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About This Work
This black and white photograph captures a modernist installation of works by Raphael within the Pinacoteca Nazionale di Bologna. On the right, the large altarpiece 'The Ecstasy of Saint Cecilia' depicts the saint listening to a heavenly choir while flanked by Saints Paul, John the Evangelist, Augustine, and Mary Magdalene, with a heap of broken musical instruments at their feet.
The primary painting, 'The Ecstasy of Saint Cecilia', is a significant visual representation of Neoplatonic music theory. It illustrates the transition from 'musica instrumentalis' (earthly music) to 'musica mundana' (the silent harmony of the spheres), a concept central to Renaissance philosophy and the works of Boethius and Marsilio Ficino.