"St. Clare of Assisi"
Eleanor Fortesque Brickdale

This lovely watercolor of St. Clare shows her in her convent, tending her enclosed garden. She is watering a carnation, the symbol of obedience. The lilies around her represent purity. The Italian hills are behind her, furthering the cloister. You can feel in this picture the quiet and prayerful atmosphere of the convent, as well as Clare's own serene and beautiful spirit.

When she was 16, Clare heard St. Francis of Assisi preach, and she decided at that moment she would devote her life to following God. She founded an order of Franciscan nuns. Like Francis's brothers, they lived by manual labor and prayer. They spoke very little. They owned nothing. They practiced what they called "joyous poverty" in imitation of the life of Christ. It was an austere life, but one of peace and beauty.

She was friends with Francis until the end, tending to him in his last illness. Immensely popular and universally regarded for her holiness, she was canonized just two years after her death. Her order still exists today, called the Poor Clares. Mother Angelica of EWTN was one.

Eleanor Fortesque Brickdale was an artist and illustrator of the late 19th and early 20th Centuries. She had great skill in evoking the character of her subjects. This painting is from The Golden Book of Famous Women (1919). The usual way of portraying Clare is to show her stopping a band of marauding soldiers by holding the Holy Eucharist before them, which she did! But we thought this was a truer picture of her life. She is the patron Saint of many things, including eye disease, and coincidently-long before ETWN-of television. Her feast day is August 11.

** IMPORTANT ** The image is smaller than the paper! There is a white border of about 0.5" inch for 5x7", 1.3" for 8.5x11, or 1.6" for 11x14" pictures. The border gives the prints a finished look, and lets them look good in frames without using a matt.

- Acid-free paper
- Archival pigments, rated to last for generations.
- Cardboard backer
- Above story of the art
- Enclosed in a tight-fitting, crystal clear bag.

Thanks!
Sue & John

"In order to communicate the message entrusted to her by Christ, the Church needs art." ~ St. Pope John Paul II

Original image is out-of-copyright. Descriptive text and image alterations (hence the whole new image) © by Sue Kouma Johnson - Classic Catholic Art.