/internal/media/dispatcher/92047/fullThe Dead Saint Cecilia (Roman Version)1820–1821[Johann Evangelist Scheffer von Leonhardshoff]Johann Evangelist Scheffer von LeonhardshoffOil on canvasSaint Cecilia lies on the ground as if asleep. Two angels hover over her, one holding a palm frond as a symbol of her triumph over death. Only a small cut in the back of her neck indicates that she has been martyred, a fate she suffered as a Christian in Rome in the third century. Scheffer von Leonhardshoff joined the Nazarenes in 1815. Rejecting Neoclassicism, they regarded Raphael’s painting as their ideal. It was from Raphael that Scheffer adopted the triangular composition of his figures. The fingers of Cecilia’s right hand are conspicuous: they could allude to the Holy Trinity or to the organ that the martyr—the patron saint of church music—was often depicted playing.Paintinghttps://sammlungtest.belvedere.at/objects/8044/rdf