Visibility and Enclosure in the Vida of the Painter and Nun, Estefanía de la Encarnación (ca. 1597–1665)

The unpublished spiritual autobiography of the Spanish painter and nun Estefanía de la Encarnación—the only known autobiography by an early modern woman artist—offers a window onto the complex dynamics of artistic fame and feminine enclosure in the early modern period. Before entering the convent, Estefanía had achieved distinction in an uncle’s painting studio and become a subject of fascination among courtiers in Madrid. Nevertheless, she affirmed that her skill for painting was the product of neither training nor patronage; rather, it was a gift from God.

As I argue in this paper, worldly acclaim and conventual seclusion were at once incompatible and inseparable for Estefanía. During her adolescence, she coveted the exalted position enjoyed decades earlier by Sofonisba Anguissola at the Spanish court. Ultimately, however, Estefanía’s talent brought her instead to the cloister, allowing her to profess in an aristocratic convent where her labor as a painter was substituted for her dowry. There, she struggled with the opposing demands of painting and sacred contemplation. During her novitiate, she supposedly avoided the noblemen who requested works from her hand, and she later chafed at commissions that distracted her from prayer. Yet she also vaunted her artistic talent. For her religious profession, she proudly adorned the church choir with her paintings, and she continued to display her works throughout the convent church, where they remained visible to potential patrons. In the Vida, Estefanía likewise called attention to her status as an artist, highlighting the “singular” and “miraculous” nature of her gift.