17th century Spanish school. "Saint Clare". Oil on copper. With period frame. With faults and repainting. Jumps in the painting. Measurements: 23,5 x 18 cm; 28,5 x 23,5 cm (frame). Devotional canvas that presents us Saint Clare standing, half-length and slightly turned to one side, in a composition that avoids the excessive frontality, using the position of the figure to introduce three-dimensionality in the space, which is otherwise undefined, only a neutral background with some curtains in its upper part. She holds a rich gold monstrance in her hands, meticulously worked with particular attention to the contrasts of light and shade. Saint Clare of Assisi was an Italian saint born in 1193 into a wealthy and powerful family. From an early age she was assiduous in prayer and mortification, detached from worldly things and deeply spiritual. She had 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 or speak to them. Her conversion to a life of full holiness was effected when she heard a sermon by 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 canonised by Pope Alexander IV. Her main iconographic attribute is the monstrance, although she may also carry a crosier, as the foundress of the Poor Clares, and a lily, a symbol of purity. Dimensions 23,5 x 18 cm; 28,5 x 23,5 cm (frame).