Maria Eufrasia della Croce (1597–1676) was a

Carmelite The Order of the Brothers of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel (; abbreviated OCarm), known as the Carmelites or sometimes by synecdoche known simply as Carmel, is a mendicant order in the Catholic Church for both men and women. Histo ...

nun and artist. She was born as ''Flavia Benedetti'' in

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

; she entered Carmel in 1628 and painted many works for her Roman convent of S. Giuseppe a Capo le Case of the

Discalced Carmelites The Discalced Carmelites, known officially as the Order of the Discalced Brothers of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel () or the Order of Discalced Carmelites (; abbreviation, abbrev.: OCD; sometimes called in earlier times, ), is a Catho ...

. Her father was a Roman patrician and she had three brothers, one a Capuchin friar, and one, the abbott Elpidio, secretary to

Cardinal Mazarin Jules Mazarin (born Giulio Raimondo Mazzarino or Mazarini; 14 July 1602 – 9 March 1661), from 1641 known as Cardinal Mazarin, was an Italian Catholic prelate, diplomat and politician who served as the chief minister to the Kings of France Lou ...

, who also collected art and was an amateur architect. Maria entered the convent on 3 May 1627 and became a nun a year later. She may have received some artistic training as a child; her work bears some similarity to the colouring of the

Bolognese Bologna ( , , ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in northern Italy. It is the List of cities in Italy, seventh most populous city in Italy, with about 400,000 inhabitants and 150 different nationalities. Its M ...

group of artists and she had links with the miniaturist Anna Angelica Allegrini and the architect Plautilla Bricci. She may have helped to train Plautilla, who stayed with her for a sustained period; her brother Elpidio went on to commission Plautilla to design his villa. At some point Maria became the Prioress of the convent. She painted an altarpiece of the Nativity with Plautilla's help for the Church of S. Giuseppe, now destroyed. She is also recorded as having painted two other altarpieces in the Church, a

Virgin and Child In Christian art, a Madonna () is a religious depiction of the Blessed Virgin Mary in a singular form or sometimes accompanied by the Child Jesus. These images are central icons for both the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches. The word ...

with Saint Catherine and a small Virgin and Child with

John the Baptist John the Baptist ( – ) was a Jewish preacher active in the area of the Jordan River in the early first century AD. He is also known as Saint John the Forerunner in Eastern Orthodoxy and Oriental Orthodoxy, John the Immerser in some Baptist ...

and

Saint Andrew Andrew the Apostle ( ; ; ; ) was an apostle of Jesus. According to the New Testament, he was a fisherman and one of the Twelve Apostles chosen by Jesus. The title First-Called () used by the Eastern Orthodox Church stems from the Gospel of Jo ...

. She also painted several frescoes in the

cloistered A cloister (from Latin , "enclosure") is a covered walk, open gallery, or open arcade running along the walls of buildings and forming a quadrangle or garth. The attachment of a cloister to a cathedral or church, commonly against a warm souther ...

part of the convent. She painted a framed

Virgin Mary Mary was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Saint Joseph, Joseph and the mother of Jesus. She is an important figure of Christianity, venerated under titles of Mary, mother of Jesus, various titles such as Perpetual virginity ...

of the

Rosary The Rosary (; , in the sense of "crown of roses" or "garland of roses"), formally known as the Psalter of Jesus and Mary (Latin: Psalterium Jesu et Mariae), also known as the Dominican Rosary (as distinct from other forms of rosary such as the ...

owned by her brother Elpidio. Maria's paintings were mentioned in the guidebook written by

Filippo Titi Abate Filippo Titi (1639 – 23 October 1702) was an Italian Roman Catholic Protonotary apostolic, and an art historian, best known for his inventory of the artistic content of churches in Rome, titled ''Studio di Pittura scoltura et architettura n ...

. Inside the convent, surviving mural paintings include

God the Father God the Father is a title given to God in Christianity. In mainstream trinitarian Christianity, God the Father is regarded as the first Person of the Trinity, followed by the second person, Jesus Christ the Son, and the third person, God th ...

, an

Annunciation The Annunciation (; ; also referred to as the Annunciation to the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Annunciation of Our Lady, or the Annunciation of the Lord; ) is, according to the Gospel of Luke, the announcement made by the archangel Gabriel to Ma ...

, the repentant

Mary Magdalene Mary Magdalene (sometimes called Mary of Magdala, or simply the Magdalene or the Madeleine) was a woman who, according to the four canonical gospels, traveled with Jesus as one of his followers and was a witness to crucifixion of Jesus, his cr ...

and Christ with the woman from

Samaria Samaria (), the Hellenized form of the Hebrew name Shomron (), is used as a historical and Hebrew Bible, biblical name for the central region of the Land of Israel. It is bordered by Judea to the south and Galilee to the north. The region is ...

around the communion window;

, the

and

Saint John Saint John or St. John usually refers to either John the Baptist or John the Apostle. Saint John or St. John may also refer to: People Saints * John the Baptist ( – ), preacher, ascetic, and baptizer of Jesus Christ * John the Evangelis ...

in an illusionistic architectural frame designed to surround a sculpted

Crucifix A crucifix (from the Latin meaning '(one) fixed to a cross') is a cross with an image of Jesus on it, as distinct from a bare cross. The representation of Jesus himself on the cross is referred to in English as the (Latin for 'body'). The cru ...

; and two Carmelite saints flanking a cross with symbols of Christ's

Resurrection Resurrection or anastasis is the concept of coming back to life after death. Reincarnation is a similar process hypothesized by other religions involving the same person or deity returning to another body. The disappearance of a body is anothe ...

and the nourishing blood of Christ bathing two nude figures, which is similar to contemporary devotional prints. Destroyed mural paintings include a

Last Supper Image:The Last Supper - Leonardo Da Vinci - High Resolution 32x16.jpg, 400px, alt=''The Last Supper'' by Leonardo da Vinci - Clickable Image, ''The Last Supper (Leonardo), The Last Supper'' (1495-1498). Mural, tempera on gesso, pitch and mastic ...

, the

ecstasy Ecstasy most often refers to: * Ecstasy (emotion), a trance or trance-like state in which a person transcends normal consciousness * Religious ecstasy, a state of consciousness, visions or absolute euphoria * Ecstasy (philosophy), to be or stand o ...

of Saint Teresa; Christ and the woman from

and a

Noli me Tangere ''Noli me tangere'' ('touch me not') is the Latin version of a phrase spoken, according to John 20:17, by Jesus to Mary Magdalene when she recognized him after His resurrection. The original Koine Greek phrase is (). The biblical scene has b ...

. There is also a surviving canvas depicting Saint Teresa protecting Carmelite nuns attributed to Maria, also similar to print imagery. For her mural paintings, Maria used oil on plaster, an easier technique than true

fresco Fresco ( or frescoes) is a technique of mural painting executed upon freshly laid ("wet") lime plaster. Water is used as the vehicle for the dry-powder pigment to merge with the plaster, and with the setting of the plaster, the painting become ...

. The stories of the repentant Mary Magdalene and the woman from Samaria were significant to Saint Teresa, as was the image of Christ's nourishing blood.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Maria Eufrasia della Croce 1597 births 1676 deaths 17th-century Italian painters 17th-century Italian Roman Catholic religious sisters and nuns Painters from Rome Discalced Carmelite nuns Italian women painters Nuns and art