Getty Museum
Saint Cecilia Giving Alms to the Poor
Creator
Pietro da CortonaItalian Artist · 1596–1669
All works by this person →In combining architecture, painting, and sculpture to act on viewers' emotions, Pietro da Cortona was the quintessential practitioner of the High Baroque style. Born in Cortona, he studied in Florence and then Rome, learning to paint primarily by teaching himself. Painter, architect, and sculpture designer, the energetic Pietro always worked simultaneously on architectural and decorative projects.
More on Getty ULAN- Date
- about 1635–1640
- Medium
- Pen and brown ink over black chalk
- Culture
- Italian
- Department
- Drawings
- Institution
- Getty Museum
A monumental Saint Cecilia instructs assistants to distribute alms to a crowd. Although Cecilia is the darkest and most worked figure, she does not dominate; she is balanced by the tumultuous crowd. Pietro da Cortona's figures display classical seriousness of action and sculptural weightiness. In his energetic style, the forceful line and vehement *pentimenti* in the figure of Saint Cecilia almost cause the line to burn through the paper. The drawing epitomizes the exuberant High Baroque style that Cortona helped to found as an architect and painter in Rome, combining operatic bravura with classical forms and motifs. He synthesized Rome's architectural history for the setting, borrowing from the Pantheon and Saint Peter's basilica.
The authoritative record is held by Getty Museum. LinkedCulture surfaces this object and its connections; it does not alter institutional metadata.
Get printable QR codesHide QR codes
Open QR codes for this object page and the museum record. They stay collapsed until needed.
Related across collections
Semantically similar works from Getty Museum and other institutions.