Curatorial Notes
Although the location that inspired the painting has been subject to scholarly debate, many believe it derives from Church’s travels through the Ecuadorean Andes nearly a quarter century earlier. The composition reads as an allegory of spiritual salvation: perched atop a dramatic cliff, a brilliantly backlit monastery overlooks a shadowed foreground where a solitary figure navigates a rugged path.
Artwork Identification
Title The Monastery of San Pedro (Our Lady of the Snows)
Title (PT) O Mosteiro de São Pedro (Nossa Senhora das Neves)
Title (ES) El Monasterio de San Pedro (Nuestra Señora de las Nieves)
Artist Frederic Edwin Church
Artist Bio Frederic Edwin Church (American, 1826–1900)
Date 1879
Work Type Painting
Location & Collection
Institution Cleveland Museum of Art
Source View Museum Page
License Creative Commons Public Domain Mark 1.0