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The Ecstasy of St. Cecilia (Raphael)
Encyclopedia
The St. Cecilia Altarpiece is an oil painting
by Italian High Renaissance
painter Raphael
. Completed in his later years, around 1516-1517, the painting depicts Saint Cecilia
, the patron saint
of musicians and Church music
, listening to a choir of angels in the company of St. Paul
, St. John the Evangelist
, St. Augustine
and Mary Magdalene
. Commissioned for a church in Bologna
, the painting now hangs there in the Pinacoteca Nazionale
, or National Painting Gallery. According to Vasari the musical instruments strewn about Cecilia's feet were not painted by Raphael, but by his student, Giovanni da Udine
.
In 1880, English Romantic poet Percy Shelley
described the painting as follows:
Lorenzo Pucci
in 1513. Given the extraordinary popularity of the painter at this time in his career, it is likely that only such a highly-placed church authority could have had any hope of hiring him. The patron of the chapel itself, however, was Elena Duglioli dall'Olio, an aristocratic Bolognese woman who would later be beatified for her piety. She was a close friend of Antonio Pucci, Cardinal Lorenzo's nephew, and most art historians today agree that the Pucci must have served as her agents and advisers with Raphael and that the painting was more likely commissioned for her around 1516, when construction on the chapel was compeleted. Duglioli had a particular devotion to the cult of St. Cecilia and had been given a relic (her knucklebone) by the papal legate to Bologna, Cardinal Francesco Alidosi
. She struggled to live a chaste life in emulation of the early Christian saint and persuaded her husband not to consummate their marriage.
The painting hung initially in the church of S. Giovanni in Monte, Bologna, but it was relocated to Paris
in 1793. While there, it was transferred to canvas. In 1815, the painting was restored to Italy where, after cleaning, it was hung in the National Painting Gallery, where it remains. The painting's condition is poor, as it has been damaged by repainting over the years.
. Mary Magdalene holds the alabaster jar by which she is most commonly identified.
The iconography of the altarpiece is unusual in that rather than portraying a figure or figures to be worshipped, it represents the act of worship itself. Each of the saints was associated with visions - as was Elena Duglioni herself - and the celestial choir that opens above the saints' heads is closely associated with the patron's own devotions, in which music was an important element. Cecilia was associated with music from the middle ages, but the broken instruments here appear to refer to the abandonment of earthly pleasures that resulted from Cecilia's devotion to the sacred. In this painting she personifies religious music as a route to union with God.
The painting further celebrates the theme of chastity. St. Cecilia's simple belt is a traditional Renaissance symbol for chastity; John the Evangelist was the patron saint of virginity; and Paul praised celibacy in I Corinthians. Thus the painting's iconography is closely tied to the life of the patron on many levels.
There is an engraving of the painting by Marcantonio Raimondi
: it differs significantly from the work, and some scholars have suggested that it reflects a lost sketch for the altarpiece. In it Raphael depicted the angels with instruments as well — harp, triangle and violin — and the figures are in very different poses. Augustine (wearing his mitre
) and Paul look downward; John looks out towards the viewer; the Magdalene looks upward to the angelic host, as Cecilia does. Raimondi's engravings are frequently known to alter Raphael's works, however, so it is not impossible that it represents a free variant of the finished altarpiece rather than a copy of a sketch of Raphael's initial intentions.
Oil painting
Oil painting is the process of painting with pigments that are bound with a medium of drying oil—especially in early modern Europe, linseed oil. Often an oil such as linseed was boiled with a resin such as pine resin or even frankincense; these were called 'varnishes' and were prized for their body...
by Italian High Renaissance
High Renaissance
The expression High Renaissance, in art history, is a periodizing convention used to denote the apogee of the visual arts in the Italian Renaissance...
painter Raphael
Raphael
Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino , better known simply as Raphael, was an Italian painter and architect of the High Renaissance. His work is admired for its clarity of form and ease of composition and for its visual achievement of the Neoplatonic ideal of human grandeur...
. Completed in his later years, around 1516-1517, the painting depicts Saint Cecilia
Saint Cecilia
Saint Cecilia is the patroness of musicians and Church music because as she was dying she sang to God. It is also written that as the musicians played at her wedding she "sang in her heart to the Lord". St. Cecilia was an only child. Her feast day is celebrated in the Roman Catholic, Anglican,...
, the patron saint
Patron saint
A patron saint is a saint who is regarded as the intercessor and advocate in heaven of a nation, place, craft, activity, class, clan, family, or person...
of musicians and Church music
Church music
Church music may be defined as music written for performance in church, or any musical setting of ecclestiacal liturgy, or music set to words expressing propositions of a sacred nature, such as a hymn. This article covers music in the Judaeo-Christian tradition. For sacred music outside this...
, listening to a choir of angels in the company of St. Paul
Paul of Tarsus
Paul the Apostle , also known as Saul of Tarsus, is described in the Christian New Testament as one of the most influential early Christian missionaries, with the writings ascribed to him by the church forming a considerable portion of the New Testament...
, St. John the Evangelist
John the Apostle
John the Apostle, John the Apostle, John the Apostle, (Aramaic Yoħanna, (c. 6 - c. 100) was one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus. He was the son of Zebedee and Salome, and brother of James, another of the Twelve Apostles...
, St. Augustine
Augustine of Hippo
Augustine of Hippo , also known as Augustine, St. Augustine, St. Austin, St. Augoustinos, Blessed Augustine, or St. Augustine the Blessed, was Bishop of Hippo Regius . He was a Latin-speaking philosopher and theologian who lived in the Roman Africa Province...
and Mary Magdalene
Mary Magdalene
Mary Magdalene was one of Jesus' most celebrated disciples, and the most important woman disciple in the movement of Jesus. Jesus cleansed her of "seven demons", conventionally interpreted as referring to complex illnesses...
. Commissioned for a church in Bologna
Bologna
Bologna is the capital city of Emilia-Romagna, in the Po Valley of Northern Italy. The city lies between the Po River and the Apennine Mountains, more specifically, between the Reno River and the Savena River. Bologna is a lively and cosmopolitan Italian college city, with spectacular history,...
, the painting now hangs there in the Pinacoteca Nazionale
Pinacoteca Nazionale (Bologna)
The National Art Gallery of Bologna is a museum in Bologna, Italy. It is located in the former Saint Ignatius Jesuit novitiate of the city's University district, and inside the same building that houses the Academy of Fine Arts...
, or National Painting Gallery. According to Vasari the musical instruments strewn about Cecilia's feet were not painted by Raphael, but by his student, Giovanni da Udine
Giovanni da Udine
Giovanni Nanni, also Giovanni de' Ricamatori, better known as Giovanni da Udine , was an Italian painter and architect born in Udine....
.
In 1880, English Romantic poet Percy Shelley
Percy Bysshe Shelley
Percy Bysshe Shelley was one of the major English Romantic poets and is critically regarded as among the finest lyric poets in the English language. Shelley was famous for his association with John Keats and Lord Byron...
described the painting as follows:
The central figure, St. Cecilia, seems rapt in such inspiration as produced her image in the painter's mind; her deep, dark, eloquent eyes lifted up; her chestnut hair flung back from her forehead — she holds an organ in her hands — her countenance, as it were, calmed by the depth of its passion and rapture, and penetrated throughout with the warm and radiant light of life. She is listening to the music of heaven, and, as I imagine, has just ceased to sing, for the four figures that surround her evidently point, by their attitudes, towards her; particularly St. John, who, with a tender yet impassioned gesture, bends his countenance towards her, languid with the depth of emotion. At her feet lie various instruments of music, broken and unstrung.
History
The altarpiece was commissioned for a chapel dedicated to St. Cecilia at the Augustinian church of San Giovanni in Monte in Bologna. According to Vasari the work was commissioned by CardinalCardinal (Catholicism)
A cardinal is a senior ecclesiastical official, usually an ordained bishop, and ecclesiastical prince of the Catholic Church. They are collectively known as the College of Cardinals, which as a body elects a new pope. The duties of the cardinals include attending the meetings of the College and...
Lorenzo Pucci
Lorenzo Pucci
Lorenzo Pucci was an Italian cardinal and bishop from the Florentine Pucci family. His brother Roberto Pucci and his nephew Antonio Pucci also became cardinals.-Biography:Pucci was born in Florence....
in 1513. Given the extraordinary popularity of the painter at this time in his career, it is likely that only such a highly-placed church authority could have had any hope of hiring him. The patron of the chapel itself, however, was Elena Duglioli dall'Olio, an aristocratic Bolognese woman who would later be beatified for her piety. She was a close friend of Antonio Pucci, Cardinal Lorenzo's nephew, and most art historians today agree that the Pucci must have served as her agents and advisers with Raphael and that the painting was more likely commissioned for her around 1516, when construction on the chapel was compeleted. Duglioli had a particular devotion to the cult of St. Cecilia and had been given a relic (her knucklebone) by the papal legate to Bologna, Cardinal Francesco Alidosi
Francesco Adiosi
Francesco Adiosi was an Italian cardinal and condottiero.-Biography:Born at Castel del Rio, he was the third son of Giovanni Alidosi, lord of Castel del Rio. He went to France with Cardinal Giuliano della Rovere, the future Pope Julius II, in 1494...
. She struggled to live a chaste life in emulation of the early Christian saint and persuaded her husband not to consummate their marriage.
The painting hung initially in the church of S. Giovanni in Monte, Bologna, but it was relocated to Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
in 1793. While there, it was transferred to canvas. In 1815, the painting was restored to Italy where, after cleaning, it was hung in the National Painting Gallery, where it remains. The painting's condition is poor, as it has been damaged by repainting over the years.
Iconography
St. Cecilia's companions are identified in part by their attributes. Immediately to her right, John the Evangelist has an eagle, his usual symbol, peeking out around his robes. Beside him, Paul leans on the sword with which he had come to be identified in medieval art. Augustine of Hippo holds his crosierCrosier
A crosier is the stylized staff of office carried by high-ranking Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Anglican, and some Lutheran and Pentecostal prelates...
. Mary Magdalene holds the alabaster jar by which she is most commonly identified.
The iconography of the altarpiece is unusual in that rather than portraying a figure or figures to be worshipped, it represents the act of worship itself. Each of the saints was associated with visions - as was Elena Duglioni herself - and the celestial choir that opens above the saints' heads is closely associated with the patron's own devotions, in which music was an important element. Cecilia was associated with music from the middle ages, but the broken instruments here appear to refer to the abandonment of earthly pleasures that resulted from Cecilia's devotion to the sacred. In this painting she personifies religious music as a route to union with God.
The painting further celebrates the theme of chastity. St. Cecilia's simple belt is a traditional Renaissance symbol for chastity; John the Evangelist was the patron saint of virginity; and Paul praised celibacy in I Corinthians. Thus the painting's iconography is closely tied to the life of the patron on many levels.
There is an engraving of the painting by Marcantonio Raimondi
Marcantonio Raimondi
Marcantonio Raimondi, also simply Marcantonio, was an Italian engraver, known for being the first important printmaker whose body of work consists mainly of prints copying paintings. He is therefore a key figure in the rise of the reproductive print...
: it differs significantly from the work, and some scholars have suggested that it reflects a lost sketch for the altarpiece. In it Raphael depicted the angels with instruments as well — harp, triangle and violin — and the figures are in very different poses. Augustine (wearing his mitre
Mitre
The mitre , also spelled miter, is a type of headwear now known as the traditional, ceremonial head-dress of bishops and certain abbots in the Roman Catholic Church, as well as in the Anglican Communion, some Lutheran churches, and also bishops and certain other clergy in the Eastern Orthodox...
) and Paul look downward; John looks out towards the viewer; the Magdalene looks upward to the angelic host, as Cecilia does. Raimondi's engravings are frequently known to alter Raphael's works, however, so it is not impossible that it represents a free variant of the finished altarpiece rather than a copy of a sketch of Raphael's initial intentions.