Santa Cecilia (sculpture)
The sculpture of Saint Cecilia is a nearly life-size marble sculpture of the martyr and Saint Cecilia , created in 1600 , which is located below the altar in her church of Santa Cecilia in Trastevere in Rome . It is considered the main work of the early baroque sculptor Stefano Maderno .
Model and creation of the sculpture
In 822 Pope Paschal I had brought the body of the saint in a cypress coffin from the Calixtus catacomb and had it buried in the church dedicated to her. During excavation work for the restoration of the church, the coffin was opened on October 20, 1599. The Dominican Terziarierin Francesca Paluzzi, with whom the cardinal with the titular church of Santa Cecilia, Paolo Emilio Sfondrati , was in close contact, is said to have drawn attention to this coffin in one of her mystical visions. The allegedly immaculately preserved corpse of a young woman in costly robes came to light. Sfondrati immediately commissioned the quickly summoned young sculptor Stefano Maderno to create a sculpture that would document this miracle. The result is a pictorial work that is outstanding not only in its technical execution, but also in its content-related implications.
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iconography
The sculpture is placed in a box completely lined with black marble, open to the front, below the altar at the exit to the crypt , which effectively highlights the light figure. It is made of Parian marble , which was obtained from ancient remains. The figure shows the undamaged corpse of the saint as he allegedly offered himself up when the coffin was opened, lying on the right side and clad in an antique-looking long-sleeved tunic . The head, which is wrapped in a cloth, is turned to the right shoulder and therefore turns the face away from the viewer. In this way, the viewer immediately recognizes the deep cut in the neck, which refers to Cäcilia's death by beheading. According to tradition, Cäcilia belonged to an old-established Roman family and, as a convicted Christian, was entitled to this type of execution, which was understood as a privilege of Roman citizens. The legendary biography of the saint, recorded by Jacobus de Voragine in the Legenda aurea , notes that the executioner could not separate her head from the body with the three blows he received. For three days, Cäcilie lay half dead, preached the faith and converted pagans to be baptized by Pope Urban I. She announced that she had asked God to postpone three days in order to still be able to work good in his sense. The hands placed in the center of the foreground indicate this continued life, which is as wondrous as it is beneficial. The outstretched index finger of the left hand together with the three outstretched fingers of the right hand is interpreted as a trinitarian confession (“ one God in three persons”). At the same time, the index and middle fingers of the right perform the classic Christian gesture of blessing .
Religious-political significance
The circumstances of the find and the commission to Maderno are to be seen against the contemporary background of the Counter Reformation . Immediately before the beginning of the holy year 1600, the sensational discovery of an important urban Roman saint and her no less spectacular depiction set an important accent. At the same time, the client, the former Cardinal Depot Paolo Emilio Sfrondati, whose uncle, Pope Gregory XIV , had been assigned as Cardinal Santa Cecilia as the titular church, increased the prestige of this church, which is closely linked to his family.
aftermath
The Madernos sculpture and its presentation had a formative effect on later Baroque depictions of martyrs, including Saint Sebastian by Giuseppe Giorgetti and Saint Anastasia by Francesco Aprile and Ercole Ferrata . She herself has been copied several times: a replica of the figure stands today in the Calixtus catacomb at the gates of Rome, another in the Marienkirche Onze-Lieve-Vrouw-ter-Duinenkerk in Ostend .
The painter Kehinde Wiley , who depicts young African Americans in poses known from important works of art history, created the painting The Virgin Martyr St. Cecilia based on Maderno's statue.
literature
- Mariano Armellini: Le chiese di Roma dal secolo IV. Al XIX. 2nd ext. Edition. Tipografia Vaticana, Rome 1891, pp. 669-671 ( full text ).
- Anna Lo Bianco: Santa Cecilia in Trastevere . Palombi Editori, Roma 2007, ISBN 978-88-6060-051-6 , pp. 159-170.
- Georges Didi-Huberman : Ninfa moderna. About the fall of the drapery . From the Franz. By Michaela Ott. Diaphanes, Berlin 2006, ISBN 978-3-935300-76-6 , pp. 31-52.
- Tobias Kämpf: Archeology reveals: Cäcilien's Roman cult image in the view of an era. Brill, Leiden / Bosten 2015.
- Roberto Zapperi : The Marquis de Sade and the statue of St. Cecilia. In: All roads lead to Rome. The eternal city and its visitors. Translation Ingeborg Walter. Beck, Munich 2013, ISBN 978-3-406-64451-1 , Chapter 12: pp. 138-148.
Web links
Remarks
- ↑ Alessia Lirosi: Il corpo di santa Cecilia (Roma, III-XVII secolo). In: Mélanges de l'École française de Rome. Volume 122, 2010, pp. 5-51 ( online ); the same: Custodi del sacro. Le monache romane e il culto delle reliquie nella Roma della Controriforma. In: Rivista della Storia della Chiesa in Italia. Volume 66, 2012, pp. 467-494, especially pp. 471-473. 485 f.