Saint Cecilia

Saint Cecilia, the patron of musicians, is shown at an organ, the instrument which became her attribute in the sixteenth century.
The construction of the painting on diagonal lines and the rejection of the classic frontal pose constitute an exception in the work of Sassoferrato, as are the details of the refined brooch and of the inscription on the page.
The saint’s features derive from the female figures of Guido Reni but, they are not so much a close copy as a reinterpretation. Sassoferrato, like many other artists of his time, used to draw on the works of painters from the early Renaissance or the Bolognese classicism of the early seventeenth century, changing the size or the composition. This painting is datable to between 1635 and 1650.