Murillo

MURILLO

Bell's Miniature Series of Painters.

Edited by G. C. WILLIAMSON, Litt.D.

Pott %vo, with 8 Illustrations, issued in cloth, or in
limp leather ; with Photogravure frontispiece.

VELAZQUEZ. By G. C. WILLIAMSON, Litt.D.

BURNE-JONES. By MALCOLM BELL.

FRA ANGELICO. By G. C. WILLIAMSON, Litt.D.

WATTS. ByC. T. BATEMAN.

WATTEAU. By EDGCUMBE STALEY, B.A.

ROMNEY. By ROWLEY CLEEVE.

HOLM AN HUNT. By G. C. WILLIAMSON, Litt.D

HOLBEIN. By ARTHUR B. CHAMBERLAIN.

REYNOLDS. By ROWLEY CLEEVE.

LEIGHTON. By G. C. WILLIAMSON, Litt.D.

GAINSBOROUGH. By Mrs. A. G. BELL.

HOGARTH. By G. ELLIOT ANSTRUTHER.

ALMA TADEMA. By H. ZIMMERN.

RAPHAEL. By McDouGALL SCOTT, M.A.

CORREGGIO. By LEADER SCOTT.

GREUZE. By HAROLD ARMITAGE.

MILLAIS. By A. LYS BALDRY.

J. F. MILLET. By EDGCUMBE STALEY, B.A.

MURILLO. By G. C. WILLIAMSON, Litt.D.

OTHERS TO FOLLOW.

LONDON: GEORGE BELL & SONS,

YORK STREET, COVENT GARDEN.

Hanfstdngl photo.} {National Gallery.

THE HOLY FAMILY.

Bell's Miniature Series of Painters

M U R I L L O

BY

GEORGE C. WILLIAMSON, LiTT.D.

AUTHOR OF " VELAZQUEZ," " FRA ANGELICO," "LEIGHTON,"
" HOLMAN HUNT," ETC.

LONDON
GEORGE BELL & SONS

ygou

WSTORff

CHISWICK PRESS : CHARLES WHITTINGHAM AND CO.
TOOKS COURT, CHANCEKY LANE, LONDON.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

PAGE

LIFE OF THE ARTIST i

THE ART OF MURILLO 31

OUR ILLUSTRATIONS 40

THE CHIEF WORKS OF THE ARTIST IN

PUBLIC GALLERIES 59

SOME BOOKS ON MURILLO 68

37356G

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

TO FACE
PAGE

THE HOLY FAMILY . National Gallery

Frontispiece

THE APPEARANCE OF THE INFANT SAVIOUR
TO ST. ANTONY OF PADUA

Berlin Gallery 16
ST. JOHN AND THE LAMB

National Gallery 24
THE MADONNA AND CHILD

The Hague Gallery 30

THE DICE PLAYERS . . Munich Gallery 34
THE HEAD OF CHRIST FROM THE HOLY

FAMILY National Gallery 40

THE FRUIT SELLERS . . Munich Gallery 52
THE BOY AT A WINDOW National Gallery 56

THE LIFE OF MURILLO

HE was only a poor lad, perhaps three and
twenty years of age, sun-burnt, dusty and
tired, with long black matted hair which hung
in wild confusion over his face, shaggy as a mane,
and half concealing the bright, flashing, but timid
eyes which shone out beneath it. He had
walked all the way from Seville to Madrid ; from
the south of Spain to the dry, dusty, hot capital,
journeying over the mountains and across the
arid plains with no other companions than the
gipsy mule-drivers who had shown him the way
and with whom he had shared his simple food
and his very slender means. He was, however,
afire with excitement and desire ; eager to visit
the great painter of whose fame he had heard in
Andalusia ; impatient to see the masterpieces of
art which abounded in the capital, to learn how
they were painted, and to copy them to the
best of his ability.

Fortunate it was for this strange unkempt

I B

2 /. MURILLO

youth, that he found in the great Court painter
of the day, in the aristocratic Velazquez, a man
of like emotions to himself. Both were stirred
alike by the works of the great Flemings and
Italians which the King had introduced into the
country, and both were inspired by the vivid en-
thusiasm which had brought the young Murillo
hundreds of miles on foot from Seville to study
in Madrid the work of the old and modern
masters.

Who was Murillo, and wherefore had he come
to Madrid ? He was a workman's child, born in
the last week of the year 1617 in Seville. His
parents were poor people working hard for a
somewhat scanty livelihood, and his mother
added to the family earnings by the sale of fruit.
Bartolome Est^ban was left almost entirely to
himself to run wild as he liked, and in this
way he became independent and self-reliant.
Fortune was to give him every chance for his
self-reliance, for before he was eleven years old
both his parents were carried off by pestilence,
and the lad was left to the care of his mother's
only brother.

He was as poor as the parents had been,
but had a little money put aside, and, seeing
that the lad had a desire to paint and was

HIS LIFE 3

facile with his pencil even at that tender age,
amusing himself with sketching on the stones
and walls of the city, he did his utmost for the
future of his nephew by apprenticing him to a
distant relation, Juan del Castillo. Juan was a
clever artist who, however, had no genius, no
enthusiasm, no desire for perfection. Although
skilful in composition and ingenious in design
and colour, he lacked the ability to do more
than turn out by the score pictures, such as his
patrons demanded, wanting in both life and
spirit, and never rising to any high level of
either artistic merit or emotional effect.

With this man the young Murillo worked,
gaining from him the bare elements of know-
ledge, the use of his brush, some idea of the
composition of a picture, and the grinding and
mixing of colours. With him were other pupils,
one of whom, Pedro de Moya, having some small
means, soon tired of the unimaginative spirit of
the studio and wandered off to Flanders, and
thence, it is said, to England, in order to sit at
the feet of the great Van Dyck. Pedro was away
but one short year ; then he came back again to
Seville and the two lads foregathered, the one
eager to tell, the other impatient to learn, of the
pictures which the traveller had seen and copies

4 MURILLO

of many of which he had brought back to his
native place. The copies were but rough and
sketchy, little better than ideas boldly drawn,
but they sufficed. They showed the young
artist what genius, in the persons of Rubens
and Van Dyck, could produce, and the stories
which Pedro told, and which lost none of their
charm by reason of the brilliant metaphor, the
burning phrase and the airy fancy of the Anda-
lusian student, set his companion on fire and
decided him that he too must go on a journey.

Bartolome had, however, no means at his dis-
posal such as had carried Pedro, who at first
went with the Spanish army to Flanders, on to
the far shores of England. Castillo had also
now left Seville and had settled at Cadiz. The
uncle, who had spent his little all in placing him
with Castillo, was dead, and there was no one
to whom the young fellow could turn. His
imagination had, however, been kindled and his
desires set in motion, and there was nothing for
him but a journey to the great capital, where
perchance he might find some work, some
chance, at least, of seeing the pictures of which
he had heard. Although he could not, like
Pedro, journey into Flanders, or even attempt
the sea passage to the distant shores of England,

HIS LIFE 5

yet he would see pictures such as Pedro had seen,
and would profit thereby.

A little money he needs must have, and com-
missions hitherto had been very few. He had
been obliged to sell the few paintings which he
had produced. They were but honest sketches of
the peasant lads and country people around him,
sold in the Feria or weekly fair ; and they had
been purchased by those who were going out to
the colonies of Spain, that they might have some-
thing to recall the sunny land of their youth.
True, there had been an occasional picture done
for a convent where money was scarce and where,
although the painting was wanted, the inmates
had not the means to commission any eminent
artist ; true, there had been a Madonna and Child
for one house and a St. Francis and St. Thomas
for the cloister of another, but there was no
steady work, and the money which these few
commissions had brought in had been spent on
the daily portion of bread and fruit.

Still to Madrid he must go, and therefore,
saving up all he could, he invested it in a long
strip of linen which he cut into many portions ;
upon these he painted with all the skill of which
he was capable some small religious subjects,
and visiting the next Feria disposed of his

/6 MURILLO

paintings to the merchantmen who were sail-
ing for the distant coasts of South and Central
America, that they in their turn might dispose of
them to the settlers and convents of Spain be-
yond the ocean.

With his scanty hoard of money in his hand
he set out on his long and perilous journey, and
at the end of the year, guided by the faithful
mule-drivers, presented himself before the as-
tonished Velazquez, then at the very summit of
his fame.

Two men more different from each other, save
that they were both Spaniards and both full of
enthusiasm for art, could hardly be conceived ;
and the results of their intercourse proved how
different they were, and how great each man was
in his own special field of activity.

Velazquez was immediately interested in the
younger man. The enthusiasm which had led
him to walk hundreds of miles to study pictures,
and the eager excitement to get to work, awoke in
the mind of the Court painter a corresponding
emotion, and he did his utmost to serve the
young Sevillian. He opened to Murillo the
doors of the royal galleries, of which he then had
the charge. He even admitted him into the
sacred precincts of his own studio and placed

HIS LIFE 7

such instruction as he could spare at his dis-
posal. He took the lad with him when he went
to see the great Count Duke Olivarez, his own
patron, and led the statesman to look with kindly
eye upon the younger artist. For him he pro-
phesied a great success, and encouraged him to
work his hardest and to leave no step untrodden
which would raise him to higher things and help
him to excel in his art. Velazquez even placed
at his disposal the funds for a journey to Italy,
counselling him especially to see Rome. He
also allowed him to copy the masterpieces which
he was then producing for their royal master
and advised, criticised and encouraged him in
all his work.

Seldom was a young artist so well treated as
was Murillo in Madrid, and for three years he
remained in the city, the friend and companion
of the greatest artist of the day and perhaps of
any day. Then, declining the offer of the master
to send him to Rome, confident in his own
power and longing to be back in his beloved
Seville, he left Madrid, journeyed back to
Seville in more comfortable manner than he
had left it, with a heavier purse and a well-
stocked portfolio, and a wealth of knowledge
and experience of inestimable value to him.

8 MURILLO

He had every cause to be proud of his home.
It was the ancient capital of Spain until Philip
II. established Madrid in the midst of its
arid plains as the new capital, and few cities in
Europe can boast of greater beauty than can
Seville. It was called by Spaniards " the pearl
of cities," and the phrase was not far wrong.
Its climate was delightful, its soil fertile and its
vegetation superb, with almost tropical splendour.
Its Cathedral has always been one of the great
sights of the civilized world and the admiration
of all who see it, while the tall Giralda Tower
close by, with its marvellous Moorish lace-
like stone-work is unrivalled for delicate beauty.
Almost every church in the city is of interest,
and in every one there are treasures in the way
of pictures, vestments or jewels. The ancient
nobility of the country have always had palaces
within this city, and it has been noted for its
scholars, its artists and its learned men of all
degrees, from a very remote period.

So far as we know Murillo never again left the
shelter of the Giralda Tower. He returned in
1646, and neither the Castiles nor Estremadura
seem to have ever seen him again. An Anda-
lusian he was born and an Andalusian he
died; and in the Juderia of the beautiful city,

HIS LIFE 9

close by the great Alcazar, Murillo lived and
worked to the close of his life, varying his days
only by an occasional journey to Cadiz or to
some other place within the province which he
loved.

When first he returned to Seville he lived at
No. 7, Plaza de Alfaro, near the Calle Lope de
Rueda ; but towards the close of his days he
went to a smaller residence at the corner of the
Plaza de Santa Cruz, and he was buried in the
Church of La Santa Cruz. He had been bap-
tized at the Church of La Magdalena, and the
street where he was born now bears his honoured
name; but of the church to which as a child he
was taken, and of the one which received his
remains, not a trace now remains, Soult having
pulled down both buildings.

His baptismal register was saved, and can now
be seen in the Church ef San Pablo, and his
tombstone, which bears his name and the words
Vive Moriturus, is preserved behind the high
altar of the Church of Los Menores in the Calle
Guzman el Bueno.

The house where he lived now contains a
famous private collection of pictures, which in-
cludes some beautiful works by the master him-
self and many of his pupils.

io MURILLO

It appears that when the young artist settled
down again to his work, he did not enlighten
his friends as to where he had been. In the
words of one of the writers of his day, "they
fancied that he had shut himself up for two
long years studying from the life, and had thus
acquired his skill." Communication between
the two cities was infrequent; there were but
few persons who travelled in those days, save the
muleteers, who made the journey slowly and at
long intervals, and there was no one to enlighten
the people of Seville and probably but few per-
sons who had cared to inquire where Murillo
had been. His secret was safe in his own breast,
and he was now ready to put into practice the
lessons which he had learned. He speedily did
so, and amazement grew apace as he painted
the eleven pictures commissioned by the Fran-
ciscans for their cloister, which were to depict
the lives of the Minorites and their miracles,
especially those of the newly canonized St. Diego
of Alcala. They were the first work of the artist
on his return to Seville, and were entirely dif-
ferent from anything which had been seen in
Seville before.

Three of these pictures now adorn the gallery
of the Louvre (1716, 1717 and 1737), and the

HIS LIFE ii

reason for the astonishment of the Sevillians is
not difficult to find. At the advice of Velazquez
the young artist had gone direct to nature for his
inspiration, and had translated the stories of the
saints and the narratives of the Bible into popular
dialect. He treated them as actually happening
in Spain, amongst the very people who sur-
rounded him and were his models; not in
specially posed figures, set into the suggested
appearance of gods or of heroes, but in the men
and boys who were about him, in their natural
actions and the very ordinary details of their
life.

There were artists already in Seville, and the
names of such men as Pacheco, Herrera, Valde's
Leal and Zurbaran were as household words
in the city. Their fame was, however, soon
eclipsed by the newcomer, and their archaic
manner and their tame lifeless style were soon
to give way to the truth and strength of
nature-painting which Murillo was to reveal to
them.

For the first time Spain saw depicted the
beauty of her everyday life, the charm of the
occurrences which went on in her own streets ;
and it was a revelation which took her by sur-
prise, and aroused mingled feelings of astonish-

12 MURILLO

ment, of resentment, and almost of horror, in
the minds of those who gazed at the early works
of the artist.

From the very first this was the line taken by
Murillo. He loved his country passionately; he
realized its charm ; he revelled in its glorious
colour, in its brilliant light, and in the soft rich
depth of its shadows. The stories connected
with the Faith, of which he was so devoted a son,
were in his mind connected with the events of
the life about him. He knew nothing of Pales-
tine, but he did know Spain. He felt that the
two countries had much in common, that the
stories of Biblical writ might have fittingly taken
place in Spain, and for the Spaniard he resolved
that they should be set in Spanish surroundings.
He therefore went frankly to nature for all he
wanted, and when he had to paint Scriptural
scenes or the events in hagiological literature,
they were painted from the people about him, in
the landscapes which he knew and loved, and
with models in the costume of the countryside,
such as were familiar to every Andalusian of his
day.

Over all this naturalism he cast the glamour
of a strong emotion. He was an emotional
painter, and to the emotions he made his appeal.

HIS LIFE 13

A devoted son of the Church, he worked steadily
at religious art with a single aim and a fervent
activity ; taking the things of daily life, clothing
them in a veil of mystery, in a fervour of re-
ligious awe, and appealing to that sensuous
quality which is so characteristic of the piety of
southern Spain.

We know but few details of his domestic life.
He married in 1648 a wealthy lady, Dona
Beatriz de Cabrera y Sotomayor of Pilas, near
Seville, and painted her lovely face many a time
in his pictures. He had two sons and a daughter,
for whom he painted the portrait of himself
which now belongs to Earl Spencer, and which
was done when he was sixty years of age. It
represents him as a kindly man, somewhat stern
in appearance, tenacious and determined, but
possessed of some humour and a considerable
amount of resolution coupled with religious
fervour.

His daughter, Francisca, entered the Convent
of the Mother of God in Seville, and both his
sons became priests.

Gabriel went to America, and hardly anything
of his history is known. Gaspar, who inherited
some of his father's talent and painted a few fine
pictures in his style, became eventually a Canon

14 MURILLO

of Seville Cathedral, being very much helped
in obtaining that position by Don Joseph de
Veitia Linago, an author and a man of good
means, who had married the sister of Murillo's
wife.

The life of the artist was a busy one, as the
authorities of the cathedral and the heads of
the religious orders vied with each other in giv-
ing him commissions for the adornment of the
churches under their care. Besides this, he was
a very popular man in Sevillian society, and his
house was the favourite resort of all who had any
claim to be considered persons of taste or letters.
The house was a good one, and, thanks to the
earnings of the artist and the large means which
his wife had brought him, was well appointed
and well kept up. Murillo was looked upon as
the chief painter in Seville, and his "evenings"
were popular gatherings, frequented by all the
best society of the place.

Most of his greatest works date from the
period which commenced in 1652. In that year
he executed a very important picture called Our
Lady of the Conception for the Friars of the True
Cross.

Of this picture, enormous in size and powerful
in character, the story is told that the monks

HIS LIFE 15

for whom it was commissioned first saw it as
it stood upon the ground in the studio of the
artist, and, pronouncing it a daub, rough and ill-
painted, refused to have anything to do with it,
or to accept it for the suggested position.
Murillo, however, pointed out to them that it
was only intended to be seen at a great height
and from a distance, and that, therefore, to judge
of its effect from the ground was not to do it
justice ; so the Prior, more to humour the artist
than for any other reason, allowed him to place
the huge canvas in the dome for which he had
painted it. Before this was done, however, the
Prior distinctly announced to the artist that he
would not accept the picture, and that it was
" worthless." When, however, it was in its place,
the astonishment of the monks was complete.
They were startled at the effect produced : the
picture which they had denounced as a daub
revealed itself in all its wondrous beauties,
every detail being apparent, and that which
looked like mere masses of paint showed itself
as flesh, draperies and clouds of such beauty as
had never before been seen in the city. The
monks now changed their minds and determined
to keep the picture; but Murillo had taken it
down again, and only allowed them to purchase

1 6 MURILLO

their own picture on payment of double the
price originally agreed upon, as a lesson to them
to trust him in his own work rather than to con-
demn what they did not understand. The
event had an important effect on his after re-
putation.

Three years after that, by order of Don Juan
Federighi, Archdeacon of Carmona, he painted
pictures of St. Isidor and St. Leander^ Arch-
bishops of Seville, for the sacristy of the Cathe-
dral, and a Nativity of the Virgin for the high
altar. In the following year for the Baptistery
he painted St. Antony of Padua, one of his finest
works, which is still hanging in the position for
which it was intended.

In 1656 the four large semicircular pictures
for the Church of Santa Maria la Blanca were
painted, commissioned by a constant patron
of the artist, Canon Don Justino Neve y
Yevenes.

Two of them represented the story of Our
Lady of the Snow, from whom the worthy Canon
had taken his name, and the episodes of which
led to the foundation in Rome by a wealthy
senator of the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore.

These two pictures are still in Madrid, but
they do not adorn the church for which they

HIS LIFE 17

were painted. They were taken to Paris by
Marshal Soult, but were returned when peace
was concluded. The other two semicircular
pictures, which represent the Immaculate Con-
ception and Faith) are still to be seen in Paris.

Following upon this work came the commission
for other paintings in the Cathedral, eight oval
half-length figures of saints, which are now to be
found with other works by the master in the
Chapter-house of the Cathedral (Sala Capitular).

In 1671 a great religious ceremony took place
in Seville, perhaps the most important which the
city had ever witnessed. It was in honour of
the canonization of St. Ferdinand III., who had
died in 1252 and had just been raised to the
altars of the Church. The Cathedral was speci-
ally decorated, and to Murillo was allotted the
Capilla Real, where the body of the saint still
lies stretched out in a silver shrine before the
high altar. It is not very clear of what the
decoration consisted which Murillo supplied,
but it was probably in the form of large canvases
painted with scenes from the life and history of
the rfew saint, which were suspended, in Spanish
fashion, around the walls of the chapel. One
of the priests of the Capilla, which is almost a
church of itself and has its own regular staff of

c

i8 MURILLO

clergy, Don La Torre Far fan, wrote the adulatory
poems in honour of the new saint, and intro-
duced a reference to the work of Murillo in
decorating the chapel. " One dares scarcely
trust one's eyes," says he, " for fear one is look-
ing at a phantom and not at a real thing. We
are lost in wonder, when we gaze at the pictures,
at the talent of our Bartolome Murillo, who here
has created that which cannot be surpassed."

In many more phrases scattered through the
chief poem he praises the work of the artist in
no measured terms, comparing him, after the
manner of the day, with Apelles, Titian and
Van Dyck.

In this same year Murillo commenced what
was his most important commission, the eleven
paintings for the Hospital of La Caridad which
belonged to the brotherhood of the same name,
a guild of which the artist was himself a member.

The foundation dated back to the year 1578,
but although the hospital was still being carried
on in the time of Murillo, the church dedicated
to St. George had been allowed to fall into ruin
and was in a desperate state. A member of the
guild, Don Miguel Mafiara Vicentelo, deter-
mined to devote the remaining years of his life
to religion, and especially to the restoration and

HIS LIFE 19

decoration of this fine church. He was a man
of great benevolence and of sincere humility,
and by his example he encouraged others to
follow in the same manner of life. The brother-
hood increased very largely after he had taken
up its cause, as he persuaded many of his friends,
Murillo amongst the number, to join it, and
also brought in many of the aristocracy of the
city to its ranks and considerably augmented its
wealth. One friend, Don Gomez de Castro, be-
queathed his whole estate to the brotherhood
for its purposes, and from rich and poor, noble-
man and beggar, he obtained alms for the pur-
poses of holy charity.

Under his auspices the church was rebuilt,
and the hospital enlarged and greatly improved,
while the funds of the charity were placed upon
a more satisfactory footing.

The good work commenced by Mafiara still
continues, and the hospital for poor bed-ridden
and aged men, under the care of one of the
religious orders, the Sisters of Charity, and
watched over by the Brotherhood of La Caridad,
is one of the most interesting places to be seen
in Seville.

The inscription over the door of the hospital
is a very characteristic one. It reads: "This

20 MURILLO

house will stand as long as God is feared in it,
and Jesus Christ is served in the persons of His
poor. Whoever enters here must leave at the
door both avarice and pride."

Six only out of the original pictures painted
for it by Murillo now remain in Spain, and hang
in the church ; the others were carried away by
Soult, and, excepting one, they have never been
returned to their owners. The solitary one which
found its way back to Spain is one of the finest,
and represents £/. Elizabeth of Hungary tending
the Sick Poor. This is now at Madrid, and to
be seen in the Academy of San Fernando, No.
n, Calle Alcala.

Murillo took four years to paint this series of
pictures. Three were for the side chapels, where
they still remain ; they represent the Annuncia-
tion^ the Infant Saviour and the Infant St. John.
The remaining eight were for the sides of the
church, and represented Moses striking the Rock
(still in situ), the Return of the Prodigal, Abra-
ham and the Three Angels, and the Charity of
San Juan de Dios (still in situ) on the left side,
and on the right the Miracle of the Loaves and
Fishes, the Healing of the Paralytic, St. Peter
Released from Prison, and the St. Elizabeth
already mentioned.

HIS LIFE 21

The Abraham and the Angels and the Prodi-
gal's Return now belong to the Duke of Suther-
land and are at Stafford House ; the Release of
St. Peter is in the Hermitage Gallery ; and the
Healing of the Paralytic is said to be in the
United States, whither it passed after the sale of
the Tomline Collection.

When the Caridad work was completed,
Murillo's old patrons, the Franciscans, came
upon the scene. It was this Order which had
given him his first commission after his return
from Madrid, when he painted the eleven pictures
for the cloisters of their house within the walls ;
and several times since then they had commis-
sioned some of the finest works which the master
ever painted. Now they were determined to
have again the best work which he could pro-
duce, and they carried him off to the Capuchin
Convent, which was then being erected outside
the walls on the site of the Monastery of St.
Leander and the Church of St. Justa and St.
Rufina. For six years Murillo laboured in this
building, and during three of them he is said not
to have left the convent for a single day. He
painted in all some twenty large pictures, most
of which are still in Seville, hanging in the
National Museum, as, in order to save them

22 MURILLO

from the rapacity of Soult, they were sent during
the war to Gibraltar and only returned to Seville
when peace had been declared in 1814.

The finest, perhaps, in the gallery are those
which represent St. Thomas of Villanueva giv-
ing Alms, St. Felix Cantalicio with the Infant
Saviour, St. Antony of Padua, St. Francis with
the Saviour, St. Joseph carrying the Holy Child,
and the Madonna and Child, which was said to
have been painted upon a linen napkin.

The largest work which Murillo did for the
Franciscans, representing the Pardon of St.
Francis, is in the Prado Gallery at Madrid.

Besides these works Murillo also painted for
the Franciscans a Crucifixion on a wooden cross
for the high altar of the church, and two lovely
paintings, representing St. Michael and the
Guardian Angel, the latter holding by the hand
the soul of the man under its charge, depicted as
a little child, and tenderly guarding it from all
harm while itself looking upwards to the Father
in heaven, the ruler of both the angel and its
charge. These two pictures are to be found in
the Chapel of the Guardian Angel in Seville
Cathedral.

Before he had completed the work for the
Franciscans, Murillo was asked by his old friend

HIS LIFE 23

the Canon, who had commissioned the pictures
for Santa Maria la Blanca, to undertake some
more work for him, and this time it was for a
home for aged priests called the Hospital de los
Venerables.

For this he painted three pictures and a
portrait of his patron. The St. Peter Weeping
is still to be found in Seville in the gallery ;
the Virgin and Child is in the Buda Pesth
Gallery, while a replica of it hangs at Cadiz.
The Portrait of Neve is now in the collection of
the Marquis of Lansdowne in Berkeley Square.
It is a delightful figure of the scholarly priest
seated in a chair with his favourite spaniel at his
feet, and was done as a token of gratitude for all
the work which the worthy Canon had done for
the hospital.

The third picture which Murillo painted for
this hospital is the famous Immaculate Concep-
tion^ which is now in the Louvre. It was taken
away by Soult from Spain and retained in his
own collection until 1852, when at his sale it
was bought for the Louvre at an enormous
price.

The reason which induced Murillo to paint
so many representations of the Madonna of the
Immaculate Conception was the strong feeling

24 MURILLO

which existed in Spain with reference to the
dogma which was the subject of such paintings.
It was not at that time an article of faith in the
Catholic world (de fide\ and was not so promul-
gated till 1854; but it was a cherished belief, a
definite opinion, and men were not allowed to
speak or preach anything contrary to it. The
decree to that effect issued by Paul V. had
only been announced in the year of Murillo's
birth, and was received in Spain with immense
enthusiasm. No dogma had ever been so readily
accepted or so fervently believed in Spain, and
the announcement that it was not to be spoken
against, preparing the way for its becoming a
definite article of faith, was hailed with delight.
A contemporary writer states : " Spain flew into
a frenzy of joy. Archbishop de Castro performed
a magnificent service of Te Deum and thanks-
giving in the Cathedral, and amidst the thunder
of the organ and the choir, the roar of all the
artillery on the walls and river, and the clanging
of the bells in all the churches of Seville, swore
to maintain and to defend the special doctrine
which was held in that see in such particular
esteem." No wonder that all the conventual
houses vied with each other to obtain from
Murillo, the special painter of purity and loveli-

Hanfstcingl photo.} [National Gallery.

ST. JOHN BAPTIST AND THE LAMB.

HIS LIFE 25

ness, representations of the Madonna exemplify-
ing this great dogma.

Other work upon which the artist was engaged
was for the Augustine Friars, for whom he painted
several pictures, two of which are still in the
gallery of Seville. They represent the Appear-
ance of the Madonna and Child to St. Augustine
and St. Augustine in his Study ^ writing his famous
treatises.

A third picture for the same order is in
France, and illustrates the story of St. Augustine
rebuking a child for attempting to fill the waters
of the ocean into a little hole in the sand which
he was gradually supplying with water from a
shell. The saint in his turn is rebuked by the
angel (who was sent under the garb of a child
to teach the lesson) for attempting to limit the
wisdom of God, or to confine within the limits
of his finite mind all the infinite teaching of
Divine Providence.

Other pictures for this Order illustrated the
life of St. Thomas of Villanueva.

A little later than the time to which we are
referring, Murillo painted the picture of St.
John with the Lamb, which hangs in the Prado
Gallery, and an example of which is also to be
seen in the National Gallery of London. Another

26 MURILLO

noteworthy picture of this, the best time of his
life, represented a favourite legend of Seville,
which recorded how the saintly Archbishop of
Toledo, St. Ildefonso, was presented by the
Madonna with a superb chasuble from the
treasury of heaven as a reward for his devotion
to the Virgin, and for the constant way in which
by his words and writings he strove to uphold
her dignity and importance. Murillo also painted
several notable portraits, mostly of men, besides
those alluded to already, and he produced some
charming landscapes.

For a time, not feeling equal to landscape
work, he had employed a friend of his, the
leading landscapist of the day, Don Ignacio
Iriarte, to paint in the backgrounds to some of
his pictures, notably those depicting Old Testa-
ment events ; but the two friends had a dis-
agreement as to one of the pictures and separated,
and from that time Murillo did his own land-
scapes. One of the best of his works of this
character belongs to Mr, Andrew Hichens,
and hangs at Monk's Hatch, Guildford.

We have already mentioned that after his first
long journey to Madrid, Murillo settled down in
Andalusia and never left it again Indeed his
journeying hardly extended beyond the bound-

HIS LIFE 27

aries of his native city Seville and its neighbour-
hood; but once in his life he travelled to the
very outskirts of the province. A visit to Cadiz
was made at the request of his old friends the
Franciscans, for whom he was asked to paint five
pictures to be placed in the Capuchin Church
of that place.

While at work on the largest of these he met
with an accident, and fell from the scaffolding
which he was mounting in order to reach the
upper part of the picture. He was seriously
injured by the fall, and lay for some time
insensible, only recovering to find that he was
unable to paint any more or even to complete
the picture of the Marriage of St. Catharine,
upon which he had been engaged at the time.

Fortunately two at least of the smaller pic-
tures had already been done, and all three are still
to be seen in Cadiz, the larger one completed by
the hand of Meneses Osorio, who executed the
subsidiary portions and the background, the
central and more important group having been
done by the master before his fall.

Murillo was carried back to his home at
Seville and lived for some months after his
accident ; but he does not appear to have again
been able to take up the brush, and his remain-

28 MURILLO

ing days were passed in religious exercises con-
nected with the Church of Santa Cruz, in which
he would often spend many hours engaged in
prayer.

He was a constant attendant at Mass all his
life, very few mornings finding him absent, and
during the last few months of his life he never
missed either the Mass or Benediction and
Vespers in the evening. His will was made by
the notary Antonio Guerrero on the afternoon of
the 3rd of April, 1682 ; but while it was being
written out at the artist's dictation he was seized
with a fainting attack, and passed away in the
arms of his old friend Neve and his pupil
Villa vicencio before the deed could be com-
pleted or signed.

His wife had predeceased him, his elder son
was at a seminary, and his younger son, then
only a lad, was the only member of his family
who was with him at the last.

His will is a striking proof of the religious
spirit which actuated his whole life.

He acknowledges his faith in no measured
terms ; gives instructions as to his burial and for
four hundred Masses to be said for his soul ;
orders other Masses for the soul of his cousin,
Maria de Murillo ; leaves a legacy to his servant ;

HIS LIFE 29

mentions what are his debts and what is owing
to him, and forgives some of the debts which
are owing to him on account of the poverty
of the debtors; appoints the portion of his
daughter Francisca, who had taken the veil;
and expresses his gratitude to his late wife for
all her goodness to him and for the property
which she had brought to his estate, declaring
that at the time of his marriage he had neither
landed property nor riches, but that besides
what he inherited from his wife he was now
able to bequeath several houses, money, plate,
pictures and furniture.

The artist was buried with great pomp and
ceremony, in the place which he had himself
selected, at the foot of a picture of the Descent
of the Cross by Campafia, which hung in a
chapel of the church where he attended ; but, as
already stated, neither the church nor his tomb
now exists, having been destroyed when Seville
was in the hands of the French.

In personal character Murillo was a gentle,
quiet, affectionate man, free from all envy or
malice, a man of simple habits, of benevolent
intentions, stern towards deceit, quick in praise,
rapid in discernment, and there have been few
artists whose lives were better reflected in their

30 MURILLO

works, or whose memories have left behind them
more savour of a good life and a noble en-
deavour worthily carried out, than was the case
with this painter of Seville, Bartolome' Esteban
Murillo, the well-beloved.

tianjstdngl photo.

[ The Hague.

THE MADONNA AND CHILD.

THE ART OF MURILLO

MURILLO is a popular painter. His
works are accepted by the general
observer as beautiful, and there is not the
mystery about his art which attends that of a
greater master such as Velazquez. His ability to
tell a story, and to tell it well, attracts attention ;
his delightful schemes of colour are pleasing;
the simplicity of his aim, the engaging frankness
of his art, all render him attractive; and an
ordinary criticism, if made at all, would take the
form of a desire for more strength and an im-
pression that there is, perhaps, an oversweetness
in the picture.

As a rule critics divide his productions into
three groups. First, those painted in the early
part of his career, cold, sombre and somewhat
too definite, which are said to be in his "cold
style," estilo frio. Secondly, those which were
produced later, where the colour is deeper and
the contrasts stronger between the light and the
shadow; where the children or the fruit are
31

32 MURILLO

painted with very full colour, flowing out from
a rapid and easy brush, and where brilliance
and warmth are notable features. These are
said to be in his " warm style," estilo calido.
Lastly, those painted, as are most of his religious
pictures, and all the works towards the end of
his life, in a wondrous misty golden haze, which
with some marvellous aerial power melts tint
into tint, softens and illumines all the colours,
and fills the whole conception with a quality of
mystery and wonder, which gives the name to
the style, estilo vaporoso^ or the misty style.

These divisions must not, however, be too
closely considered in a review of the art of
Murillo, as they are only approximate and
general.

There are religious paintings in the calido
style; there is at least one in the frto style
which belongs to the middle of the life of the
artist; and there is a well-known genre painting
which is done in the vaporoso style which some
critics have said was used solely for religious
paintings.

The main characteristics of Murillo are, first
of all, his human instinct, his naturalism, his
homeliness, and then perhaps the power which
he possessed, as did the Umbrians and the

HIS ART 33

Milanese in Italian art, of awakening emotion,
of enkindling devotional feeling and acting upon
the mind of the observer in the manner in which
the mind of the artist was itself acting when the
work was in course of creation.

Murillo imbedded in his pictures part of his
own self. He planted in them the religious
feeling which formed so intimate a part of his
own life. He worked con amore, putting out his
utmost skill, and therefore his pictures produce
in the minds of those who see them, and are
ready for the result, the impressions which it
was desired they should convey.

That he is at times over sweet even to the
limits of insipidity must be frankly confessed ;
but the critic who makes such an assertion is
usually one who has seen but little of the work
of the master, and has been unable to realize,
by reason of his inexperience, the full strength
of the artist at his best. Murillo could be as
strong as he liked, so strong as to astonish
the average critic; but he was never rough or
brutal in his strength, and there was a sym-
pathy and a fervour about his strength which
redeemed it.

In brilliance there are few to equal and fewer
still to excel him. His best works stand out

D

34 MURILLO

from their backgrounds with a sheer brilliance of
effect which is little short of marvellous.

His modelling is full of vigour, exquisitely
balanced, never too elaborate, and always true,
just and correct.

His conceptions were fresh, bright and happy,
winning the love of those who saw them, and
causing his finished works to be cherished with
an amount of affection and tender regard which
is almost unique in the history of art. He was
so essentially national, and more than that, so
truly Andalusian, that by his own people he was
regarded as almost divine. By those for whom
the pictures were painted, whether monks or
friars, clergy or laity, they were regarded as
sacred revelations of the stories of Scripture, to
be treated with the utmost reverence.

So religious was the man, and so much
religious feeling was there in his pictures, espe-
cially of that sensuous order which appealed to
the fervent Spaniard, that the paintings were
given a position in Spain as works of religious
art to which no other paintings ever attained.
The glow of their colour, the richness of their
quality, the depth of the shadow or the strength
of the light, which characterized them, were all
features appealing forcibly to the people of sunny

Hanfstdngl photo.

[Munich.

THE DICE PLAYERS.

HIS ART 35

Spain, and to the childlike love of brilliance
and of colour which is so intimate a part of
their lives.

It is by his subject pictures, however, that
Murillo should be specially judged, and it is in
them that his greatest merit is apparent and by
them that his fame should stand. They are the
frankest and most truthful expressions of the life
of the people ever painted. They reveal Spain
in its most fascinating aspect ; they speak of the
colour, of the heat, of the light, of that land of
perpetual sun ; they are of the very atmosphere
of Andalusia, and what is so remarkable about
them is the absolutely novel unreserve with
which they are painted, and that in a country
where art was bound down by hard and fast
regulations, and where up to the time of Murillo
the rejection of conventionalism had never been
thought of for one single moment.

It is by these genre paintings that we see the
high-water mark of his genius, and it was in them
that he allowed the fullest expression, the most
supreme evidence of his high ability to shine
forth. These subject pictures, however, formed
but a small proportion of his total output. The
bulk of his commissions were for religious sub-
jects, and to them he gave the same character.

36 MURILLO

The persons in the groups are Spaniards, the
scene is Spain, the colouring that of his own
country, and therefore the enthusiasm with
which they were received was unbounded.

Murillo was deeply impressed with the im-
portance of painting. He loved his art; he
realized its value, its influence, its decorative
importance, but more than all its religious
significance. He desired that there should be
many others practising the same art in Seville,
and he therefore founded an academy in which
the scholars paid whatever they could afford.
In it they were able to draw from the living
model, and obliged to devote all their time whilst
within its walls to the exercise of their art. In
this way he foreshadowed exactly the same
course that a couple of centuries after was in
full force in Paris and is still regarded as the
best method of teaching.

The academy was started on January ist, 1660,
in one of the rooms of the Lonja, or Exchange.
There was to be a meeting every month of the
members, two presidents to superintend the
work of the pupils on alternate weeks, a treasurer,
a secretary and a chaplain.

Murillo and Herrera were the first presidents,
Ignacio Iriarte the landscape-painter the secre-

HIS ART 37

tary, and the treasurer was Juan de Valdes Leal,
a very celebrated artist of the time.

At Murillo's academy the rules were very
strict. No swearing or loose talk was allowed,
no conversation unconnected with the business
of the school was tolerated, and admission was
only given to persons of upright lives who were
prepared, day by day, to acknowledge the
divinity of God, the Divine Presence in the
Holy Sacrament, and the pure Conception of
the Madonna.

Herrera was only connected with the academy
for a year, as soon after it was founded he left
to reside in Madrid. Valde's Leal remained for
five years connected with it, and then he with-
drew, and practically the control remained with
Murillo, the founder. After a while he too had
to withdraw owing to his increasing work, and
the academy broke up after his death, having
lasted only twenty years.

Murillo gave all the instruction in this acad-
emy freely ; other artists were perhaps paid, but
Murillo took no fees and devoted a considerable
amount of his already over-full time to the work.
Whilst he lived it flourished, and he drew a large
number of scholars around him, and by his kind-
ness, unfailing courtesy and patience won their

38 MURILLO

closest affection ; but when he died the academy
went to pieces, for his successors worked solely
for themselves, and had not the noble aspirations
or the fervent religious spirit which characterized
the master.

One of the characteristics of Murillo was his
profound admiration for the works of other men.

At the time of his greatest success he was the
most humble of artists, and ever seemed to
prefer the works of other painters to his own.
Many hours when in prayer in the Church of
Santa Cruz he passed in front of a great Cruci-
fixion painted by Campana, executed a hundred
years before, which yet, in his opinion, was
finer than anything he had himself ever painted.

It was so bold and strong and powerful a work,
that another artist, Pacheco, is said to have re-
marked that he did not like to be left alone with
it in the dim gloom of the chapel ; but Murillo
loved to look at it, and one day on being told
by the sacristan that the time for leaving the
church had arrived, and being asked for what
he was waiting, he replied, " I am waiting till
those men (pointing to the picture) have brought
down the body of our Blessed Lord from the
ladder," a high tribute to the effect and verity
of the painting.

HIS ART 39

To the last Murillo insisted that Iriarte
painted landscape better than he did, and that
Valdes Leal painted better portraits; but the
opinion of later days has not coincided with
these views.

It is strange to notice, as a friend has recently
pointed out to me, how little Murillo was in-
fluenced by Velazquez, although associated so
much with him at his most impressionable age.
His work bears little more than a trace of the
influence of the greater master, and his in-
dividuality must have been very strong and
forcible for him to have resisted the temptation
to adopt the ideals and methods of the more
lofty genius. The work of Murillo distinctly
proves his own strong personal feeling, his faith,
his aim, and his determination to carry out his
purpose.

OUR ILLUSTRATIONS

FIVE of our illustrations are selected from
Murillo's numerous sacred subjects, while
the other three are examples of his studies from
life.

One of the best known of his sacred pictures,
ranking very close in popular estimation to the
Immaculate Conception in the Louvre, is the far
finer group in our National Gallery, of which
we give not only the entire picture, but also
separately the head of the Christ Child.

THE HOLY FAMILY

This painting was one of those which Murillo
painted at Cadiz during his last visit to that city,
where he met with the accident which shortened
his life.

It was not, however, painted for the Capu-
chins, but, it is believed, for a private family,
that of the Marquis del Pedroso, and it certainly
remained in the hands of that family until 1810,
when it left Spain, and after some wanderings
40

Hanfstdngl photo .] {National Gallery.

THE HEAD OF CHRIST.

OUR ILLUSTRATIONS 41

was at length purchased for the National
Gallery.

It resembles in many ways the picture in the
Louvre, the figure of the Almighty being very
similar in both and represented in much the same
position, with numerous angels attending Him.
In both the Child stands upon a raised object,
while the Madonna in both appears to be taken
from the same model. The Louvre picture,
however, contains representations of St. Elizabeth
and St. John the Baptist, who are not depicted
in the London painting.

The Christ in the National Gallery stands
between the Blessed Virgin and St. Joseph, and
is being presented to the adoration of the world,
while upon His head descends the Holy Ghost
in the form of a dove. The Father extends His
arms in blessing from the clouds, gazing in affec-
tion upon His well-beloved Son.

The face of the Christ (of which a separate
illustration is given) is of the greatest beauty
and refinement. It is that of a Spanish child,
such as may often be seen in the streets of
Seville to this day, with swarthy countenance
suffused with the tender glow of carnation which
comes from outdoor life, but there is a trans-
figuration in the features, which are full of the

42 MURILLO

deepest emotion. There is a sweet tenderness
about the upward look, betokening a fuller under-
standing than has hitherto existed in the mind
of the Holy Child as to the supernatural mission
which He has to fulfil in the world.

The Madonna is just a fine example of the
Spanish mother, and the boy is quite evidently
her son, bearing a strong resemblance to her;
while St. Joseph is no more than a typical
Spaniard, with the dark hair, the rich colour
and the full expressive eyes characteristic of the
race.

The tone of colouring of the picture is equally
typical. The yellow and brown of St. Joseph,
the fine contrast of the red dress of the Madonna
with the over drapery of a greenish blue and the
mellow purple of the Holy Child all afford such
a colour scheme as can be realized in a moment
in Seville. Murillo's great power of going to
nature is very evident in this work. He has
taken the models from those about him, has
painted them honestly and well, the modelling
of the hands, which are in each figure full of
expressive character, being exceptionally fine.
Then, spreading over the whole his marvellous
vapour (estilo vaporoso), he has blended the tints
into each other, has hidden the scene in a veil

OUR ILLUSTRATIONS 43

of mystic hue, combining the fresh and vigorous
colours into perfect harmony. Out of it all
shines the ethereal beauty of the face of the
Child. That is the point of greatest attraction
in the work. It is to that he directs attention,
and in that face he has striven to express the
sense of a revelation, the knowledge of a high
destiny, the acquiescence in a superior will acting
for a divine purpose, and the humble self-nega-
tion which the holy life revealed to the full. In
this it will be fairly said he has succeeded, and
to gaze at the picture is to understand the
purpose of the artist and to admire the consum-
mate power with which he has set it forth.

MADONNA AND CHILD

In the Madonna and Child in the collection
at the Hague there is greater simplicity. Here
again the Virgin and the Child are both frankly
Spanish personages simply painted, and for the
spiritual character of the picture the artist de-
pends upon the accessories of their position in
the clouds, the mysterious glow in which he has
set them, and the dignity with which he has re-
presented them.

There is just that deep thoughtfulness upon the

44 MURILLO

countenance of the Madonna which can be seen
in any typical Sevillian woman tenderly thinking
about her first-born child whom she holds in
her arms. There is a thoroughly childlike look
in the infant, far removed from the infantile old
men that have been too often presented in such
pictures by other painters. Sympathy, affec-
tion, thoughtfulness, tenderness, reverence shine
out from the expressive features of the mother ;
wonder, amazement, expectation are to be found
on the face of the Child. They are alone, those
two, set in the clouds watching, waiting, think-
ing, and in their very simplicity and loneliness,
and in the absolute truth of all their expression,
lies the call to higher thoughts.

The picture is full of devotion, inspiring in its
qualities and yet simple and natural, and the one
because it is the other.

Here again the exquisite modelling is to be
noticed, the hands, true indexes to the mind,
are well formed and painted with the utmost
care and fidelity. The face of the Madonna, an
oval framed in with the dark rich hair, is re-
fined and thoughtful, the eyes brilliant and wet
with the gleam of tears.

The whole picture is brilliant. It is wrapped
in the golden haze so expressive of the work of

OUR ILLUSTRATIONS 45

Murillo, and it shines out as if but recently
painted.

It is all so human, so natural, so home-like,
that one is convinced that there is the Mother
of Christendom, and that she is waiting to
sympathize, and eager for the world to see and
adore her Son, the Son of God, whom she bears
in her hands.

SAINT ANTONY OF PADUA

The picture of the Vision of St. Antony of
Padua is now in Berlin, another of the fruits of
Marshal Soult's rapacity and theft. It belonged
to the Convent of San Pedro Alcantara, for which
it was painted, but in 1810 Soult brought it from
Seville. The story which it illustrates is a very
familiar one to those who study the life of St.
Antony. The Incarnation was the favourite
subject of his addresses. To him it was the
greatest topic which the world could afford, and
to its contemplation he gave up a great deal of
time, until at length the humility of the Godhead
in taking the form of a child seemed to over-
shadow by its marvel the greater mystery of the
Redemption. Our Lord is said in the story to
have recognized the devotion which the Saint
felt towards Himself by appearing to him as a

46 MURILLO

little child, after St. Antony had been preaching
to a vast congregation with more than usual
eloquence and discernment on his favourite
subject.

It was in a desert where the people had been
gathered together, and after the sermon, when
the Saint was alone, meditating upon the Incar-
nation, a stream of light fell from heaven and
down it travelled the Holy Child, surrounded
by the companions of His youth, the Holy
Innocents. The Saint fell upon his knees in
adoration, and the Child entered into his arms
and placed His rosy cheek against the pale,
hard countenance of the Friar.

The holy man is holding the Divine Child in
his arms, not daring to press Him too close in
his embrace, full of reverence and love, and his
fine face is lit up with an ecstasy of delight at
the marvellous honour which had been done
him. The attendant angels are simply bright,
merry, playful children, full of fun and frolic,
paying no attention to the event which is taking
place, but delighted to find themselves once
more on earth. Two are playing with a tall lily,
an emblem of the Saint which is constantly in-
troduced into such pictures ; while a "third has
seized upon the missal belonging to the Friar

OUR ILLUSTRATIONS 47

and is turning over the pages in search of pictures.
All the emotion of the work is rightly focussed
upon the two faces of the Divine Child and the
Saint, and to them the artist has given his finest
skill and his closest attention. The figure of
St. Antony, who has suddenly fallen upon his
knees and whose attitude bespeaks the utmost
devotion, is a fine piece of drawing, while the
careful, lovely modelling of the flesh, both of the
Child and of the hands and face of the Saint,
is worthy of particular attention.

The painting is suffused with that golden glow*
which characterizes the religious pictures of the
artist. Its colour is a perfect harmony of tints,
warm, rich, glowing; the light breaks through
from the heavens and floods the centre of the
picture, and from it gleams out with clearness
the pure white of the lily. The contrast of the
dark brown habit, full of broken lights, which
are in places almost orange and in places the
mellowest of gray, on the one side of the paint-
ing, with the full grandeur of sunlight flowing
down from the skies on the other side, is very
marked, and serves to bring the central episode
of the work into strong emphasis.

The angels but serve to accentuate the home-
liness of the whole scene, and to impress the

48 MURILLO

observer with the idea which the artist had in
his mind, that of the condescension of the Divine
Child in appearing to the Saint as a child, and
with all the love and attributes of a child. The
picture fulfils its purpose thoroughly, and is at
the same time a representation of engaging
loveliness.

ST. JOHN AND THE LAMB

This picture also is in the National Gallery,
and is one of the most popular pictures there.

It represents the youthful St. John embracing
the Lamb, and with his left hand pointing to-
wards heaven.

The standard of the Agnus Dei lies upon the
ground, and the background of the picture is a
dark, rocky landscape.

The quality of the painting which will first
strike the observer is its marvellous brilliance.
Shrouded though it is in that mystic vapour, it
shines out from its surroundings with a bright
glow. The eyes of the child are liquid, brilliant
and full of expression ; the flesh firm, sturdy and
well modelled ; and the lamb, clearly drawn from
the life, has in its wool just that warm quality
which is so true a representation of nature.
There is, however, no detail which is over

OUR ILLUSTRATIONS 49

expressive. The whole is well modulated, but
the brilliance of the eyes and the light upon the
face and vesture cause the painting to shine out
with unusual force. Here again, as in all the
best works of Murillo, the homeliness of the
subject is apparent. The little St. John is so
truly a child, affectionately holding his pet lamb
in his arms ; just a lad from the streets of Seville
holding the paschal lamb as may be seen in that
city to-day.

The child is clothed in a rough garment of
skin, such as he is said to have worn in the
desert, and has his reed cross with the scroll
according to legend. He clings to the lamb,
emblematic of the " Lamb of God," and he
points to the skies whence the Lamb was to
come. The scene is the desert, with its rocks,
its mountains and its dark forbidding aspect.
The picture is just a homely scene with a heavenly
meaning ; its emblems and its accessories tell the
story without any over serious phrasing, and its
calm peaceful beauty, its radiant happiness,
cannot fail to please and to prepare the way for
a fuller understanding of the mystery which it is
intended to set forth. The child is just as happy
as he can be; the attitude is easy, the face is full of
the glow of life, and, by reason of the sombreness

E

50 MURILLO

of its background, has the fullest value and
effect. Murillo never painted a more pleasing
conception; but perhaps the picture in the
Prado of the same child with his youthful com-
panion the Christ Child, where they are repre-
sented drinking together out of a shell, is the
finer work. In both there is the same simplicity,
so very slightly idealized, so true in its feeling,
and with the ring of actuality about it.

In the three last illustrations we shall find
that where the artist painted actual life with
no intention of teaching any lesson thereby,
but merely desiring to express the picturesque
and the beautiful which exist in the most
ordinary events of domestic life, he was, if pos-
sible, even more successful than when he dealt
with sacred scenes.

Keen observation characterizes these works.
Murillo must have been a man quick to notice
the events which lent themselves to his purpose,
of an alert intelligence, a quick eye and a ready
grasp of a subject.

Moving up and down in the streets of the
city he must have been ever on the look-out for
subjects, and he found them in the fruit boys at
the street corners, in the players of dice and

OUR ILLUSTRATIONS 51

cards in the streets, in the old women in the
market, in the muleteers, the country people,
the players of street music, more often than in
the gaily dressed or aristocratic throng.

Whenever he painted such a subject he made
it live on his canvas. He gave it all the ring
of truth; he painted it with loving care and
attention, modelling with the greatest skill, over-
looking no detail in costume, in features, in
the fruit or in the street, but welding the whole
of the work into such a pleasing result that it was
as though the eye had but just seen the events
and had forthwith placed them upon the canvas.

THE FRUIT-SELLERS

The girl in the picture has, we imagine,
completed her morning's work, has sold all her
fruit and has had more than ordinary good
fortune in the price which she has received for
it. On her way back from the market she meets
her companion — brother, perchance, or friend —
and shows to him the result of her morning's
labour. He is just going in and has placed his
basket down, from which, so full is it of fruit,
some grapes and a couple of oranges have fallen
out upon the ground. Keeping all the while a
sharp hold on the handle of his basket for fear

52 MURILLO

^

that some intruder should run off with it and
also that he may balance himself in his crouch-
ing attitude, the lad bends down by the side of
the girl and smiles with delight as she counts
out in her brown hand the coins she has
taken, and shares with him the pleasure of so
profitable a morning's work.

The face of the girl betokens the fact that upon
her rests the care of a household. The clothes
of both children are sound and good, with the
exception of the girPs shoes, which are, however,
sound enough for the soft, sandy roads of Anda-
lusia along which she has to pass. There are
marks of care and thoughtfulness in the way in
which she has rolled up her sleeves and turned
up her skirt, and in the little bag which hangs
from her waist and from which she has just
taken the coins. 'The boy also has turned up
his sleeve to keep it from dirt and to give him
more freedom, while the heat of the country is
well expressed by the way in which the girl has
allowed the upper part of her dress to drop
away from her shoulders so as to allow the
breezes to cool the sunburnt neck which is
revealed.

There is no vaporous effect about this pic-
ture. It is in the warm style of the artist (estilo

H anf siting I p koto. {Munich.

THE FRUITSELLERS.

OUR ILLUSTRATIONS 53

calido\ full of fresh, strong, powerful colour,
sharp in contrasts between the full sun and the
shadow. It is painted with a broad sweeping
movement, a full brush and generous colour
scheme. The browns and blues, the vivid
orange and the cool greens of the fruit, the red
of the wall, the yellowish hue of the basket, all
are used with consummate ability and swept into
position so as to accentuate one another and
make the entire picture a strong note of melodi-
ous colour.

THE DICE PLAYERS

Here another class of children is presented.
These are not the children of the thrifty, thought
ful class, who will gather and sell the fruit and
take home the money with care. These are the
children of the street, the little beggars of every
Spanish town, who haunt the street corners,
lurk under the shadows of a wall or an arch, and
are full of restless activity and brimming over
with mischief and fun. There is nothing that is
evil about these children ; they are just the
indolent careless children of the streets; life
with them is haphazard; they can live on the
fruit which they gather or have given to them,
and an occasional biscuit or hunk of bread, easy

54 MURILLO

to obtain. Life has no serious side to them as
yet and there is an insouciance about their
look-out on life that is refreshing for its very
simplicity.

One lad has twisted up in his hair a wreath
of leaves, sure token of a southerner, and
evidence of that love of decoration, that inherent
delight in ornament, which is so remarkable in
the people of the sunny land. The other lad
has a fine crop of black hair, an eager face, and
both are full of interest on the game. They are
keeping count with their fingers, whilst by their
side stands their little companion regardless of
the progress of the game and lost in a day-dream
of his own. He has a loaf under his arm and a
slice of bread in his hand, upon which his clean,
white, gleaming teeth are eagerly fastening ; but
there is something on his mind, and it causes him
even to forget the claims of his dog, who gazes
up reproachfully in his face, unaccustomed to
have his claims overlooked.

In the boy's face is some sudden thought or
memory. It is there for a moment, and in a
moment it will be gone and the cloud will slip
from the little pathetic face and the dog will have
his accustomed portion, and all will be merri-
ment with the three again. Murillo has caught

OUR ILLUSTRATIONS 55

the momentary expression and crystallized it.
The scene is like a snap-shot. It is absolutely
true to life and is thrown upon the canvas with
vigorous strokes and swept into position with
all its colour values right, its flesh firm and clear,
its blaze of vivid sunlight and the black gloom
of its cool shadows. As a natural expression
of the beauty of everyday life this picture has
few equals in the galleries of Europe.

LAD LOOKING OUT OF A WINDOW

Our last picture is also of a child, and again
for choice of subject we go to the National
Gallery. Murillo was evidently very fond of
children. No one could have painted them so
freshly and so well who had not a real love for
them, and therefore a clear understanding of
their special qualities. The street lads are re-
presented by him over and over again in all sorts
of familiar scenes, and here in this picture he
has just painted an ordinary Little Lad looking
out of a Window.

He is a typical young Spaniard, just a merry
happy young grig ; indolent, careless, indifferent,
bothering himself about nothing and about no-
body, but lazily lounging on the window-sill and
gazing out into the street. Something amuses

56 MURILLO

him, perhaps the pranks of another boy, or a
passing show ; it is nothing very special, but he
is watching it with interest, and a merry smile
twinkles in his eyes as the scene passes along.
Caught at the moment we must say again. The
artist has snapped the transient glance of the
lad ; he has fixed it for ever, and there the boy is,
idly leaning on the woodwork and laughing all
over his face at the scene which has tickled
him.

The flesh is so well painted that it attracts
attention for its accuracy; the draperies are
cleverly disposed, carelessly hung on the back of
the lad so as to show the chubby shoulder and
the crumpled neck. All the muscles are at rest
and in easy comfort ; the boy leans over on his
arms and elbows, and the head is just at a com-
fortable angle for sight and ease. His hair is
black and shaggy and hangs loosely over his
forehead ; but it is his eyes which attract atten-
tion, and, true to the custom of Murillo to have a
point tfappui in his pictures, he has made the
eyes of the lad the focus and in them he has told
his story.

We do not know anything of the history of the
lad : no one can tell who he was, whence he came
or what was his career : but we do know that this

Hanfstlingl photo.}

[National Gallery.

BOY LOOKING OUT OF A WINDOW.

OUR ILLUSTRATIONS 57

was not the only occasion on which he sat to
Murillo, as there are three other pictures by the
master in which his face appears. Perchance
he came in to grind colours, or perhaps was the
son of that Mulatto attendant, Sebastian Gomez,
who profited so well by the instructions of the
studio that he was able to finish the head of a
Madonna which Murillo was prevented from
completing, and to whom in reward Murillo gave
his freedom.

When we know of the kindness of the master
to his pupils, of the deep affection which they
bore for him, of the love with which Gomez ever
regarded him in return for the freedom and in-
struction which he gained at his hands, we can
weave a pretty story in our minds as to this little
lad, and indulge our imagination to our hearts'
content. There is a tradition in Seville that he
was the son of Gomez, and it may have some
foundation in fact. It is said that he was de-
voted to the master, and followed him wherever
he went, and that we can believe ; but whatever
he was, we are content to look at his bright,
merry face, as it peers out on us in this picture,
or in the other three pictures — once as an angel,
once as a boy in the crowd, and once as a fruit
dealer. We may be sure that the artist who won

58 MURILLO

all affections and lived such a holy life won the
affections of this little lad, and helped to brighten
his life in whatever way he could.

Truth is the great characteristic of this picture,
life — moving, active, happy life — well set forth,
skilfully painted and free from all needless ac-
cessories, just content to be itself and to live.

THE CHIEF WORKS OF MURILLO

IN THE PUBLIC GALLERIES

OF EUROPE

NATIONAL GALLERY, LONDON.

The Holy Family. (13.) Painted at Cadiz.
One of Murillo's last works. 9 ft. 6 in. by
6 ft. 10 in. (See p. 40.)

A Spanish Boy at a Window. (74.) Pre-
sented to the Gallery by Mr. M. M. Za chary
in 1826. Formerly in the possession of the
Marquis of Lansdowne. i ft. 9 in. by i ft.
3 in. (Seep. 55.)

St. John and the Lamb. (176.) Purchased
in 1840 from the Collection of Sir Simon
Clarke. 5 ft. 5 in. by 3 ft. 7 in. (See p. 48.)

The Nativity of the Virgin. (1257.) A colour
sketch for the large picture in the Louvre.
(540.) Formerly in the possession of the
Duchess de Berri, and presented to the
Gallery by Lord Savile. 9! in. by 17^ in.

A Boy drinking. (1286.) Bequeathed by
Mr. J. S. Beckett in 1889. 2 ft. i in. by
i ft. 7 in.

59

60 MURILLO

WALLACE GALLERY, HERTFORD HOUSE.

The Virgin and Child. (13.) 5 ft. 4 in. by

3 ft. 7 in.
The Adoration of the Shepherds. (34.) 4 ft.

10 in. by 7 ft. 2 in.
Joseph and his Brethren. (46.) 4 ft. 1 1 in.

by 7 ft. 5 in.
The Holy Family. (58.) 5 ft. 5 in. by 4 ft.

3 in.

The Annunciation. (68.) 6ft. 2 in. by 4 ft. 4 in.
The Charity of St. Thomas of Villanueva.

(97.) 4 ft. ii in. by 4 ft. n in.
Also two sketches and four school pictures.

There are also fine works by this artist
to be found in the Bridgewater, Apsley House,
Grosvenor House, and Stafford House Collec-
tions, and in the possession of the Earl of
Northbrook, Marquis of Lansdowne, Lady Ash-
burton, Mr. Beit and Capt. Holford in London ;
and in the country at Kingston Lacy (Mr. R.
Bankes), Longford Castle (Earl of Radnor),
Lowther Castle (Earl of Lonsdale), Belvoir
Castle (Duke of Rutland), Burghley House
(Marquis of Exeter), Althorp (Earl Spencer),
and Woburn Abbey (Duke of Bedford).

HIS CHIEF WORKS 61

DUBLIN GALLERY.

Portrait of Josua Van Belle. (30.) Pur-
chased in 1866. 4 ft. i in. by 3 ft. 4 in.

The Infant St. John playing with a Lamb.
(33.) Purchased in 1869. 2 ft. i in. by
i ft. 6 in.

DULWICH GALLERY.

A Spanish Flower Girl. (199.) 3 ft. n in.
by 3 ft. 2 in.

Two Spanish Peasant Boys and a Negro Boy.
(222.) 5 ft. 3 in. by 3 ft. 5 in.

Two Spanish Peasant Boys. (224.) Com-
panion picture.

La Madonna del Rosario. (281.) 6 ft. 5 in.
by 4 ft. 2 in.

GLASGOW GALLERY.

The Repose in Egypt. (568.) From the
M'Lellan Collection. 3 ft. 2 in. by 4 ft. i in.

AUSTRIA-HUNGARY
BUDA PESTH.

The Flight into Egypt. (775.)
Christ giving the Bread. (777.)
The Holy Family. (779.)
Portrait of a Man. (781.)

62 MURILLO

BUDA PESTH — continued.

The Madonna and Child. (780.)

St. Joseph with the Infant Christ. (798.)

FRANCE
THE LOUVRE.

The Immaculate Conception. (1708.)

The Immaculate Conception. (1709.)

The Birth of the Virgin. (1710.)

The Virgin in Glory. (1711.)

The Virgin of the Rosary. (1712.)

The Holy Family. (1713.)

Our Lord in the Garden of the Mount of
Olives. (1714.)

Christ at the Column. (1715.)

The Miracle of San Diego ; the Angels in the
Kitchen. (1716.)

The Youthful Beggar. (1717.)

Portrait of the Poet Quevedo. La Caze Col-
lection. (1718.)

Portrait of the Due d'Ossuna. La Caze Col-
lection. (1719.)

GERMANY
BERLIN GALLERY.

The Appearance of the Holy Child to St.
Antony of Padua. (414.) (See p. 45.)

HIS CHIEF WORKS 63

DRESDEN GALLERY.

The Head of St. Clare. From the Dudley

Collection. (703 B.)
The Martyrdom of St. Roderick. (704.)
The Madonna and Child. (705.)

MUNICH GALLERY.

St. Thomas of Villanueva healing a Lame

Man. (1303.)

Two Beggar Boys eating Grapes. (1304.)
Two Street Urchins with their Dog. (1305.)
Two Beggar Boys playing at Dice. (1306.)

(See p. 53.)

The Fruit-Sellers. (1307.) (See p. 51.)
The Old Woman and the Boy. (1308.)

HOLLAND
AMSTERDAM.

The Annunciation. (996.)

THE HAGUE.

The Madonna and Child. (296.) (See p. 43.)

RUSSIA
ST. PETERSBURG.

The Vision of Jacob. (359.)
Isaac blessing Jacob. (360 )
The Annunciation. (361.)

64 MURILLO

ST. PETERSBURG — continued. ' *

The Immaculate Conception. (362.)
The Adoration of the Shepherds. (363.)
St. Joseph and the Infant Christ. (365.)
The Repose in Egypt. (367.)
The Flight into Egypt. (368.)
The Holy Family. (369.)
The Crucifixion. (370.)
The Assumption of the Virgin. (371.)
The Vision of St. Antony. (373.) From the

Cathedral of Seville.
St. Peter released from Prison. (372.) One

of the pictures done for La Caridad.
The Death of the Inquisitor Pedro Arbuez.

(374.) From the Baptistery in Seville.

SPAIN

MADRID, THE PRADO GALLERY.

The Holy Family. (854.) 4 ft. 8 in. by 5 ft.

10 in.

Rebekah and Eliezar. (855.) 3 ft. 6 in. by

4 ft. 10 in.
The Annunciation of the Virgin. (856.) 5 ft.

1 1 in. by 7 ft. 3 in.

The Penitent Magdalen. (857.) From the
Palace of St. Ildefonso. 4 ft. 1 1 in. by 3 ft.
ii in.

HIS CHIEF WORKS 65

St. Jerome kneeling in his Cave. (858.)

6 ft. i in. by 4 ft. 3 in.
The Adoration of the Shepherds. (859.) 6 ft.

i in. by 7 ft. 5 in.
The Dilemma of St. Augustine. (860.) 8 ft.

1 1 in. by 6 ft. 4 in.
The Appearance of Christ to St. Francis.

(861.) 6ft. Sin. by 4ft. 9 in.
The Virgin and Child. (862.) 4 ft. 10 in.

by 3 ft. 4 in.
The Apostle James. (863.) 4 ft. 4 in. by

5 ft. 4 in.
The Child Jesus as a Shepherd. (864.) 4 ft.

by 3 ft.
The Child St. John with the Lamb. (865.)

3 ft. ii in. by 3 ft. 3 in.

The Divine Child and St. John drinking from

a Shell. (866.) 3 ft. 4 in. by 4 ft.
The Annunciation. (867.) 4 ft. i in. by 3 ft.

4 in.

The Appearance of the Virgin to St. Bernard.

(868.) 10 ft. i in. 8 ft. i in.
St. Alphonsus receiving the Chasuble from

the Virgin. (869.) 10 ft. i in. by 8 ft.

i in.
The Virgin of the Rosary. (870.) 4 ft. 4 in.

by 3 ft. 7 in.

66 MURILLO

St. Anne instructing the Blessed Virgin.

(872.) 7 ft. i in. by 5 ft. 4 in.
Also twenty-six more.

MADRID, ACADEMY OF SAN FERNANDO.

The Resurrection of Christ. Painted for the

Convent of Mercy.
The Dream of the Roman Senator. Painted

for Santa Maria la Blanca.
The Senator and his Wife telling their Dream

to the Pope Liberius. Painted for the

Church of Santa Maria la Blanca.
St. Elizabeth of Hungary. Painted for La

Caridad.

SEVILLE, THE CATHEDRAL.

Eight Bust Portraits in the Chapter Room.

The Immaculate Conception.

The Guardian Angel.

Christ after the Scourging.

St. Antony of Padua.

And many others.

There are also the works in the Hospital of
La Caridad already mentioned (see p. 18); a
picture in Santa Maria la Blanca; another in
the Capuchin Church beyond the walls; and

HIS CHIEF WORKS », 67

a wonderful series of nearly thirty fine works
in the Museum, the most important series of
the artist's pictures, save that at Madrid, which
remains.

SWEDEN

STOCKHOLM MUSEUM.
A Boy with a Basket.
A Boy with a Glass of Wine.

SOME BOOKS ABOUT MURILLO

" Murillo, Leben und Werke," by Stromer.
" Murillo," by Tubino.

"Murillo," by Ellen E. Minor. London, 1881.
" Murillo," by Estelle M. Kuril. Boston, 1901.
"Velazquez and His Times," by Carl Justi,

translated by Keane. 1889.
" Murillo " in the Kiinstler Monographien

Series, in German.
" Dialogo sobre el Arte de la Pintura." Ber-

mudez. Sevilla, 1819.
" Theoretica del Pintura." Palomino de Castro

y Velasco. Madrid.
"Les Peintres Espagnols." Guellette. Paris,

1863.
" Handbook of Spanish Painting." Sir E. Head.

London, 1848.
"Annals of the Artists of Spain." Sir W.

Stirling-Maxwell. 1848.
" Murillo and the Spanish School" W. B. Scott.

London, 1873.

"Dictionary of Spanish Artists." A. O'Neil.
London, 1833.

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