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Funeral of Saint Cecilia
Michele di Matteoaround 1427 - 1430
Museo Diocesano Milano
Milano, Italy
Details
- Title: Funeral of Saint Cecilia
- Creator Lifespan: documented 1410 - 1469
- Creator Nationality: Italian
- Creator Gender: Male
- Date: around 1427 - 1430
- Provenance: Alberto Crespi Collection
- Physical Dimensions: w36 x h42.9 cm
- Painter: Michele di Matteo
- Description: The painting, which has been cut on three sides, was probably originally enclosed in a frame and constituted one panel of a larger altarpiece dedicated to Saint Cecilia. The painting depicts the funeral rites of the saint—identifiable because of her crown of flowers and the cut on her neck that recalls her martyrdom—and was therefore probably the last panel of the stories of her life. The funeral ceremony is being celebrated by Urban I, with an Augustinian friar and two Franciscans in attendance. Some characteristics of the painting come from the formal style found in Bologna, such as the typical physiognomy of the faces—pointy noses and small mouths—as well as the fact that the figures are shown in profile, allowing the artist to show physiognomic variety. He also plays with the light to show movement in the garments. Lastly, the figures are arranged diagonally, which creates a sense of spatial depth. This painting is one of the most valuable works of Michele di Matteo and historians date it to the end of the 1430s, when the artist was still being influenced by his probable experience in Venice, but after he had also been exposed to the pseudo-Renaissance elements that he would make his own by the 1450s.
- Type: painting
- Rights: © Archivio fotografico Museo Diocesano, Milano
- Medium: tempera on wood
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