Saint Cecilia
1650
paint
From the collection of Victoria and Albert Museum
Saint Cecilia is a 1650 paint by Nini, held at Victoria and Albert Museum.
This opaque watercolor and gold painting on paper depicts the martyrdom of Saint Cecilia, showing her on the floor as she dies while a companion reaches toward her neck, another holds a glass bowl of water and sponge, and a putto flies in with a crown; above, a nimbed Christ appears in the clouds. The work is attributed to the otherwise unknown female artist Nini and closely follows an engraving by Hieronymus Wierix. It was mounted on a decorated page from an album produced for Mughal emperor Shah Jahan.
Read the full account in the museum source.
Nini kept painting the same saint over and over—Cecilia, the patron of music, always with her eyes half-closed like she’s hearing something the rest of us miss.
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