Mariana de la Cueva Benavides y Barradas

Mariana de la Cueva Benavides y Barradas was a Spanish painter born into a wealthy family in Granada. Her father, Pedro de la Cueva Benavides, was a councilman for the municipal government, and her mother, Juana María de Barradas, was descended from a noble family, as the daughter of the lord of Cortes y Graena. In 1635, Pedro de la Cueva died of poisoning, and his widow and daughters took refuge in the monastery of Santiago, run by Poor Clare nuns. Mariana lived there for several years until her marriage to Pedro de Ostos y Zayas, a knight of the Order of Calatrava from Granada.