writingaboutpaintings

Bartolomé Esteban Murillo was lauded as the greatest Spanish painter of his time somewhere during the seventeenth century at the height of the Baroque. He was a Carravigisti which translates roughly to ‘follower of Caravaggio.’ His predecessor frequently got the bad rep as the outlaw whose paintings were as dark as his swarthy physical appearance and dark tendency to temper outbursts and fights. Murillo himself on the contrary, was lauded as a sweet and gentle natured man whose disposition left the same imprint on his creations, albeit on a most positive nature than that of his influencer.

In his living years in Counter Reformation Spain, Murillo developed his signature style unifying the physical world with a clear narrative, religious devotion and sentimental sweetness. He married the realism of Caravaggio using relatable human models with a touch of transcendence on his portrayals of saints and children that are hard to miss. The artist focused on clear storytelling devices that are easy to ‘read’ by all. He also engaged the viewer by beckoning them to visual enter the space by techniques such as trompe l’oeil and foreshortening. Indeed, all these characteristics of a Murillo attracts the eyes of people even when place among the company of countless masterpieces such as in El Prado. ¹

What really sets Murillo apart is the sweetness and elegant that was also inspirited by other two of his predecessors such as Jan Van Dyck and Peter Paul Reubens. One can say that his tender style was influenced by the studies he did of these two fellow painters. In his final years, there was beatuous appeal and lightness of his ‘vaporous’ paintings that were characteristics of the Rococo movement ages before the French style ever came to be. Known as ‘estilo vaporiso’, the melting softness of his brushstrokes has been known to set a precedent for generations to come. Indeed in Spain, a good painting is still called a ‘Murillo’.

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