Cristóbal de Vera was a Spanish

Spain

Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

 painter.

He was born in Cordoba, where he probably initially studied under Céspedes

Céspedes

-People:*Alba de Céspedes y Bertini, a Cuban-Italian writer*Carlos Manuel de Céspedes, a Cuban independence fighter*Carlos Manuel de Céspedes y Quesada, a Cuban writer, politician, diplomat, and President of Cuba*Gonzalo de Céspedes y Meneses, a Spanish novelist...

. In 1602 he moved to Castile

Castile

Castile is derived from a word meaning 'castle' and may refer to:-People:* Brooke Castile , American pairs figure skater* Javier Castilla , professional Colombian squash player* Simeon Castille , NFL cornerback...

. He became a lay brother

Lay brother

In the most common usage, lay brothers are those members of Catholic religious orders, particularly of monastic orders, occupied primarily with manual labour and with the secular affairs of a monastery or friary, in contrast to the choir monks of the same monastery who are devoted mainly to the...

 of the Hieronymites

Hieronymites

Hieronymites, or the Order of St. Jerome , is a common name for several congregations of hermits living according to the Rule of St. Augustine, with supplementary regulations taken from the writings of the 5th-century monk and scholar, St Jerome. The principal group with this name was founded in...

 at their monastery in Lupiana

Lupiana

Lupiana is a municipality located in the province of Guadalajara, Castile-La Mancha, Spain. According to the 2004 census , the municipality has a population of 227 inhabitants....

, in the region of Grenada

Grenada

Grenada is an island country and Commonwealth Realm consisting of the island of Grenada and six smaller islands at the southern end of the Grenadines in the southeastern Caribbean Sea...

. There he painted eight Stations of the Cross

Stations of the Cross

Stations of the Cross refers to the depiction of the final hours of Jesus, and the devotion commemorating the Passion. The tradition as chapel devotion began with St...

 for the cloister

Cloister

A cloister is a rectangular open space surrounded by covered walks or open galleries, with open arcades on the inner side, running along the walls of buildings and forming a quadrangle or garth...

. His nephew, Juan de Vera, also a painter, had commenced his novitiate

Novitiate

Novitiate, alt. noviciate, is the period of training and preparation that a novice monastic or member of a religious order undergoes prior to taking vows in order to discern whether they are called to the religious life....

 in their monastery

Monastery

Monastery denotes the building, or complex of buildings, that houses a room reserved for prayer as well as the domestic quarters and workplace of monastics, whether monks or nuns, and whether living in community or alone .Monasteries may vary greatly in size – a small dwelling accommodating only...

 of La Sisla near Toledo

Toledo, Spain

Toledo's Alcázar became renowned in the 19th and 20th centuries as a military academy. At the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War in 1936 its garrison was famously besieged by Republican forces.-Economy:...

, when he was there visited by his uncle Cristóbal. At the end of the year Juan left the monastery without joining the Order; but Cristóbal remained to paint two altar pieces for the church, a St. Jerome and a St. Mary Magdalene. He died soon afterwards at La Sisla and was buried in the monastic cemetery there.

His community at Lupiana recorded their memories of him as a pious and dedicated monk. Apparently his preference was to study and work at night, so he was rarely to be seen in daytime.