Eliza Allen Starr

Eliza Allen Starr (August 29, 1824 – September 8, 1901) was an American artist, art critic, teacher, and lecturer. She was known throughout the United States and Europe for her books about Catholic art.

She was educated at home, and in early adulthood she enjoyed the social life of Boston and Philadelphia. In the latter city she formed many acquaintances of note, among them Archbishop Kenrick, through whose influence she was led into the Roman Catholic Church. She was received into the Church in 1854 at the old Holy Cross Cathedral in Boston.

Career While in Philadelphia, she published some of her earlier poems. Her family moved later to Chicago, Illinois, where she entered upon her literary career. Pope Leo XIII sent her a medallion after she wrote The Three Archangels and the Guardian Angels in Art. She was a founding member of the Queen Isabella Association.

At the end of the 19th century, she gave a series of remarkable lectures on art in her studio and in the homes of friends, which were repeated in the principal art and literary centers both east and west.

Personal life Starr moved to Chicago in 1856, where she taught art and began to lecture throughout the city and around the United States.

She was the aunt of and a large influence on Ellen Gates Starr.

Selected works

Songs of a Lifetime Patron Saints Pilgrims and Shrines Isabella of Castile What we see Ode to Christopher Columbus Christmas-tide Christian art in our own age The Seven Dolours of the Virgin Mary Literature of Christian Art The Three Keys to the Camera della Segnatura in the Vatican Art in the Chicago Churches Woman's Work in Art The Three Archangels and the Guardian Angels in Art