Murillo, the Self-Portraits

One of the most celebrated painters of the Spanish Golden Age, Bartolomé Esteban Murillo worked primarily in Seville, where he was born in December 1617, until his death in 1682. Well known for his religious paintings and his extraordinary depictions of street urchins, he was also an ingenious painter of portraits. This genre remains, however, the least studied aspect of his work. Inspired by the self-portraits in their holdings, New York’s Frick Collection and London’s National Gallery co-organized a 2017-18 show that marked the 400th anniversary of this great artist’s birth. "Murillo: The Self-Portraits" opened at the Frick from November 1, 2017, through February 11, 2018, and moved on to the London institution for a showing from February 28 through May 21, 2018. The exhibition was jointly organized by the Frick’s Peter Jay Sharp Chief Curator Xavier F. Salomon and Letizia Treves, Curator of Later Italian, Spanish, and French 17th-Century Paintings, National Gallery.

[@djbeauchamp]

The self portrait that preceded the first is most exquisite to my sight...and worthy of that admiration.