Follower of Bartolomé Esteban Murillo, XIX century.

Follower of BARTOLOMÉ ESTEBAN MURILLO (Seville, 1617 - Cadiz, 1682).
"San Feliz Cantalicio with the Child". 19th century.
Oil on canvas.
Measurements: 74 x 57 cm.
The work follows the aesthetic precepts of the homonymous canvas by Bartolomé Esteban Murillo, today belonging to the collection of the Museum of Fine Arts of Seville. Murillo's work was created around 1668-1669 with the intention of decorating the nave of the Epistle of the Convent of Capuchinos (Seville). Murillo began his artistic apprenticeship around 1635 with the Sevillian painter Juan del Castillo, with whom he established a long professional and friendly relationship. He remained linked to the city of Seville throughout his life, and would become the most famous and sought-after painter in the city. The only recorded trip is documented in 1658, the year in which the artist was in Madrid, where he probably maintained contact with court painters such as Velázquez or Zurbarán, and was able to see the royal collection of paintings. Murillo obtained important contracts with both religious institutions and civilians. Very soon there were paintings of his in the main churches and convents of Seville and also in the noblest mansions of the city. Having become the first painter of the city, surpassing in fame even Zurbarán, moved his will to raise the expressive and technical level of local painting. For this reason, in 1660 he decided, together with Francisco de Herrera el Mozo, to found a painting academy where artists could exercise and perfect their technical resources. His fame was such that it went beyond the limits of the city of Seville, and spread throughout the national territory. According to Antonio Palomino, biographer of Spanish painters, it seems that around 1670 the king of Spain, Charles II, offered Murillo the possibility of moving to Madrid to work there as a court painter, although the artist declined the offer.