Mariana de la Cueva y Barradas

Mariana’s baptismal record found in the Diocesan Historical Archive in Guadix has documented that this painter was born in Guadix and that she was the daughter of Don Pedro de la Cueva and Doña Juana María de Barradas who were descendants of the families "de la Cueva," "Benavides," and "Barradas." Her parents married in 1623 in Guadix, and the record shows that at the time Juana María was residing at the convent of Santiago in the same town. In 1639, the painter married Pedro Ostos de Zayas, a Knight of the Order of Calatrava, in the parish church of San Pedro and San Pablo in Granada. At the time of her marriage, she, like her mother, resided at the convent of Santiago in Guadix. There is a lawsuit in the Diocesan Historical Archive in Guadix dating to 1688 where Mariana is mentioned as the widow of don Pedro Ostos de Zayas living in Granada. She signed with the last names de la Cueva and Benavides. She passed away in Granada that year and she was buried in the convent of the Carmelite nuns in Calzadas. This information and documents can be consulted in Carmen Hernández: [Carmen Hernández] (http://docugen.blogspot.com/2021/02/la-pintora-del-siglo-xvii-mariana-de-la.html) and [Catedral de Guadix] (https://www.catedraldeguadix.es/sobre-la-familia-de-la-pintora-accitana-del-siglo-xvii-dona-mariana-de-la-cueva-benavides-y-barradas-por-carmen-hernandez-montalban/).

Mariana de la Cueva was cited by Palomino as an "excellent painter from Granada." Ceán Bemudez uses the same description. Although she signed her works as "Mariana de la Cueva y Barradas," Palomino refers to her with both her father's last names and her mother's last name as "de la Cueva Benavides y Barradas" (C. Díaz: "Mariana de la Cueva, una pintora más en el Prado," [Cuaderno de Sofonisba] (http://cuadernodesofonisba.blogspot.com/search/label/Pintoras%20en%20el%20Museo%20del%20Prado), 9.4.2019).