Physical description
In profile, two angels kneeling before a young woman sat on a throne present a small organ she plays with one hand, her glaze upraised; she wears a white tunic and a green cloak completed by a golden cross hanging from a neck.
Place of Origin
Paris, France (probably, painted)
Date
1836 (painted)
Artist/maker
Delaroche, Paul, born 1797 - died 1856 (artist)
Materials and Techniques
Oil on canvas
Marks and inscriptions
'Paul Dela Roche. 1836'
Dimensions
Height: 205.7 cm estimate, Width: 162.5 cm estimate, Width: 197 cm frame, Height: 242 cm frame, Weight: 106 kg with frame
Object history note
Pourtalès; Delessert sale, Paris 1869, no. 36; James Reiss collection; his daughter, Mrs Henry Jephson, by whom given to the museum in 1903.
Historical significance: This painting executed in 1836 was Delaroche's first first major religious work presented at the Salon of 1837. It depicts St Cecilia, dressed in white with a pale green cloak, attended by two angels kneeling before her.
The story of St Cecilia goes back to the 2nd or 3rd century. She was a young Christian who persuaded her husband, a Roman nobleman named Valerius, to convert to Christianity. On her way to her weeding, she is said to have heard some instruments hence her patronage of music. Her attribute is either a crown of flowers or a portative organ, such as in the present painting.
St Cecilia was inspired here by Louise Vernet, daughter of the painter Horace Vernet, director of the French Academy in Rome, who married the artist in the chapel of St Cecilia in San Luigi dei Francesi, Rome.
Executed two years after the famous painting The Execution of Lady Jane Grey (National Gallery, London), this painting with its archaic treatment surprised the public and was ill received by the critic. After 1837, Delaroche ceased exhibiting altogether.
This painting, which borrows elements from the theme of the Annunciation, inaugurated a new phase in Delaroche's output which would almost exclusively focus on religious paintings onwards. It shows his knowledge of earlier versions of the subject by the Italian masters Raphael and Domenichino. The unusual shape follows that of an early Italian altarpiece and may derive from Fra Angelico's Annunication in the Prado Museum, Madrid (P00015).
Delaroche's bright palette, vibrant brushwork and porcelain-like finish would influence greatly the next generation of painters including Ingres and his pupils.
Historical context note
History painting, i.e. depictions of non recurring events based on religious, classical, literary or allegorical sources, particularly developed in Italy during the Renaissance (15th-16th centuries). History painting could include religious themes, or depictions of momentous recent events, but the term was most frequently associated with Classical subject-matter. However a renewed impetus was given to religious subjects after the Council of Trent (1545-63), which stipulated new iconographical programmes. The development of art treatises, in which the compositional rules guiding the art of painting were discussed also notably, influenced the evolution of history painting. From around 1600 history painting's principal rivals: still-life, landscape and genre painting began to emerge as independent collectable genres. Furthermore, the Rococo taste for the ornamental in the early 18th century prioritised the decorative quality of history painting, so that subject matters became more entertaining than exemplary. There was a renewed interest in history painting during the Neo-Classical period after which the taste for such pictures faded towards the end of the 19th century when an innovative approach to the image was led by the Symbolists and was developed further by subsequent schools in the early 20th century.
Descriptive line
Oil on canvas, 'St Cecilia and the Angels', Paul Delaroche, 1836
Bibliographic References (Citation, Note/Abstract, NAL no)
C.M. Kauffmann, Catalogue of Foreign Paintings, II. 1800-1900, London: Victoria and Albert Museum, 1973, p. 29, cat. no. 62.
The following is the full text of the entry:
Paul (actually Hippolyte) DELAROCHE (1797-1856)
French School
Born in Paris, he was a student at the École des Beaux Arts and also a pupil of Watelet and Gros, from whom he learnt the art of history painting. From 1822 he exhibited at the Salon and subsequently became enormously popular as a history painter.
62
ST CECILIA AND THE ANGELS
Signed and dated at the base of the Saint's throne on the right Paul DelaRoche.1836
Canvas, upper corners cut off,
81 x 64 (205.7 x 162.5)
553-1903
Mirecourt (1856) described this painting in glowing terms: 'C'est une oeuvre d'une grâce exquise et d'une limpidité de coloris qui semble empruntée à la palette de Giotto'. It was engraved by Francois Forster in 1841 (L'Artiste, 1841). Although the style of the painting betrays the influence of Raphael and Domenichino, the composition is not very similar to their well known representations of St Cecilia (respectively Bologna Pinacoteca and San Luigi dei Francesi, Rome).
Prov. James Reiss; by descent to his daughter, Mrs Henry Jephson; given by her to the Museum in 1903.
Exh. Paris Salon 1837.
Lit. 'Paul Delaroche, Saint Cecile' in L' Artiste, 2 s., vii, 1841, p. 8; E. de Mirecourt, Paul Delaroche, Paris, 1856, p. 41 f.
Stephen Bann and Linda Whiteley, Painting History. Delaroche & Lady Jane Grey London, 2010, cat. no. 58, p. 120.
Exhibition catalogue
S. Bann, Paul Delaroche. History painted, London, 1997, p. 234, fig. 145.
Exhibition History
Painting History. Delaroche & Lady Jane Grey (National Gallery (London) 24/02/2010-23/05/2010)
Materials
Oil paint; Canvas
Techniques
Oil painting
Subjects depicted
Angels; Throne; Organ; Cecilia (Saint)
Categories
Religion; Christianity; Paintings
Collection code
PDP
