Saint Cecilia (Stefano Maderno)

Saint Cecilia
Artist	Stefano Maderno
Year	1600
Medium	marble
Dimensions	131 cm (52 in)
Location	Santa Cecilia in Trastevere, Rome

Saint Cecilia is a sculpture by Stefano Maderno, commissioned by Cardinal Paolo Emilio Sfrondrato, in the church of Santa Cecilia in Trastevere, Rome. Stefano Maderno was an Italian Baroque sculptor best known for his sculptures of saints. Saint Cecilia was the patron saint of music who was executed for baptizing her fellow Romans and as such became a martyr for Christianity.^[1][2] The sculpture was executed as part of a renovation of the basilica; it shows the saint lying on her side with her dress tucked between her knees, as part of an ensemble which included a new tomb of the saint.^[3] The body was moved during Pope Paschal I's campaign to move Christian saints' bodies inside the walls of Rome. The sculpture exists as a Christian symbol of overcoming hatred and persecution.

In 1599, Cardinal Paolo Emilio Sfondrati, owner of the Basilica and Monastery of Santa Cecilia in Trastevere, began renovating it.^[4] During construction, Saint Cecilia's body was found underneath the basilica; the cardinal claimed it had remained unchanged since her death, confirming her status as an "incorruptible."^[2] In 1600, Sfondrati commissioned Stefano Maderno to produce the sculpture of the saint for the altar.^[1]

According to Jeffrey Kastner, writing in Cabinet magazine, "it was asserted that the virgin’s uncorrupted body was miraculously found in the exact position in which she was supposed to have died, bloodstained cloths at her feet, the wound in the flesh of her neck still visible."^[5] He goes on to note, "Her supposed disposition was recorded for posterity in one of the era’s most celebrated sculptures: a marble figure made by Stefano Maderno, which still lies today in a niche in front of the church’s black marble altar. The artist’s contemporaneous inscription, etched in Latin into a round slab set in the church floor, echoes the claim that has come down through history: that Saint Cecilia’s holiness was such that she had managed to elude the fated way of all flesh: 'Behold the body of the most holy virgin Cecilia, whom I myself saw lying incorrupt in the tomb. I have in this marble expressed for you the same saint in the very same posture.'" Since Pope Clement "refused to allow any further examination of the saint’s remains," continues Kastner, "it is perhaps Maderno’s inscription, more than anything else, that supplied 'historical' evidence of her incorruption."

Maderno was an Italian sculptor born in Palestrina in 1576. He began his career in Rome, like many artists of his time, by restoring antique statues. He is known as one of the outstanding sculptors in 17th-century Rome before Bernini and during the time of Pope Paul V.^[1] He is best known for this sculpture, which was commissioned by Cardinal Paolo Emilio Sfrondrato.^[1] It is said that the inspiration for his sculpture was the body of Saint Cecilia herself, as her body had seemed to be unaffected by the passage of time and so he supposedly modelled it the way she was discovered.^[1]

The Saint Cecilia was so well received that it opened doors to more commissions of sculptures of saints. In 1601, Maderno made a statue of Prudence for Cardinal Alessandrino. In another commission to the Accademia di San Luca, Maderno sculpted larger-than-life-sized statues of Francesco Caporale and of Saint Epaphras.^[6] This commission only led to many more sculptures of saints. Along with the Saint Cecilia, his sculptures of Peace and Justice for Santa Maria della Pace are equally well known. After receiving so many commissions Maderno's works were seen by many people, which led him to land a position in the customs office at the Port of Ripetta in Rome. However, scholars do not know whether Maderno stopped being a sculptor or not after accepting the position.^[6] One thing to note about Maderno as an artist is that his work as a sculptor contributed to a change in the history of Italian sculpture. His interest in classical antiquity and naturalism still lives to this day in his sculptures.^[6]

The figure of Saint Cecilia is shown lying on her right side, in a simple dress tucked between her knees. The contours of her body are visible through the implication of light fabric.^[7] The folds on her dress creating spots of light and shadow are characteristic of Baroque style. Her hands are located in front of her legs, as if her arms were bound in front.^[8] Her right index finger extends off the marble, breaking the barrier between the statue and the pilgrims. Saint Cecilia has her face turned away from the viewer and straight down to the earth.^[9] Her face being turned away helps display the cuts shown on the back of her neck that were made by the executioner. Even after the executioner hit her neck three times, Saint Cecilia stayed alive for three days before bleeding out.^[7]

Saint Cecilia is usually considered to have lived during the 3rd century, at a time when early Christians were buried in the catacombs of Saint Callixtus I outside the city. In the 9th century, Pope Paschal I started a campaign to establish bodies of Christian saints inside the walls of Rome.^[10] One of those saints was Cecilia; her body was retrieved and found rolled in gold-colored fabric, which was then placed underneath the basilica of Santa Cecilia in Trastevere, which was constructed over her home. She was buried underneath the altar in 821 until she was discovered again in 1599 during renovations. Once the renovations were done, she was once again placed underneath the altar with her new tomb top made by Maderno.^[6]

Saint Cecilia's body was discovered one year prior to the Jubilee, held roughly every quarter century.^[6] Since pilgrims on the Jubilee visited many churches in Rome, the commissioning of the sculpture of Saint Cecilia and the renovation would make it easier for the pilgrims to visit and look at the saint's relics. Pilgrims would follow the side aisle leading downstairs to the annular crypt to see the saint's sarcophagus, which then leads back up the stairs to where the sculpture is located.^[6]

Located in front of the sculpture is an inscription written by Cardinal Sfondrati, which reads, "Gaze upon the likeness of the most holy virgin Cecilia, which I saw myself lying in an entire state in the sepulcher. I had this same likeness, precisely in the same position her body lay, expressed for you in marble".^[6]

The statue attempts authoritatively to depict the state of Saint Cecilia's incorruptible body, yet its use of the delicate Baroque style emphasizes the tragedy of her martyrdom. Funerary statues created for saints and popes in the Renaissance and later Baroque periods were designed to represent their figures in repose, as if sleeping. Some sources dispute that Saint Cecilia's unconventional posing by Moderno was to reflect the incomplete state in which her body was recovered.^[11]

It was believed for many years that the sculpture was a complete recreation of how the body was found in 1599. This is disputed, however, as the art historian Steven Ostrow writes that the composition of the sculpture is entirely Maderno's invention.^[1] The statue directs prayer and contemplation through the ability for the viewer to interface with it directly. Its naturalism, life-size and accessibility centralize the space of the Basilica. The Baroque interplay between light and shadow within the sculpture help to emphasize its three-dimensionality, which means the sculpture can be engaged with from a variety of angles, which helps to further ground the work's presence.^[12]

• "Maderno, Stefano." The Oxford Dictionary of Art and Artists. Oxford University Press, 2015.
• Neuman, Robert. Baroque and Rococo Art and Architecture. Upper Saddle River: Pearson, 2013.
• Harris, Ann Sutherland. Seventeenth-Century Art and Architecture. London: Laurence King Publishing, 2008.
• Ostrow, Steven F. "Maderno, Stefano." Grove Art Online. 2003; Accessed 26 April 2023. https://www.oxfordartonline.com/groveart/view/10.1093/gao/9781884446054.001.0001/oao-9781884446054-e-7000052984.
• Whitford, Kelly Anne"Jubilee Year". Religion Past and Present. Retrieved 11 May 2023.

• Neuman, Robert. Baroque and Rococo Art and Architecture. Upper Saddle River: Pearson, 2013.
• Harris, Ann Sutherland. Seventeenth-Century Art and Architecture. London: Laurence King Publishing, 2008.

• Media related to Death of Saint Cecilia (Maderno) at Wikimedia Commons