| Saint Cecilia | |
|---|---|
| Saint Cecilia as a Lute Player | |
 | |
| Artist | Artemisia Gentileschi  |
| Year | 1620 |
| Dimensions | 108 cm (43 in) × 78.5 cm (30.9 in) |
Santa Cecilia is an early painting, from c. 1620, by the Baroque painter Artemisia Gentileschi, a painter described as "a grand exception in the history of art - a successful woman painter in an era in which art was dominated by men."[1]
It shows a woman in a yellow gown and white chemise playing a lute, with an organ in the background. A cleaning in 1988 made the organ visible and confirmed the depiction of Saint Cecelia, an early Christian martyr who later became associated with musical instruments.[2]
It is believed to have been painted in 1620 and is known to be in the collection Alessandro Biffi by 1637.[3] It passed to the Spada collection in the seventeenth century as a means of settling debts and is currently in the Galleria Spada in Rome.[3] In 1759 it was inventoried as "school of Titian", then later ascribed to Caravaggio and Caroselli, before being suggested as a work of Artemisia in 1911.[4]