Saint Cecilia Playing the Organ

Cecilia was a saint and virgin martyr believed to have lived in the second or third century. Brought up as a Christian, she took a vow of chastity and, on marrying a Roman nobleman, persuaded him to accept sexual abstinence. Patron saint of music, Cecilia is depicted here playing the organ, while an angel holds a narrow music book. The drawing may be preparatory for a painting now in the Musée du Louvre, Paris, although the angel is absent in the executed version.

While this drawing cannot be connected with an executed painting by Guercino, this subject was painted several times by the artist and members of his studio. This drawing is considered by Mahon and Turner (1989, no. 674) to have been the basis for an offset (Royal Library, Windsor, inv. no. 2965). Sir Denis Mahon expressed the opinion that it is a late drawing from the 1650s (see: Baskett and Day, Exhibition of Old Master Drawings, November 16th - December 3rd 1971, no. 16).