Spanish 1618-1682 Bartolome Esteban Murillo Galleries Murillo began his art studies under Juan del Castillo in Seville. Murillo became familiar with Flemish painting; the great commercial importance of Seville at the time ensured that he was also subject to influences from other regions. His first works were influenced by Zurbaran, Jusepe de Ribera and Alonso Cano, and he shared their strongly realist approach. As his painting developed, his more important works evolved towards the polished style that suited the bourgeois and aristocratic tastes of the time, demonstrated especially in his Roman Catholic religious works. In 1642, at the age of 26 he moved to Madrid, where he most likely became familiar with the work of Velazquez, and would have seen the work of Venetian and Flemish masters in the royal collections; the rich colors and softly modeled forms of his subsequent work suggest these influences. He returned to Seville in 1645. In that year, he painted thirteen canvases for the monastery of St. Francisco el Grande in Seville which gave his reputation a well-deserved boost. Following the completion of a pair of pictures for the Seville Cathedral, he began to specialise in the themes that brought him his greatest successes, the Virgin and Child, and the Immaculate Conception. After another period in Madrid, from 1658 to 1660, he returned to Seville. Here he was one of the founders of the Academia de Bellas Artes (Academy of Art), sharing its direction, in 1660, with the architect, Francisco Herrera the Younger. This was his period of greatest activity, and he received numerous important commissions, among them the altarpieces for the Augustinian monastery, the paintings for Santa Mar??a la Blanca (completed in 1665), and others.
Angels Kitchen
180 x 450 cm Mus?e du Louvre, Paris In his early pictures Murillo seems to have drawn the figures one by one, without attempting to unify the composition. But in the famous painting known as the Angels' Kitchen there is a greater narrative cohesion. Although the name of the protagonist is still somewhat uncertain, he may be the lay brother Francisco P?rez from the nearby town Alcal?de Guadaira, who spent thirty years as an assistant in the kitchen of the monastery San Francisco el Grande. According to the story he was much given to fervent prayer and one day became so lost in his devotions that he neglected his duties. Upon returning to consciousness, he was surprised to see that his chores had been miraculously accomplished. Murillo has embellished the legend with irresistibly charming details. Fray Francisco, who is bathed in an aura of golden light, floats above the ground in a mystical rapture. Next to him stand exquisitely painted angels, with richly coloured wings, while at the right putti and angels tackle the work of preparing the meal, grinding spices, stirring the hotpot, and setting the table in the midst of a delicious still-life of vegetables and cookware. Painted when the artist was approaching thirty years of age, this painting announces the arrival of a new talent and temper in Sevillian painting