School of Bartolomé Esteban Murillo

School of BARTOLOMÉ ESTEBAN MURILLO (Seville, 1617 - Cadiz, 1682).
"The baptism of Christ".
Oil on canvas. Relined.
It has a frame of the nineteenth century.
Measurements: 154 x 108 cm; 168 x 122 cm (frame).
This piece iconographically follows the composition created by the master Murillo, for the refectory of the Convent of San Leandro in Seville. The main characters of the two works have the same disposition. However, the landscape changes in such a way that it is conceived through a darker tonality, with ochre and earth tones dominating. Iconographically, the theme of the Baptism of Christ is one of the oldest in Christian art because of its theological importance and the Sacrament that derives from it (which is why it has undergone variations that, on occasions, can be related to liturgical variations in the Sacrament of Baptism). As it is logical, it has varied according to the moment, the style and the school to which each work belongs.
Little is known about Murillo's childhood and youth, except that he lost his father in 1627 and his mother in 1628, which is why he was taken under the tutelage of 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.