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Present in the Performance: Stefano Maderno’s Santa Cecilia and the Frame of the Jubilee of 1600
(University of Oregon, 2011-12) Whitford, Kelly Anne
In 1599, in commemoration of the remarkable discovery of the incorrupt remains of the early Christian martyr St. Cecilia, Cardinal Paolo Emilio Sfondrato commissioned Stefano Maderno to create a memorial sculpture which dramatically departed from earlier and contemporary monuments. While previous scholars have considered the influence of the historical setting on the conception of Maderno's Santa Cecilia , none have studied how this historical moment affected the beholder of the work. In 1600, the Church's Holy Year of Jubilee drew hundreds of thousands of pilgrims to Rome to take part in Church rites and rituals. This thesis employs anthropological theories of performance as a means of analyzing how this context influenced the interaction of Jubilee pilgrims with Maderno's Santa Cecilia. The work's innovative form and the context of the Jubilee composed a dynamic relationship between sculpture and viewer and resulted in a profound intercessory experience.