Raffaello e collaboratori, estasi di santa cecilia, 1515 ca. da pinacoteca nazionale 02

A detail of an altarpiece showing a choir of six angels singing from songbooks within a golden opening in the heavens. Below, Saint Cecilia turns her head upward in a state of spiritual rapture, surrounded by a group of saints. The scene depicts the transition from earthly senses to the perception of divine harmony.

This work reflects the Neoplatonic hierarchy of music popularized by Marsilio Ficino, where earthly melody is viewed as a shadow of the perfect celestial harmony of the spheres. It illustrates the soul's ascent toward the divine through the medium of sacred sound, a key theme in Renaissance philosophical synthesis.