Sevillian school of the late seventeenth century. Follower of BARTOLOMÉ ESTEBAN MURILLO (Seville, 1617 - Cadiz, 1682). "Sleeping child with attribute

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Oct 20, 2021

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  Sevillian school of the late seventeenth century. Follower of BARTOLOMÉ ESTEBAN MURILLO (Seville, 1617 - Cadiz, 1682). "Sleeping child with attributes of the passion". Oil on canvas. Relined. Size: 53 x 70 cm; 62 x 79 cm (frame). In the present work we see how Jesus Child sleeps on the cross between emblems of death or attributes of the future passion. The prefiguration of the Death and the Passion, theme of great acceptance in the baroque aesthetics, was represented in diverse occasions by Bartolomé Esteban Murillo and his followers. As a model of perfection for all other children, the Child Jesus is perennially portrayed as an example of holiness, virtue and love. The canvas follows a common trend in Murillo's paintings of childhood, its function to arouse strong devotional feelings in accordance with Christ's teaching on the innocent faith of children: "Truly I tell you, unless you become like little children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven" (Matthew 18: 3). (Matthew 18: 3). Of Murillo's childhood and youth little is known, except that he was orphaned of father in 1627 and of mother in 1628, reason for which he passed to be tutored by his brother-in-law. Around 1635 he must have begun his apprenticeship as a painter, very possibly with Juan del Castillo, who was married to a cousin of his. This working and artistic relationship would last about six years, as was customary at the time. After his marriage, in 1645, he began what was to be a brilliant career that progressively made him the most famous and sought-after painter in Seville. The only recorded trip he made is documented in 1658, the year in which Murillo was in Madrid for several months. It may be thought that at the court he maintained contact with the painters who resided there, such as Velázquez, Zurbarán and Cano, and that he had access to the collection of paintings in the Royal Palace, a magnificent subject of study for all those artists who passed through the court. Despite the few documentary references regarding his mature years, we know that he enjoyed a comfortable life, which allowed him to maintain a high standard of living and several apprentices. Having become the first painter of the city, surpassing in fame even Zurbarán, moved his will to raise the artistic level of local painting. For this reason, in 1660 he decided, together with Francisco Herrera el Mozo, to found an academy of painting, of which he was the main promoter. His fame spread to such an extent, throughout the national territory, that Palomino indicates that around 1670 King Carlos II offered him the possibility of moving to Madrid to work there as a court painter. We do not know if this reference is true, but the fact is that Murillo remained in Seville until the end of his life. His works are currently preserved in the most important art galleries in the world, such as the Prado Museum, the Hermitage in St. Petersburg, the Kunsthistorisches in Vienna, the Louvre in Paris, the Metropolitan in New York or the National Gallery in London, among many others.
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