Saint Cecilia and the Angel

Saint Cecilia and the Angel, painted around 1650, depicts the patron saint of music receiving divine inspiration as she plays. The subject, which combined religious devotion with musical iconography, was popular across Catholic Europe, and Stom's version brings the characteristically dramatic lighting of the Caravaggist tradition to a scene typically rendered with gentler sentiment by other painters. Stom's biblical subjects demonstrate the enduring vitality of the Caravaggist tradition in Sicily long after it had faded elsewhere in Europe.

The angelic visitation is dramatized through Stom's trademark chiaroscuro, with the celestial light on Cecilia's face creating a contrast with the shadow that heightens the supernatural character of the encounter.