Adoration of the Magi
Bartolomé Esteban Murilloc.1670s
Dulwich Picture Gallery
London, United Kingdom
This small work is characteristic of the oil sketches that Murillo used as part of his preparatory process in constructing harmonies of light and colour in his larger compositions. Old restoration had attempted to strengthen Murillo’s loose style by painting over certain figures. Now that this paint has been removed, we can observe more closely the energetic and spontaneous brushwork that attests to Murillo’s exceptional skills as a draughtsman. This oil sketch is likely to be a preparatory work for The Adoration of the Magi, 1655-60 (Toledo Museum of Art). Interestingly, when the composition of this oil sketch is reversed, it corresponds almost exactly with the position of the figures in the Toledo work.
- Title: Adoration of the Magi
- Creator Lifespan: 1617 - 1682
- Date: c.1670s
- Physical Dimensions: w274 x h346 cm
- Type: Painting
- Medium: Oil
- Work Notes: For Angulo a work of good quality by a Murillo pupil. Brown regards DPG276 as an original oil sketch by Murillo, for the altarpiece of the same subject in the Hospital de la Caridad, Seville, which is there paired with an 'Adoration of the Shepherds'.
- Work Nationality: Spanish
- Support: Canvas
- Provenance: London, Sir Francis Bourgeois, 1811; Bourgeois Bequest, 1811.
- Further Information: In this small work we see Murillo's skill at rendering both drama and intimacy: the ominous clouds above start to part above Christ, alluding to the light he would come to shine on the world.
- Follower of: Murillo, Bartolomé Estéban
- Acquisition Method: Bourgeois, Sir Peter Francis (Bequest, 1811)
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