Santa Duran (1909-2002), Hilltop Prickly Pear, oil on canvas, 8 x 9", frame: 13 x 15"

Provenance: A San Antonio, Texas collection

Santa Duran painted San Antonio scenes and the Texas Hill Country for seventy years. Her father was the Italian sculptor Victorio Mombelli, who had come to Mexico City to help complete work on the large public sculpture "The Angel of Independence". She displayed talent for drawing early in life and began studying painting with Jose Arpa in 1924, while Arpa's nephew Xavier Gonzalez became her tutor in drawing. Santa Duran also studied with San Antonio artists Rolla Taylor, Harry Anthony DeYoung and others. She exhibited at the Witte Museum in the late 1920s and 1930s, and was a member of the San Antonio Art League, River Art Group, and the Coppini Academy.