Saint Cecilia (Artemisia Gentileschi)

Santa Cecilia is an early painting, from c. 1620, by the Baroque painter Artemisia Gentileschi, 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."[1]

Saint Cecilia
Saint Cecilia as a Lute Player
ArtistArtemisia Gentileschi Edit this on Wikidata
Year1620
Dimensions108 cm (43 in) × 78.5 cm (30.9 in)
IdentifiersBildindex der Kunst und Architektur ID (deprecated): 08011668

Description

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It shows a woman in a yellow gown and white chemise playing a lute, 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 who later became associated with musical instruments.[2]

Provenance

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It is believed to have been painted in 1620 and is known to be in the collection Alessandro Biffi by 1637.[3] It passed to the Spada collection in the seventeenth century as a means of settling debts and is currently in the Galleria Spada in Rome.[3] In 1759 it was inventoried as "school of Titian", then later ascribed to Caravaggio and Caroselli, before being suggested as a work of Artemisia in 1911.[4]

See also

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References

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Sources

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  • Bissell, R. Ward (1999). Artemisia Gentileschi and the Authority of Art : Critical Reading and Catalogue Raisonné. University Park, Pa.: Pennsylvania State University Press. ISBN 9780271017877.
  • Christiansen, Keith; Mann, Judith Walker (2001). Orazio and Artemisia Gentileschi. New York; New Haven: Metropolitan Museum of Art ; Yale University Press. ISBN 1588390063.
  • Locker, Jesse M. (2015). Artemisia Gentileschi: The Language of Painting. New Haven, Yale University Press. ISBN 9780300185119.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)