View of the Oratory

1504 · Oratory of St Cecilia, San Giacomo Maggiore, Bologna

interior

The picture shows a view of the long south wall with scenes 6-10 of the St Cecilia cycle. Above the entrance on the west wall is the balcony which abuts the Bentivoglio family chapel in the adjacent church of San Giacomo Maggiore. St Cecilia is one of the most famous Roman saints, although she is purely legendary.

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About the Artist

Amico Aspertini

1475 – 1552

Italian Mannerist painter from Bologna, where he was a pupil of Francia. Vasari describes him as having an eccentric personality and this comes out in his paintings, which are often bizarre in expression, like the Holy Family with Saints (St. Nicolas aux Champs, Paris). Aspetini was in Rome 1500-03 and his sketchbooks of Roman remains (British Museum, London) are important sources about contemporary knowledge of the antique.

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