St Filippo Neri in Ecstasy

This painting played a crucial role in the cult around St Filippo Neri. It was commissioned in 1614, a year in which the proceedings that were to lead to Neri’s beatification and finally canonisation took a positive turn. The picture was destined for the recently completed chapel that was eventually to house the relics of the saint, the founder of the Congregation of the Oratory, who died in 1595.