Artwork
Saint Cecilia and an Angel
Saint Cecilia and an Angel is an oil painting by the Baroque artist Orazio Gentileschi. It dates from 1618 and is held in the collection of the National Gallery of Art. This oil on canvas depicts Saint Cecilia, the patroness of music, engrossed at a small organ while an angel attends her.
About this work
Orazio Gentileschi and Giovanni Lanfranco painted it together, begun around 1617-1618 and finished around 1621-1627.
An eighteenth-century Roman inventory already suspected what science later confirmed: two hands made this canvas. Orazio Gentileschi and Giovanni Lanfranco painted it together, begun around 1617-1618 and finished around 1621-1627. The saint's bowed head and the fingers on the keyboard are Gentileschi's; the angel and surrounding passages are Lanfranco's, a split confirmed by pigment analysis at the National Gallery of Art.
History & Provenance
Painted by Orazio Gentileschi in 1618, the work likely originated in Rome. Its earliest recorded owner was probably Natale Rondinini (1540–1627); it passed to his son Alessandro (d. 1639), then to Alessandro’s wife Felice Zacchia Rondinini (1593–1667) by 1662. By inheritance it went to their grandson Alessandro Rondinini (1660–1740) and then, via Alessandro’s sister Felicità, to the Del Bufalo Della Valle Cancellieri family.
By 1840 it belonged to Marchese Paolo del Bufalo Della Valle, and by 1944 to Monsignor Federico Fioretti. In 1952 it was sold through dealers Vitale Bloch and Victor Spark to the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, which gifted it to the National Gallery of Art in 1961.
The painting is held in the collection of the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., as part of the Samuel H. Kress Collection. It entered the museum as a gift from the Samuel H. Kress Foundation in 1961, after being sold to the foundation in 1952. No specific inventory or accession number is recorded in the available sources, nor is any exhibition history provided.
Overview
This oil on canvas depicts Saint Cecilia, the patroness of music, engrossed at a small organ while an angel attends her. The work is notable for its collaborative creation, initiated by Orazio Gentileschi around 1617–1618 and completed years later by Giovanni Lanfranco between 1621 and 1627. This joint effort, involving two prominent Baroque painters, resulted in a distinctive blend of stylistic approaches within a single composition measuring 87.5 by 108 centimeters.
Subject & Meaning
The painting centers on Saint Cecilia, revered as the patron saint of music. She is shown absorbed in playing a small organ, her gaze directed downwards, while an angel stands beside her, seemingly listening or offering inspiration. This depiction emphasizes her spiritual connection to music, a common theme in Baroque art celebrating the saint's legendary devotion and musical talents, often portraying her in moments of divine musical communion.
Technique & Style
The canvas showcases a stylistic dialogue between its two creators. Orazio Gentileschi, a leading Caravaggesque painter, rendered the heads of Saint Cecilia and the angel with a characteristic silvery naturalism, distinguishing him from more rhetorical Baroque contemporaries. Giovanni Lanfranco, a former pupil of Agostino Carracci and a skilled fresco painter, completed the remaining elements, including the figures' bodies, drapery, and the surrounding environment. Scientific analysis of pigments confirmed this division of labor.
Context
Twentieth-century art historical scholarship initially attributed the entire work solely to Gentileschi. However, a significant 1994 study, published in The Burlington Magazine by Diane De Grazia and Erich Schleier, re-established the dual attribution. This research was critically supported by scanning electron microscope analysis of paint cross-sections, which identified distinct pigment usage, Gentileschi favored lead-tin yellow, while Lanfranco employed lead-tin-antimony yellow, providing scientific evidence to corroborate the historical record.
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Artist
Orazio Lomi Gentileschi (Italian pronunciation: ; 1563 – 7 February 1639) was an Italian painter.
