Minneapolis Institute of Art
Martyrdom of Saint Cecilia
Marcantonio Raimondi; after Raphael (Raffaello Sanzio)LinkedCulture matchlcp-cd6386d374b5
- Date
- 16th century
- Medium
- Engraving
- Department
- European Art
- Institution
- Minneapolis Institute of Art
- Object ID
- 52596
From LinkedCulture
This engraving survives because the fresco it recorded does not. Marcantonio Raimondi preserved Raphael's lost composition, painted for Pope Leo X at the very site in Rome where Saint Cecilia was said to have died. In the image, Cecilia stands in a boiling cauldron while an angel descends with a laurel wreath and two executioners carry severed heads toward her. When the Villa della Magliana was altered in 1830, the fresco was destroyed, leaving this print as the only remaining evidence of that papal commission.
Written by LinkedCulture for its video on this object. Machine-generated (claude-sonnet-4-6), not yet reviewed by a person. It is not part of the museum’s record.
From the Minneapolis Institute of Art record
An angel descends with a laurel wreath as Saint Cecilia is boiled in oil. Two executioners approach her carrying the severed heads of her husband and brother-in-law. The man seated at the left and pointing may be Turcius Almachius, the Roman prefect said to have ordered the persecution. Opposite him, an enthroned statue of Jupiter symbolically presides. In an inscription beneath Jupiter, Marcantonio credits Raphael with the invention of the composition, which workshop assistants painted on the wall of the Villa della Magliana, a papal retreat built on the site venerated as the place where martyrdoms occurred. Painted for Pope Leo X, the fresco was destroyed in 1830 during alterations to the villa. Italy, Europe
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Provenance & credit
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- Credit line
- The William M. Ladd Collection Gift of Herschel V. Jones, 1916
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