St Cecilia.

Drawing, brown ink, grey, red and dark green wash, pencil at top right added by later hand, 6,8 x 9,0 cm, laid paper, unsigned, elaborate Latin inscription in pen at bottom (flattened horizontal fold, traces of former mount on verso).

Charming little drawing after the famous baroque sculpture by Stefano Maderno (ca. 1575-1636) in the Basilica di Santa Cecilia in Trastevere in Rome. The Latin inscription elaborates on St Cecilia, whose uncorrupted remains were excavated and reburied during a renovation of the church in 1599. Madorno based his realistic marble statue on the position in which the saint's body was discovered.