Murillo and the Capuchins of Seville

The need to adapt this work to the curvature of the arch of the presbytery forced the painter to frame his composition, adapting its shape to the space for which this painting, and its partner St. Felix of Cantalice with the Christ Child were destined.

The way in which Murillo, already mature, produces the characterization of the old age of Saint Felix in this painting is remarkable. Wrinkles gained over the years are not only traced by brushstroke, but are also marked using the brush tip.

The simple composition of this work suffers from a certain statism and a symmetry barely broken by the ceramic utensils located in the lower area and by the volume and movement of the clothing.

The canvas uses the saints depicted to symbolically gather the two religious communities that throughout history occupied this site, Capuchin and Augustinian, and alludes to the continuity between the primitive foundation of Saint Leandro in the 6th century and the newly founded Capuchin convent.

This admirable depiction of the childhood of Jesus has great similarities with one of his most famous paintings, the Buen Pastor [Good Shepherd] of the Museo Nacional del Prado, a work made around the same dates, with which it shares a pictorial technique and the naturalness in the face of the Child, which justifies his renown for his portrait ability.

St. John the Baptist is represented in isolation, as a hermit in the desert. His clothing is referred to in the Gospels: roughly knitted camel’s hair that covers half of his legs and arms, and a goatskin girdle at his waist.

Maria shows the Child through a window as in a daily scene, creating an unusual sensation of spontaneous closeness to the spectator, which turns this painting into an iconic work of the Spanish baroque.

In this painting, Anunciación, a theme on which Murillo created several works, the figures appear static, with somewhat theatrical gestures but with little expression in their faces.

The harmonious but somewhat muted coloring and the backlighting effect of the luminosity that radiates from the Holy Spirit towards that imprecise space in which the Virgin Mary is found contribute to this.

At an unknown time, possibly in the 19th century, this painting was damaged, with the upper arched part being lost. Anunciación is shaped like this today, since the two works were companion pieces.

This episode alludes to the evangelical passage (Luke 14: 33) of the book which the two angels on the right hold: «Qui non renunciat omnibus qui possidet non potes meus esse discipulus» (Those of you who do not give up everything you have cannot be my disciples.). Jesus releases one of his arms in order to comfort Saint Francis.

The unusual presence of the dragon and God the Father in a work by Murillo makes this work one of the most emotive images of the Immaculate Conception of Mary as the new Eve, triumphant and conqueror of sin, as she was depicted in sermons and piety popular at the time.

The deliberate simplicity of this composition, extolled by romantic travelers, places a tender gaze – a Sacred Conversation – between the two protagonists at its centre. The best way to express the simple, profound and austere Capuchin devotion to the Baby Jesus.

This Adoración, the most personal, undoubtedly, of those that Murillo painted throughout his career, also evinces a change in the mentality of the painter deriving from the maturity his painting had reached.

This magnificent painting contains some of the elements that most characterize the artist’s mature work and that give him such deserved renown. It demonstrates his capacity to represent childhood in the Baby Jesus and in the angelic figures.

Over the centuries, this painting has attracted much praise from experts. In the 18th century, Palomino tells us that Murillo was especially proud of it and that he called it his canvas.

The grace of the shapes and a meticulous sense of composition that characterizes the works of this period make this work a clear example of the Rococo taste for which Murillo was famous.