/internal/media/dispatcher/3990/fullAllegory of Sacred Music (Female Organ Player)1884[Gustav Klimt, Gustav Klimt, Galerie Miethke, Wien, k. k. Österreichische Staatsgalerie]Gustav KlimtOil on canvas A female organist, dressed in a luxurious blue silk robe, kneels before her instrument. The figure is accompanied by a cittern-playing angel hovering just above her head, as well as a pair of singing cherubs. This sketch was made in preparation for a ceiling fresco for the Municipal Theater in Fiume (Rijeka), which was to be executed the following year by the studio of the Klimt brothers and Franz Matsch. The proposed theme was a cycle of allegories on the various genres of music. Klimt’s design is an allegory of sacred music. The figure’s kneeling posture symbolizes the sanctified aspect and transforms the organ into an altar. The musician’s transfigured gaze toward the heavens is also indicative of this.Paintinghttps://sammlungtest.belvedere.at/objects/471/rdf