St. Teresa of Avila (M 008) Postcard

Image Source (M 008): Antique nineteenth-century hand-colored engraving of St. Teresa of Jesus, No. 12, loose print probably from a Lives of the Saints book, original publisher unknown. From the designer’s private collection of religious ephemera. + Feast: October 15 + The engraving is a variant of a famous 1827 painting of the saint by François Gérard (1770-1837), a French NeoClassical portrait painter with leanings toward Romanticism. In the engraving, the setting has been changed from a darkened church or chapel where the saint kneels at the foot of a column to the saint’s cell where she kneels before a crucifix on a table or desk. The engraving’s reversal of the painting can be explained by the engraver’s failure to etch the printing plate while looking at the original in a mirror. See my Media section for related images.