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Cecelia, patron saint of music, sits before a harpsichord that rests on a pedestal conceived as a sculpture, reading a score held by two child angels. She is wrapped in ocher robes that partially hide her blue tunic. Behind her, two young singers read another score while, in the upper left corner, the fifth figure, a child, raises an ample curtain whose mass is balanced by a column. The background
This set of paintings on the five senses (Sight, Hearing, Smell, Taste, Touch) was one of the most successful collaborations of Peter Paul Rubens and Jan Brueghel “the elder.” Rubens placed his figures in the magnificent courtly scenes created by Brueghel as settings for these allegories of the senses, resulting in a series of enormous quality and esthetic appeal. The subject was widely employed i
Falcone painted the figures in this painting; the Neapolitan specialist Luca Forte probably painted the vase of flowers on the left. It looks like a portrait gallery of real people, one of whom -the bearded man on the right- appears in other paintings by Falcone. The painting comes from the collection of the Duke of Medina de las Torres, viceroy of Naples between 1637 and 1644.
The dinner guests occupying the center of the composition symbolize the senses. Music and the singing children are hearing, and the young woman petting a mink is touch. The young woman preparing to eat some oysters symbolizes taste, while the monkey pulling on a cupid´s hair also symbolizes touch. Of equal significance are the animals and paintings in the room. The Annunciation on the top of the c
Santa Cecilia sentada de perfil ante un clavicordio. Tras ella, entre nubes, dos ángeles niños y un querubín. De los últimos años del siglo a juzgar por el mueble del clave y su carácter casi neoclásico (Texto extractado de Pérez Sánchez, A. E.: Catálogo de Dibujos. Dibujos españoles s. XVIII (C-Z), Museo del Prado, 1977, p. 128).
In the first page of his Madrid Sketchbook, Goya depicted scenes of flirting between young people our walking, amorous affairs in meeting places on the outskirts of the city, and social gatherings. This drawing (Album B, 27) present with obvious humor a common form of entertainment habitual in these cases which consisted in the performance of popular songs. The young woman is playing a harpsichord
