Bartolomé Esteban Murillo. (Baptized Jan.
1, 1618, Seville, Spain--d. April 3, 1682, Seville), the most popular
Baroque religious painter of 17th-century Spain, noted for his idealized,
sometimes precious manner. Among his
chief patrons were the religious orders, especially the Franciscans,
and the confraternities in Seville and Andalusia.
Among Murillo's earliest works is the "Virgin
of the Rosary" (c. 1642; Archbishop's Palace, Seville). In the
vestigial style of his artistically conservative Sevillian master,
Juan del Castillo, this early work combines
16th-century Italian Mannerism and Flemish realism. The 11 paintings
that originally hung in the small cloister of
San Francisco in Seville --e.g., the "Ecstasy of St. Diego of Alcalá"
(1646; Louvre)-- are executed in the more
contemporary naturalistic style of the Sevillian school, established
by Velázquez and continued by Zurbarán. That
series is characterized by realism and tenebrism (contrasting light
and shade) and use of commonplace models, with
an emphasis on genre or scenes of everyday life.
In the 1650s a striking transformation of style
occurred, usually attributed to a visit to Madrid, where Murillo
undoubtedly met Velázquez and studied the works of Titian,
Rubens, and Van Dyck in the royal collections. The
softly modelled forms, rich colours, and broad brushwork of the 1652
"Immaculate Conception" (Seville) reflect
direct visual contact with the art of the 16th-century Venetians and
the Flemish Baroque painters. The "St. Leandro"
and "St. Isidoro" (1655; sacristy of Seville Cathedral) are even further
removed from the simple naturalism of his
earlier Franciscan saints. These seated figures, more than life size,
are in the grand manner of Baroque portraiture,
which had become fashionable at the Spanish court.
The "Vision of St. Anthony" (1656; Seville Cathedral),
one of Murillo's most celebrated pictures, is an early
example of his so-called "vaporous" style, which was derived from
Venetian painting. In 1660 Murillo was one of
the founders and first president of the Academy of Painting in Seville.
During the two following decades he executed
several important commissions, generally representing dramatized genre
on a grand scale. From 1678 onward
Murillo worked on another series of paintings, for the Hospicio de
Venerables Sacerdotes in Seville, which included
the celebrated "Soult Immaculate Conception" (1678; Louvre). Murillo's
late style is exemplified by his unfinished
works for the Capuchin church at Cádiz and the "Two Trinities"
(popularly known as the "Holy Family"). The often
mystical significance of his subjects is countered by the idealized
reality of his figures based on familiar human
archetypes, with natural gestures and tender, devout expressions,
creating an effect of intimate rather than exalted
religious sentiment.
Murillo had many pupils and innumerable followers.
His paintings were copied and imitated throughout Spain and
its empire. He was the first Spanish painter to achieve widespread
European fame, and until the 19th century he was
the only Spanish artist whose works were extensively known outside
the Hispanic world.
Source: Encyclopaedia
Britannica
