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Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Hover to magnify, click for fullscreen
Original fileThis 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.
Boethius
The hierarchy of music defined in 'De institutione musica' provides the intellectual framework for the discarded instruments representing inferior earthly music.
Marsilio Ficino
Ficino’s theories on the soul's ascent through music and divine furor are reflected in the saint's ecstatic state and rejection of material sound.
Object
Oil on panel
religious
Digital Source
Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0
Available in the BEIC digital library and uploaded in partnership with BEIC Foundation. The image comes from the Fondo Paolo Monti, owned by BEIC and located in the Civico Archivio Fotografico of Milan.
1061 × 1280 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.