Murillo was the leading painter in Seville in the later 17th century. He remained one of the most admired and popular of all European artists in the 18th and early 19th centuries. His early works were much influenced by the early works of Velázquez, executed before Velázquez left Seville in 1623, and by the paintings of Zurbarán.
Murillo's first famous cycle of paintings was produced for the cloister of the convent of San Francisco in Seville (1645). There followed paintings for the cathedral (1658), and a celebrated series for the church of the Caridad (1667-70), including the National Gallery's 'Christ healing the Paralytic at the Pool of Bethesda'.
Visits to Madrid (one certainly in 1658) would have made Murillo familiar with works by Rubens and Van Dyck and contemporary Italian painters. His style became increasingly free in its handling, as is apparent in his many well-known representations of the Immaculate Conception.
Bartolomé Esteban Murillo
1617 - 1682
Image: Detail from Bartolomé Esteban Murillo, Self Portrait, about 1670
Paintings by Bartolomé Esteban Murillo
(Showing 6 of 10 works)
A peasant boy leans on a chipped stone block or sill and looks towards something – or someone – that makes him smile. This painting once had a companion picture, A Girl Raising her Veil (private collection), in which a pretty girl exchanges a flirtatious smile with the boy shown here.This is the...
Not on display
This painting shows one of the seven acts of charity described in the Gospel of Matthew and was part of a series that Murillo painted for the church of the Hospital de la Caridad in Seville. The Caridad was a charitable brotherhood dedicated to helping the poor and sick of the city; Murillo himse...
This is an affectionate portrayal of one of Murillo’s most devoted patrons, Don Justino de Neve. The inscribed tablet on the wall reveals that the portrait was made in 1665 and was a gift from the artist – a gesture of friendship.Murillo’s regard for his friend is obvious in the way he presents h...
Murillo has painted himself inside a fictive frame, his right hand emerging from the stone surround as if he were coming alive and entering our space.This self portrait was probably painted in about 1670, when Murillo was in his early fifties – his hairline is receding and his moustache turning g...
This painting illustrates the belief that Christ was both human and divine: the embodiment of the ‘Two Trinities’. At the centre of the composition the Christ Child forms part of the Heavenly Trinity with the dove of the Holy Ghost and God the Father above, and part of the Earthly Trinity with hi...
Saint John the Baptist stands in a rocky landscape, a reference to the wilderness in which he lived as a young man, dressed in a camel-hair tunic and eating only locusts and honey.He embraces a lamb, a symbol of Christ’s sacrifice, and points towards heaven. According to the Gospel, when Saint Jo...
Not on display
Surrounded by angels, a graceful and ethereal Virgin Mary crosses her hands over her breast and gazes heavenwards. She wears a white garment and a swirling blue cloak.The scene is bathed in a mellow light, and the Virgin is surrounded by a golden haze of clouds into which angels seem to dissolve....
Not on display
Saint John the Baptist is shown within a rugged landscape and wearing a camel-hair tunic, alluding to the simple life he led in the wilderness, as described in the Gospel of Matthew. He holds a reed cross with a scroll coiled around the top. It bears a Latin inscription: Ecce Agnus Dei (‘Behold t...
An adolescent boy cradles a bottle, presumably full of wine, and drinks from a fluted glass. Vine leaves, a symbol traditionally associated with Bacchus, the mischievous god of wine, are wound around his head. He looks towards us, faintly amused, and though he might appear to be encouraging us to...
Not on display
This is a nineteenth-century copy of a much larger painting made by Murillo for Seville Cathedral in 1660 (Louvre, Paris). During the French occupation of Seville, Murillo’s painting was moved to Paris, where this copy was probably produced around 1810.In his painting, Murillo explored the theme...
Not on display
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