Bartolomé Esteban Murillo: 7 works

'Through his ability to create soft and beautiful images that are sometimes almost overly sentimental from the standpoint of modern sensibilities, Murillo was able to fulfill the expectations of the clergy, and he became a celebrity in his native land and all of Europe as well.'

'The John the Baptist series was probably painted c. 1655 for the monastery of San Leandro in Murillo's home town of Seville (where it remained until 1812), and it marks an important step in the development of Murillo's mature style.'

'The leading religious painter of Seville and a great master of Spain's golden age, Murillo was one of the most celebrated of all European artists until his reputation was eclipsed by those of Velázquez and El Greco in the late nineteenth century. Murillo's rare and unusual genre scenes, which have always enjoyed great popularity, have no real precedent in Spain.'

'Murillo used the Pre-Columbian object as a painting surface, cleverly taking advantage of the vertical inclusions in the glass to suggest heavenly rays shining down on the Holy Family.'

'The painter, Bartolomé Esteban Murillo, contrasted the saint's humble presence with a brilliant, spiritual vision and a miracle he performed during his lifetime. Murillo combined a realistic approach with an expressive manipulation of paint to underscore this unity of the earthly and the spiritual.'

'A native of Seville, Murillo was court painter to King Charles II of Spain and founded the Fine Arts Academy of Seville. His late pictures, like this one, are painted in a meltingly soft, evocative style--called his "estilo vaporoso," or vaporous style--and are characterized by a sweetness of expression and mood.'

'Known and admired for his idealized portrayals of children, Murillo often drew and painted scenes of the infancy of Christ, here identified by a shepherd's staff. This attribute also identifies the source of the subject, a passage in the Gospel of Saint John: "I am the good shepherd who gives his life for his sheep."'