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As patron saints of San Cassiano, Tintoretto's former parish church, St Cassian (left) and St Cecilia (right) flank the resurrected Christ. While Cassian is shown as bishop of Imola, with mitre and crosier, Cecilia holds the palm of martyrdom. The small portable organ played by the blue-clad angel is shown as the attribute of Cecilia as patron saint of music; its pipes appear above the Baroque tabernacle when the painting is displayed over the high altar of San Cassiano (an area not shown in this illustration). Even in Tintoretto's time, the lower part of the picture was sometimes concealed, since on certain feast days a medieval icon had to be cranked up from an opening in the altar table. The mechanism has done a good deal of damage to the colouring of the putto shown working the bellows of the organ in this area of the picture.
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