Saint Cecilia c. 19th century

Curator: This is Achille Désiré Lefèvre’s "Saint Cecilia," housed here at the Harvard Art Museums. I'm immediately struck by the arrangement of figures, a careful choreography of gazes and gestures. Editor: There's a curious mix of the ethereal and the grounded here, wouldn't you say? The discarded instruments suggest a recent performance, perhaps even labor. Curator: Indeed, the instruments scattered at Cecilia’s feet offer a compelling compositional element. They frame her central position and her upward gaze. The iconographic weight of music theory is literally embodied in Saint Cecilia. Editor: But isn't there also something significant in the labor that created them, these instruments, and the labour Cecilia dedicated to her craft? The materials themselves speak to a broader context, one of production and use. Curator: True, but the linear perspective and the delicate rendering of forms, particularly in the faces of the figures, draw the viewer's eye upwards, towards that heavenly choir. Editor: Even so, I can't ignore the grounding effect of those discarded instruments. They remind us of the physicality of music-making, the work involved in creating these sounds and the objects required to do so. Curator: Perhaps it’s a successful marriage of earthly craft and divine inspiration. Editor: Precisely, a testament to both the materials and labor needed to honor her, and the heavens.