Fotoreproductie van een schilderij, voorstellend de heilige Cecilia spelend op een orgel before 1914

This is a photographic reproduction of a painting of Saint Cecilia playing an organ, made by Alessandro Vasari, sometime between 1866 and 1929. It’s rendered in monochrome, so we’re really focusing on value, on light and dark, as the primary mode of expression. The angels in the upper right are just these wispy swirls of grey, dissolving into the ether, while the pipes of the organ are solid, rendered with clean lines. Vasari clearly wants us to appreciate the textures of the various surfaces, but there is so much smoothing, airbrushing and blending that it becomes quite strange. The drapery is so carefully modeled that it looks like it's made of marble. Cecilia has this beatific gaze, but her face is also oddly flat. It reminds me a bit of Bouguereau, with its smooth surfaces and idealized forms. Ultimately it’s a fascinating document of a bygone era and aesthetic ideal. It shows how ideas about art continue to evolve and transform.