Representations of Saint Cecilia in Italian Renaissance and Baroque painting and sculpture

Saint Cecilia, an early Christian virgin martyr, was represented with increasing prominence in easel paintings and chapel decorations in Italian art during the Renaissance and Baroque periods. This dissertation traces Cecilia's origins and follows her divergent iconography over time, from the early medieval period when she was shown as one among many virgin martyrs with generic attributes, to the point where she was given a particular identity of her own, through an association with individualized emblems. A floral crown was her first significant distinguishing item, associated with her circa 820. As early as the thirteenth century, she was shown with an organ for the first time. The long standing and close link between Cecilia and music was the central theme in Raphael's famous altarpiece of circa 1513, whose success exerted strong influence on the subsequent diffusion of images showing the saint in the context of music. After the rediscovery of her body beneath the high altar of Santa Cecilia in Trastevere, on October 20, 1599, Cecilia's cult was reinvigorated, spurred on by Cardinal Paolo Sfondrato's redecoration of his titular church, but her image also conformed to Post-Tridentine thought. The events at the church and her renewed status in Rome and elsewhere in Italy, led to several chapel decorations which feature Cecilia prominently. Five such decorative cycles are compared here. In addition to her presentation within chapels, Cecilia also became a popular subject for both public altarpieces and private easel paintings in the seicento. Her iconography was significantly expanded during this century, and she was often shown in art as singing or playing a wide variety of instruments. Such imagery must reflect contemporary developments in music, which are examined along with the rise in the status of female musicians and singers.; Thus, this study draws upon the social and religious background to the transformation of Cecilian iconography through the centuries. In the wake of the Counter-Reformation, the Catholic Church encouraged the representation of saints in art. In the Baroque period Cecilia transcended a purely religious role as martyr and intercessor for the faithful, and became an inspirational force for music, as played within the noble and middle-class household. In essence, she became the model patron saint of music and musicians.