FRANCHI, Antonio
Personification of Music (St Cecilia)
c. 1650
Oil on canvas, 87 x 67 cm (oval)
Private collection

Of Byzantine slenderness, which allowed her dress to fall in simple, noble folds, like the dress of a St. Cecilia, her body was of bewitching proportions, her wrists and ankles exquisitely beautiful.Every now and then the pale, somewhat rigid features of her little face warmed into life and sparkled with infectious gaiety.

— August Strindberg