''Santa Cecilia'' is an early painting, from c. 1620, by the Baroque painter
Artemisia Gentileschi
Artemisia Lomi or Artemisia Gentileschi (, ; 8 July 1593) was an Italian Baroque painter. Gentileschi is considered among the most accomplished seventeenth-century artists, initially working in the style of Caravaggio. She was producing profess ...
, a painter described as "a grand exception in the history of art - a successful woman painter in an era in which art was dominated by men."
Description
It shows a woman in a yellow gown and white
chemise
A chemise or shift is a classic smock, or a modern type of women's undergarment or dress. Historically, a chemise was a simple garment worn next to the skin to protect clothing from sweat and body oils, the precursor to the modern shirts commonl ...
playing a
lute
A lute ( or ) is any plucked string instrument with a neck and a deep round back enclosing a hollow cavity, usually with a sound hole or opening in the body. It may be either fretted or unfretted.
More specifically, the term "lute" can ref ...
, with an organ in the background. A cleaning in 1988 made the organ visible and confirmed the depiction of
Saint Cecelia, an early Christian
martyr
A martyr (, ''mártys'', "witness", or , ''marturia'', stem , ''martyr-'') is someone who suffers persecution and death for advocating, renouncing, or refusing to renounce or advocate, a religious belief or other cause as demanded by an externa ...
who later became associated with musical instruments.
Provenance
It is believed to have been painted in 1620 and is known to be in the collection Alessandro Biffi by 1637. It passed to the Spada collection in the seventeenth century as a means of settling debts and is currently in the
Galleria Spada
The Galleria Spada is a museum in Rome, which is housed in the Palazzo Spada on Piazza Capo di Ferro. The palazzo is also famous for its façade and for the forced perspective gallery by Francesco Borromini.
The gallery exhibits paintings from ...
in
Rome
, established_title = Founded
, established_date = 753 BC
, founder = King Romulus (legendary)
, image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg
, map_caption ...
. In 1759 it was inventoried as "school of
Titian
Tiziano Vecelli or Vecellio (; 27 August 1576), known in English as Titian ( ), was an Italians, Italian (Republic of Venice, Venetian) painter of the Renaissance, considered the most important member of the 16th-century Venetian school (art), ...
", then later ascribed to
Caravaggio
Michelangelo Merisi (Michele Angelo Merigi or Amerighi) da Caravaggio, known as simply Caravaggio (, , ; 29 September 1571 – 18 July 1610), was an Italian painter active in Rome for most of his artistic life. During the final four years of hi ...
and
Caroselli, before being suggested as a work of Artemisia in 1911.
See also
*
List of works by Artemisia Gentileschi
The following is an incomplete list of works by Artemisia Gentileschi. Catalogue numbers abbreviated "WB" are taken from the 1999 publication by Raymond Ward Bissell
Raymond Ward Bissell, Jr. (October 23, 1936 – October 26, 2019) was an Ameri ...
References
Sources
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Paintings by Artemisia Gentileschi
1620s paintings
Musical instruments in art
Paintings in the Galleria Spada
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