Spanish school of the XVII century. Lot n° 11

Spanish school of the XVII century. "Santa Clara". Oil on copper. With period frame. Presents faults and repainting. Jumps in the painting. Measurements: 23,5 x 18 cm; 28,5 x 23,5 cm (frame). Devotional canvas that presents St. Clare standing, half-body and slightly turned to one side, in a composition that avoids excessive frontality, using the position of the figure to introduce three-dimensionality in space, which otherwise remains undefined, only a neutral background with some curtains at the top. She holds a rich gold monstrance in her hands, meticulously worked with special attention to the contrasts of light and shadow. Saint Clare of Assisi was an Italian saint born in 1193 into a wealthy and powerful family, from a very young age she was assiduous in prayer and mortification, detached from worldly things and deeply spiritual. She felt great compassion and love for the followers of St. Francis, whom she cared for and provided for through a maid, since she was forbidden to see and speak to them. Her conversion to a life of full holiness was effected when she heard a sermon of St. Francis of Assisi in 1210, when she was eighteen years old. Two years later she ran away from home and went to live with a group of nuns close to St. Francis. Saint Clare was the foundress of the Poor Clares, becoming superior of the convent of San Damiano, always showing great dedication and deep spiritual strength. During her lifetime she performed several miracles, and shortly after her death, in 1255, she was canonized by Pope Alexander IV. Her main iconographic attribute is the monstrance, although she can also carry a crosier, due to her character of foundress of the Poor Clares, and a lily, symbol of purity.