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Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Hover to magnify, click for fullscreen
Original fileSaint Cecilia stands at the center, her gaze directed upward toward a celestial choir as she lets a portable organ slip from her hands. To her left, Saint Paul leans on his sword in deep thought while Saint John looks down; to her right, Saint Augustine holds a crozier and Mary Magdalene looks directly at the viewer. The figures are arranged in a semicircular composition against a distant landscape, illustrating a transition from earthly music to divine harmony.
This work embodies the Renaissance Neoplatonic concept of the soul's ascent through divine music, where earthly instruments are discarded in favor of the 'music of the spheres.' It reflects the influence of Marsilio Ficino's theories regarding the transformative power of beauty and harmony on the human spirit.
Marsilio Ficino
Raphael's depiction of musical ecstasy aligns with Ficino's Neoplatonic theories on the 'divine frenzy' and the soul's return to God through celestial harmony.
Plato's Republic
The painting visualizes the transition from material aesthetics to the higher spiritual reality of the Harmony of the Spheres described in the Myth of Er.
Object
Oil on panel
religious
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.