Saint Cecilia
1897
Medium
Graphic Arts-Print
Classification
Graphic Arts-Print
Department
Smithsonian Collection
Museum
Smithsonian American Art Museum
Credit
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Transfer from the Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution
Accession Number
1973.130.146
Tags
Art Historical Context
Henry Wolf's *Saint Cecilia* (1897) is a delicate graphic arts print that captures the revered patron saint of music in a serene, symbolic tableau. Rendered in the intricate medium of printmaking—likely an etching or engraving, popular among late 19th-century American artists—Wolf depicts the saint amid a figure group featuring an organ, a dove, and a lily. These elements evoke Cecilia's legendary devotion to sacred music, her martyrdom, and symbols of purity (lily) and the Holy (dove), drawing from centuries-old Christian iconography. Created during the Gilded Age, when American printmaking ...