Legend of Sts Cecilia and Valerian, Scene 6

Amico Aspertini painted this scene from the Legend of Saints Cecilia and Valerian around 1504 in the Oratory of Saints Cecilia and Valeriano in Bologna. Aspertini was one of the most eccentric and innovative painters of early-sixteenth-century Bologna, whose expressive, sometimes bizarre style set him apart from the more refined Francia tradition. The tempera medium required careful preparation on a gessoed panel and a disciplined layering technique that produced precise, durable surfaces suited to the intricate detail expected of devotional painting.

The fresco displays Aspertini's characteristically energetic and unconventional figure types with exaggerated gestures and expressions, rendered in bold colors with the vigorous brushwork that makes his work immediately recognizable.