Saint Cecilia
after Guido Reni (Bologna 1575 – Bologna 1642)
Category
Art / Oil paintings
Date
1600 - 1699
Materials
Oil on canvas
Measurements
965 x 718 mm (38 x 28 1/4 in)
Place of origin
Italy
Order this imageCollection
Charlecote Park, Warwickshire
NT 533871
Caption
St. Cecilia was an early Christian Saint and martyr. Different accounts relate how she was condemned to death by suffocation in a steam bath, or was immersed in a cauldron of boiling oil. Having survived, she was to be beheaded, but the sword no more than wounded her neck. She lived for another three days, during which time she distributed her possessions amongst the poor. Here, however, she is shown as the patron Saint of music, holding a violin, and lifting her eyes towards the heavens. This picture is a copy of the original, which was formerly in the collection of Lord Lansdowne. Once thought to be by Domenichino, this original is now attributed to Guido Reni, one of the main exponents of Bolognese Baroque.
Summary
Oil painting on canvas, Saint Cecilia, after Guido Reni (Bologna 1575 – Bologna 1642). The girl is dressed in eastern robes, a dark green dress embroidered in gold with voluminous white sleeves and red cloak. She also wears a red-and-yellow-striped turban. She holds a violin in her left hand against her chest with the bow, poised on the strings, in her right hand. She is looking upwards, to the left. The top of a cello is visible by her right shoulder. A dark plain background. Framed in a carved giltwood frame. Hanging from chains. St Cecilia is the patron saint of musicians and was an early Christian martyr. According to legend, she could play any musical instrument and could hear the singing of angels. This is, purportedly, a copy of the original that was in the collection of Lord Lansdowne, then belonging to Walter Chrysler, New York and ascribed variously to Domenichino or Reni, and similar to an early Reni, 1606, now in the Norton Simon Museum, Pasadena.
Provenance
On loan from Sir Edmund Fairfax-Lucy, 6th Bt (b. 1945).
Makers and roles
after Guido Reni (Bologna 1575 – Bologna 1642), artist