17th Century Spanish

Painter of history and religious works, genre scenes and portraits; drawing artist.

Murillo is acknowledged as the most outstanding artist of Seville of his time and one of the most significant exponents of Spanish Baroque. Though little is known about his childhood and youth, it is likely that he began his training in 1635 with Juan del Castillo, who guided him towards the Tenebrist style then in fashion.

In the mid 1640s, he exerted a quasi-monopoly over the art market in Seville, even outstripping those who had shortly before been his masters: Francisco Herrera the Elder and Francisco de Zurbarán. But it would be in 1658, the year he travelled to Madrid, met Diego Velázquez and could finally see the royal collections, when his mature style was consolidated. This was defined by a lighter and brighter palette—perhaps the most enduring legacy of his time in Madrid—and softer forms, something that, together with his agreeable subject matters and the verisimilitude and lack of pathos in his religious scenes, for whose creation he used ordinary models, earned him a reputation as a high quality alternative to court painting. Besides, his genre paintings with children are equally well known.

In Seville he enjoyed a comfortable economic position and was connected with the city’s intellectual circles. In this regard, his role in founding the Academia de Pintores (Academy of Painters) that he himself presided should also be underscored.