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Wikimedia Commons · Public domain · Hover to magnify, click for fullscreen
Original fileSaint Cecilia stands calmly in a large bronze vessel heated by a fire, flanked by executioners and witnesses. To the right, a man presents the severed heads of her companions, Valerian and Tiburtius, before a pagan idol in a classical niche. The composition uses a semicircular format, likely designed for a lunette or an arched chapel space.
Saint Cecilia was a focal point for Renaissance Neoplatonists who viewed her as the patroness of divine music, which Marsilio Ficino described as a primary tool for the soul's ascent to the celestial spheres. This work depicts the triumph of spiritual constancy over the physical world, a theme central to the Hermetic and Neoplatonic quest for transcendence.
Marsilio Ficino
Ficino's theories on 'musica humana' and 'musica mundana' elevated Cecilia's status as a figure of spiritual harmony in the Renaissance.
De vita coelitus comparanda
Ficino's text discusses how music and celestial harmony (of which Cecilia is patroness) can protect and refine the human spirit.
Object
Oil on panel
religious
Digital Source
Wikimedia Commons · Public domain
Own work
7083 × 3545 px
Linked Data
AI AI-cataloged fields generated by gemini-3-flash-preview on April 1, 2026. Getty identifiers are AI-inferred and may require verification.