Bartolomé Esteban Murillo

Spain·1617-1682

Bartolomé Esteban Murillo was a Spanish Baroque painter who spent his career in Seville, where he was baptized in 1618 and died in 1682. He became one of the defining artists of Spain's Golden Age, celebrated for religious paintings and scenes of everyday life rendered with warmth and humanity. His work evolved from early naturalism toward a more complete Baroque vocabulary, sometimes approaching Rococo sensibility in his handling of light and sentiment. His subjects ranged from devotional images—particularly the Immaculate Conception, which he painted repeatedly—to tender genre scenes and shepherd boys. Murillo's combination of spiritual depth and accessible charm made his paintings enormously popular across Europe and the Americas.