The Martyrdom of Saint Cecilia (Cartoon for a Fresco)
Medium
Charcoal highlighted with white chalk on fourteen sheets of blue laid paper, two of the sheets cut from elsewhere on the original cartoon and reset at the left and right margins to make up the oval
Dimensions
Irregular oval: 67 13/16 × 59 9/16 in. (172.2 × 151.3 cm)
Classification
Drawings
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Wrightsman Fund, 1998
Accession Number
1998.211
Tags
Art Historical Context
Domenichino's *The Martyrdom of Saint Cecilia (Cartoon for a Fresco)*, created between 1612 and 1614, is a monumental preparatory drawing by the Italian Baroque master Domenico Zampieri (1581–1641). A leading figure in the Bolognese school and pupil of the Carracci brothers, Domenichino excelled in fresco cycles for Roman churches, blending classical harmony with emotional intensity. This cartoon served as a full-scale blueprint for a fresco, likely intended for a chapel honoring Saint Cecilia, the patron saint of music, whose dramatic martyrdom—beheading after surviving earlier tortures—captu...