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Portrait of a woman
Crucifix
Archangel Gabriel (or Angel announcing) Altarpiece of St. Augustine
Polyptych of Saint Anthony
Tablets of San Bernardino. Miracle of San Bernardino
Guidalotti Polyptych
Adoration of the Magi
Madonna of the Confraternity of Consolation
Albarello
Shovel of Santa Maria dei Fossi
Saint Cecilia playing the harpsichord
Portrait of Carolina Murat
Sick on spring
Umbrian fabric
View of the Pauline Fortress Circus in Perugia
Moonset
Portrait of a woman
Crucifix
Archangel Gabriel (or Angel announcing) Altarpiece of St. Augustine
Polyptych of Saint Anthony
Tablets of San Bernardino. Miracle of San Bernardino
Guidalotti Polyptych
Adoration of the Magi
Madonna of the Confraternity of Consolation
Albarello
Shovel of Santa Maria dei Fossi
Saint Cecilia playing the harpsichord
Portrait of Carolina Murat
Sick on spring
Umbrian fabric
View of the Pauline Fortress Circus in Perugia
Moonset

Saint Cecilia playing the harpsichord

Orazio Gentileschi

Displayed in:

GNU - National Gallery of Umbria

GNU - National Gallery of Umbria

Corso Vannucci, 19, Perugia

Open now from 08:30 to 19:30

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The painting was discovered by Francesco Santi in 1973 in the monastery of S. Francesco Borgo in Todi, purchased in 1976 and published in the same year as a work by Orazio Gentileschi (1562-1647), one of the first followers of Caravaggio. The scene, characterized by a very close point of view, shows the two figures next to each other, emerging from a dark background that highlights the flesh tones of the faces and the colors of the garments; Saint Cecilia wears a red fabric dress and is depicted on the left of the painting playing the harpsichord, with her face turned downwards, while the angel next to her, in a yellow ochre robe, gazes intently at her showing her the musical score. Santi connected this work with a painting of a similar subject (Kress collection of the National Gallery in Washington), which however shows some formal variations: the garland and halo on the head of the saint are only present in the Perugia version; the different position and lighting of the angel's wings; the choice of musical instruments, a harpsichord in the Perugian painting and an organ in the Washington version. The two paintings are both connected to the altarpiece with The Virgin presenting the child to Saint Francesca Romana (formerly in Santa Caterina martire in Fabriano and now in the National Gallery of the Marche in Urbino). Critics do not agree on the chronology of the paintings, however Schleier considers the altarpiece in Urbino the prototype of the other two, while leaving the attributive question open. For the Saint Cecilia and an angel from Perugia, an iconographic prototype has been proposed in Caravaggio's Rest on the Flight into Egypt (Doria Pamphili Gallery), which is particularly evident in the humanized interpretation of the sacred; it has also been suggested that it may be a derivation from a work by Gentileschi by an artist not yet identified.
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Details

Title: Saint Cecilia playing the harpsichord

Author: Orazio Gentileschi

Date: 1600

Technique: Oil on canvas

Displayed in: GNU - National Gallery of Umbria

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