf). At this time, Evelyn preferred pre-lined Windsor and Newton or Robesons canvasses. Around this time, she painted The Hourglass, William De Morgan Portrait holding a vase, Port after Stormy Seas, the WWI series and the Spiritualist series. St Cecilia wouldn't fit with her style or scale during this part of her career. - The painting was bought at the Sotheby's sale 30th September 1975 (lot 177), by G.M. Trinick (Historic Building Representative for NT) on behalf of the National Trust, for Lanhydrock. It is therefore an oddity in the NT's EDM collection, as it doesn't have the family provenance. Moreover, it was sold as by ‘E de Morgan’ rather than using her full name which was a common cataloguing technique used by auction-houses at that time (and earlier) to denote that the picture was sold as possibly the work of the artist – we would now say ‘Attributed to Evelyn de Morgan’. In the Glossary for the 1975 catalogue it reads ‘The initials of the forename(s) and the surname of the artist – In our opinion a work of the period of the artist which may be wholly or in part his work’. (Simon Toll, Head of Department, Senior Director of British Art Post 1850, Sotheby's 2020). Therefore, it looks as though the Evelyn De Morgan attribution was merely a guess or suggestion at this sale. Provenance before this is unknown.'Text updated: 10/01/2020

Provenance

Purchased by G.M. Trinick (Historic Building Representative for NT) on behalf of the National Trust from Sotheby's sale 30th September 1975, lot 177 as Saint Cecilia; transferred from Lanhydrock to Wightwick Manor Jan 1998. The canvas is G Rowney & Co and the style of the stamp allows the canvas to be dated to 1902 - 1942.

Makers and roles

style of Evelyn De Morgan (London 1855 - London 1919), artist

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