Sister Wendy Beckett (1930-2018) was a Carmelite nun and art historian who became world famous in the 1990s when she presented a series of BBC documentaries on the history of painting. She studied for her degree in English at St. Anne's College, Oxford, where she graduated with highest honors. After teaching in South Africa, she returned to England in 1970 to live a fully contemplative life under the protection of a Carmelite monastery in Norfolk. She was the author of over thirty books on Christian art, including the internationally bestselling book, The Story of Painting.

Read the tribute to her life and work from the New York Times.