Isabel de Santiago
Isabel de Cisneros (1666 – ca. 1714) was a Criollo colonial painter female born in the colony of Quito (Ecuador). She was the daughter of Miguel de Santiago, one of the most famous colonial Quito School painters. Often referred to as Isabel de Santiago, she however identified herself by Cisneros, a name she inherited from her mother.
Isabel de Santiago | |
|---|---|
 Virgen del Carmen, oil painting by Isabel de Santiago | |
| Born | Isabel de Cisneros y Alvarado Between 1660 and 1670 |
| Died | 1714 |
| Other names | Isabel de Santiago |
| Occupation(s) | Painting, Draftswoman |
| Movement | Quito School (Escuela Quiteña) |
| Parent | Miguel de Santiago |
Life
Born in 1666 to Miguel de Santiago, a mestizo, and Andrea Cisneros y Alvarado, who was Spanish. She trained and worked in her father's workshop. She married Captain Antonio Egas, together they had five children.[1] Miguel de Santiago outlived his three sons, wife, and other daughter, only Isabel outlived her father. She gains prominence in her father's studio after the departure of her father's gifted student Nicolás Goíbar.
Works
She specialized in oil paintings of the childhood of the Virgin and of the baby Jesus, adorned with flowers and animals.[2] It is speculated that she would have worked alongside her father on the Milagros de La virgen series (1699-1706) while she worked in his studio. One of her most famous works is a portrait of Juana de Jesus, which was painted posthumously. Contemporary writer, Francisco Javier Antonio, complimented the likeness, attributing its accuracy to Isabel having met Juana de Jesus multiple times.[3] This work is the only securely attributed painting to Isabel de Cisneros, but unfortunately it has not survived, and there only remains a copy at the convent of Santa Clara, Quito.[1] Juana "looks incredibly Quiteña with a long nose, a subdued smile, a narrow face, and delicate hands."[4]
References
- McIntyre, Kellen (2007). Women and Art in Early Modern America. Brill. p. 413. ISBN 978-9004153929.
- Pimentel, Rodolfo Pérez. "Miguel de Santiago". Diccionario Biografio de Ecuador. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved October 11, 2016.
- Maria, Santa. Vida prodigiosa de la venerable virgen Juana de Jesus de la Tercera Orden de Penitencia de Nuestro Seraphico Padre San Francisco (in Spanish). Рипол Классик. ISBN 9785872750222.
- Noboa, Fernando Jurado (1995-01-01). Las quiteñas (in Spanish). Dinediciones. ISBN 9789978954140.