Isabel de Santiago

Isabel de Cisneros (1666 – ca. 1714) was a female Criollo colonial painter born in the colony of Quito (Ecuador). She was the daughter of Miguel de Santiago, one of the most famous colonial Quito School painters. Often referred to as Isabel de Santiago, she however identified herself as Cisneros, a name she inherited from her mother.

Life
She was born in 1666 to Miguel de Santiago, a mestizo, and Andrea Cisneros y Alvarado, who was Spanish. She trained and worked in her father's workshop. She married Captain Antonio Egas and together they had five children. Miguel de Santiago outlived his three sons, wife and other daughter - only Isabel outlived her father. She gained prominence in her father's studio after the departure of her father's gifted student, Nicolás Goíbar.

Works
She specialized in oil paintings of the childhood of the Virgin and of the baby Jesus, adorned with flowers and animals. It is speculated that she would have worked alongside her father on the Milagros de La virgen series (1699-1706) while she worked in his studio. One of her most famous works is a portrait of Juana de Jesus, which was painted posthumously. A contemporary writer, Francisco Javier Antonio, complimented the likeness, attributing its accuracy to Ide Cisneros having met Juana de Jesus several times. This work is the only securely attributed painting to her, but unfortunately it has not survived, and there only remains a copy at the convent of Santa Clara in Quito. Juana "looks incredibly Quiteña with a long nose, a subdued smile, a narrow face, and delicate hands".