Murillo
With two exhibitions dedicated to Bartolomé Esteban Murillo taking place simultaneously in London (at Dulwich Picture Gallery and the Wallace Collection), we have put together a list of prints based on the paintings of the Seville-based artist.
Murillo's paintings were highly regarded Britain in the 18th century, hence the number of fine engravings made from them. Examples of his religious paintings in Britain and the time are this Holy Family:
The Holy Family
Thomas Chambars after Murillo
Published by Boydell, 1764
platemark 515 x 390mm
£140 + VAT
At least two of Murillo's paintings were in the famous Walpole collection at Houghton, which was the subject of an ambitious series of engravings published by Boydell before the collection was sold to Catherine the Great. Most of the collection can still be seen at the Hermitage in St. Petersburg, including a painting described by some as the The Immaculate Conception and others as The Assumption of the Virgin:
The Assumption of the Virgin
Valentine Green after Murillo
Published by Boydell, 1776
platemark 505 x 360mm
£140 + VAT
Also in the Hermitage is the Adoration of the Shepherds, in which Murillo 'comes close to caricature in his broad presentation of the ignorant shepherds [...] Divine light, emanating from the Child, illuminates the nocturne, following a Northern fifteenth-century innovation' (Eisler):
The Adoration of the Shepherds
Valentine Green after Murillo
Published by Boydell, 1775
platemark 505 x 360mm
£180 + VAT
Besides religious subjects, Murillo also painted genre scenes, which often had a strong Northern component as well (there is the suggestion that these were often painted for Flemish merchants in Seville). His Two Women at a Window (Washington, National Galley of Art), for example, uses the window as a compositional tool in a way common in Dutch 17th century painting but virtually non-existent in Spanish painting of the period. An early engraving of this painting was titled Las Gallegas and the painting was exhibited in 1828 under the title 'Spanish Courtesan' (Brown and Mann state that Galician women were sometimes reputed as prostitutes in the period), but our engraving, from the mid 19th century interestingly has the title 'A Spanish Girl with her Nurse':
A Spanish Girl with her Nurse
From the Celebrated Picture by Murillo, at Novar House Rossshire, Scotland.
John Bromley after Murillo
Published by Girardon, Bovinet & Co
platemark 430 x 370mm
£150 + VAT
The Dulwich collection includes two genre scene by Murillo- one, now titled Invitation to a Game of Argolla in reference to the Spanish ball game, goes by the more generic title of Spanish Peasant Boys in William Say's fine engraving:
[Spanish Peasant Boys]
[Murillo pinxt.] [W. Say sculpt.]
[London, Published June 1st. 1814 by T.Macdonald 39 Fleet Street.]
Fine mezzotint. Proof before letters. 660 x 417mm. 26" x 16½". Engraved by William Say (1768-1834).
[Ref: 8311] £380
The other is his Three Boys , an interesting and complex picture which as the Dulwich description of the painting makes clear, is more nuanced than may first appear. This print, reversing the composition, is amongst the earliest British prints after Murillo:
[Three Boys]
Morelia [ie Murillo] pinx E. Cooper ex
n.d., c.1682-1725
Mezzotint, platemark 220 x 155mm
Creases top left.
£120 + VAT
These genre scenes had a noticeable influence on British painters in the late 18th century, including Gainsborough (who owned work by Murillo's studio)- his Cottage Girl (Dublin, National Gallery of Ireland) is exhibited at Dulwich in counterpoint to Murillo's own ragged children:
[The Cottage Girl]
[Charles Turner after Gainsborough]
[published by WB Cooke, 1823]
mezzotint, image 20 x 16cm
£30 + VAT
...And Sir Joshua Reynolds whose Young Shepherd Boy was one of several works 'deliberately modelled on Murillo' (Marques):
A Shepherd's Boy. From an Original Picture by Sr Joshua Reynolds.
I. Spilsbury Sculpt.
London Published June 25th 1823, by H. Gibbs 23 Gt. Newport Street.
Etching with some stipple A good impression.
This appears to be a reissue of the plate first published by Spilsbury in 1786.
See Hamilton p.156.
[Ref: 20570] £35.00 (£42.00 incl.VAT)
To finish, we have an engraving of The Infant Christ as the Good Shepherd then believed to be by Murillo himself but now considered to be by a follower:
E Tabula Bartolomei Murillo, in Pinacotheca quondam Gulielmu Hunter MD, asservatur. L [marked to right.]
B. Murillo Pinxit. R. Strange Eques Del.t et Sculp.t
[n.d. c.1791.]
Etching and engraving, with large margins. Plate 355 x 401mm. 14 x 15¾". Crease.
[Ref: 23724] £180.00 (£216.00 incl.VAT)
And an unusual German lithograph claiming to be after Murillo but which we haven't been able to identify (if you know, please tell us!):
Aus der herzoglich Leuchtenberg'schen Gemaelde Sammlung
N. Muxel after Murillo (?)
Published by Th. Kammerer
Lithograph, printed area 585 x 380mm
£120 + VAT
Bibliography:
Masters of World Painting: Murillo; Jonathan Brown and Richard G. Mann, Spanish Paintings of the Fifteenth through Nineteenth Centuries (NGA Washington); Albert F. Calvert, Murillo; Colin Eisler, Paintings in the Hermitage; M.Mena Marques et al, Murillo; August L. Mayer, Murillo: Des Meisters Gemaelde
Murillo's paintings were highly regarded Britain in the 18th century, hence the number of fine engravings made from them. Examples of his religious paintings in Britain and the time are this Holy Family:
Thomas Chambars after Murillo
Published by Boydell, 1764
platemark 515 x 390mm
£140 + VAT
At least two of Murillo's paintings were in the famous Walpole collection at Houghton, which was the subject of an ambitious series of engravings published by Boydell before the collection was sold to Catherine the Great. Most of the collection can still be seen at the Hermitage in St. Petersburg, including a painting described by some as the The Immaculate Conception and others as The Assumption of the Virgin:
Valentine Green after Murillo
Published by Boydell, 1776
platemark 505 x 360mm
£140 + VAT
Also in the Hermitage is the Adoration of the Shepherds, in which Murillo 'comes close to caricature in his broad presentation of the ignorant shepherds [...] Divine light, emanating from the Child, illuminates the nocturne, following a Northern fifteenth-century innovation' (Eisler):
Valentine Green after Murillo
Published by Boydell, 1775
platemark 505 x 360mm
£180 + VAT
Besides religious subjects, Murillo also painted genre scenes, which often had a strong Northern component as well (there is the suggestion that these were often painted for Flemish merchants in Seville). His Two Women at a Window (Washington, National Galley of Art), for example, uses the window as a compositional tool in a way common in Dutch 17th century painting but virtually non-existent in Spanish painting of the period. An early engraving of this painting was titled Las Gallegas and the painting was exhibited in 1828 under the title 'Spanish Courtesan' (Brown and Mann state that Galician women were sometimes reputed as prostitutes in the period), but our engraving, from the mid 19th century interestingly has the title 'A Spanish Girl with her Nurse':
From the Celebrated Picture by Murillo, at Novar House Rossshire, Scotland.
John Bromley after Murillo
Published by Girardon, Bovinet & Co
platemark 430 x 370mm
£150 + VAT
The Dulwich collection includes two genre scene by Murillo- one, now titled Invitation to a Game of Argolla in reference to the Spanish ball game, goes by the more generic title of Spanish Peasant Boys in William Say's fine engraving:
[Murillo pinxt.] [W. Say sculpt.]
[London, Published June 1st. 1814 by T.Macdonald 39 Fleet Street.]
Fine mezzotint. Proof before letters. 660 x 417mm. 26" x 16½". Engraved by William Say (1768-1834).
[Ref: 8311] £380
The other is his Three Boys , an interesting and complex picture which as the Dulwich description of the painting makes clear, is more nuanced than may first appear. This print, reversing the composition, is amongst the earliest British prints after Murillo:
Morelia [ie Murillo] pinx E. Cooper ex
n.d., c.1682-1725
Mezzotint, platemark 220 x 155mm
Creases top left.
£120 + VAT
These genre scenes had a noticeable influence on British painters in the late 18th century, including Gainsborough (who owned work by Murillo's studio)- his Cottage Girl (Dublin, National Gallery of Ireland) is exhibited at Dulwich in counterpoint to Murillo's own ragged children:
[Charles Turner after Gainsborough]
[published by WB Cooke, 1823]
mezzotint, image 20 x 16cm
£30 + VAT
...And Sir Joshua Reynolds whose Young Shepherd Boy was one of several works 'deliberately modelled on Murillo' (Marques):
I. Spilsbury Sculpt.
London Published June 25th 1823, by H. Gibbs 23 Gt. Newport Street.
Etching with some stipple A good impression.
This appears to be a reissue of the plate first published by Spilsbury in 1786.
See Hamilton p.156.
[Ref: 20570] £35.00 (£42.00 incl.VAT)
To finish, we have an engraving of The Infant Christ as the Good Shepherd then believed to be by Murillo himself but now considered to be by a follower:
B. Murillo Pinxit. R. Strange Eques Del.t et Sculp.t
[n.d. c.1791.]
Etching and engraving, with large margins. Plate 355 x 401mm. 14 x 15¾". Crease.
[Ref: 23724] £180.00 (£216.00 incl.VAT)
And an unusual German lithograph claiming to be after Murillo but which we haven't been able to identify (if you know, please tell us!):
N. Muxel after Murillo (?)
Published by Th. Kammerer
Lithograph, printed area 585 x 380mm
£120 + VAT
Bibliography:
Masters of World Painting: Murillo; Jonathan Brown and Richard G. Mann, Spanish Paintings of the Fifteenth through Nineteenth Centuries (NGA Washington); Albert F. Calvert, Murillo; Colin Eisler, Paintings in the Hermitage; M.Mena Marques et al, Murillo; August L. Mayer, Murillo: Des Meisters Gemaelde
