“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 blank border around the image. Approximately 0.5″ wide for 5×7, 1.3″ for 8.5×11, 1.6″ for 11×14, and 1.75″ for 13×17 and 16×20. For the two poster sizes, 18×24 and 24×36, we use 0.5″ borders. We do this because the ratio of the rectangle of the art almost never matches the rectangle of the paper, and if it did happen to match one size, it would not match the others. Most fine art printers do this because otherwise they’d have to crop the art or warp it to make it fit the paper. The border looks good. It gives the picture a faux matted appearance. There is almost always a little more border either on the left-right sides, or the top-bottom, depending on whether the ratio of the art is wider or taller than the paper. We make Archival Quality fine art prints: – Acid-free paper – Archival pigments – Cardboard backer for sizes 11×14 and less. – Above story of the art – Enclosed in a tight-fitting, crystal-clear bag. – Rated to last 200+ years without fading if kept dry and out of the direct sun. Thanks for your interest! +JMJ+ Sue & John Lincoln, Nebraska You might also enjoy original Catholic Art and Jewelry by me, Sue Kouma Johnson, here on Etsy at www.Etsy.com/shop/TreeOfHeaven Also, check out our Catholic Quote shop, where we are pairing authentic quotes from Saints with Art: www.Etsy.com/shop/CatholicQuote “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 any image alterations (hence the whole new image) © by Sue Kouma Johnson – Classic Catholic Art.