Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 17.djvu/67

Rh M U R M U R 55 in which the character of the French peasant is very uncom- plimentarily treated. Besides the books already mentioned, Murger s published works fill several volumes of prose and one of verse. The poems contained in the latter (Les Nuits d Hiver) are not very strong, but graceful and fre quently pathetic. The prose volumes, with the exception of a novel of some scale, Les Kmieries de V Ingenue (which the author left unfinished at his death), consist almost exclusively of short tales in the manner, and more or less on the subject, of the Vie de Boheme. All exhibit the same characteristics an excellent descriptive faculty, lively humour in drawing the follies of youth, frequently pathos, and not seldom a tender and poetical melancholy. MURILLO, BARTOLOM^ ESTEBAN (1617-1682), the greatest ecclesiastical painter of Spain, was the son of Gaspar Esteban Murillo and Maria Perez, and was born at Seville in 1617, probably at the very end of the year, as he was baptized on 1st January 1618. Esteban -Murillo appears to have been the compound surname of the father, but some inquirers consider that, in accordance with a fre quent Andalusian custom, the painter assumed the surname of his maternal grandmother, Elvira Murillo, in addition to that of his father. His parents (of whom nothing dis tinct is known, save that they were of a humble class), having been struck with the precocious sketches with which the unlettered boy was accustomed to adorn whatever available surface came in his way, wisely resolved to place him under the care of their distant relative, Juan del Castillo, the painter. Juan, a correct draughtsman and dry colourist, taught him all the mechanical parts of his profession with extreme care, and Murillo proved himself an apt and docile pupil. The artistic appliances of his master s studio were by no means abundant, and were often of the simplest kind. A few casts, some stray fragments of sculpture, and a lay figure formed the principal aids available in those days for the Sevillian student of art. A living model was a luxury generally beyond the means of the school, but on great occasions the youths would strip in turn and proffer an arm or a leg to be studied by their fellows. Objects of still life, however, were much studied by Murillo, and he early learned to hit off the ragged urchins of Seville pursuing their adventures in the market-place. Murillo in a few years painted as well as his master, and as stiffly. His two pictures of the Virgin, executed during this period, show how thoroughly he had mastered the style, with all its defects. Castillo was a very kind man, but his removal to Cadiz in 1639-40 threw his favourite pupil entirely upon his own resources. The fine school of Zurbaran was too expensive for the poor lad ; his parents were either dead or too poor to help him, and he was compelled to earn his bread by painting rough pictures for the &quot;feria&quot; or public fair of Seville. The religious daubs exposed at that mart were generally of as low an order as the prices paid for them by their rude purchasers. A &quot;pintura de la feria&quot; (a picture for the fair) was a proverbial expression for an execrably bad one ; yet the street painters who thronged the market-place with their &quot; clumsy saints and unripe Madonnas &quot; not unfrequently rose to be able and even famous artists. This rough-and-ready practice, partly for the market-place, partly for converts in Mexico and Peru, for whom Madonnas and popular saints were produced and shipped off by the dozen, doubtless increased Murillo s manual dexterity ; but, if we may judge from the picture of the Virgin and Child still shown in the Murillo- room at Seville as belonging to this period, he made but little improvement in colouring or in general strength of design. Struck by the favourable change which travel had wrought upon the style of his brother artist Pedro de Moya, Murillo in 1642 resolved to make a journey to Flanders or Italy in quest of further insight into art. But how was he, already struggling for existence and with a poor sister dependent on him, to raise the means necessary for such an expedition 1 Having bought a large quantity of canvas, he cut it into squares of different sizes, which he converted into pictures of a kind likely to sell. The American traders at once bought up his pieces, and he now found himself sufficiently rich to carry out his much -cherished design. He placed his sister under the care of some friends, and without divulging his plans to any one set out for Madrid. On reaching the capital he waited on Velazquez, his fellow- townsman, the great court-painter, then at the summit of his fortune, and, communicating to him his simple story, asked for some introduction to friends in Rome. The master liked what he saw of the manly youth, and in the noblest manner offered him lodging in his own house, and proposed to procure him admission to the royal galleries of the capital. Murillo accepted the offer, and here enjoyed the masterpieces of Italy and Flanders without travelling beyond the walls of Madrid. The next two years were chiefly spent in copying from Ribera, Vandyck, and Velazquez; and in 1644 he so greatly astonished the latter with some of his efforts that they were submitted to the inspection of the king and the court. His patron now urged him to go to Rome, and offered him letters to smooth his way ; but Murillo, from whatever cause, preferred re turning to his sister and his native Seville. The friars of the convent of San Francisco in Seville had about this time piously determined to adorn the walls of their small cloister in a manner worthy of their patron saint. But the brotherhood had no money ; and after endless begging they still found themselves incapable of employing an artist of name to execute the task. Murillo was needy, and offered his services ; after balancing their own poverty against his obscurity the friars bade him begin. Murillo covered the walls with eleven large pictures of remarkable power and beauty, displaying by turns the strong colouring of Ribera, the life-like truthfulness of Velazquez, and the sweetness of Vandyck. Among them were to be found representations of San Francisco, of San Diego, of Santa Clara, and of San Gil. These pictures were executed in his earliest style, commonly called his frio or cold style. It was based chiefly on Ribera and Caravaggio, and was dark with a decided outline. This rich collection is no longer to be met with in Seville ; Marshal Soult carried off ten of the works. The fame of these striking productions soon got abroad, and &quot;El Claustro Chico &quot; swarmed daily with artists and critics. Murillo was no longer friendless and unknown. The rich and the noble of Seville overwhelmed him with their commissions and their praises. In 1648 Murillo married a wealthy lady of rank, Dona Beatriz de Cabrera y Sotomayor, of the neighbourhood of Seville, and his house soon became the favourite resort of artists and connoisseurs. About this time he was associ ated with the landscape-painter Yriarte the two artists interchanging figures and landscapes for their respective works ; but they did not finally agree, and the co-operation came to an end. Murillo now painted the well-known Flight into Egypt, and shortly afterwards changed his earliest style of painting for his calido or warm style. His drawing was still well defined, but his outlines became softer and his figures rounder, and his colouring gained in warmth and transparency. His first picture of this style, according to Cean Bermudez, was a representation of Our Lady of the Conception, and was painted in 1652 for the brotherhood of the True Cross ; he received for it 2500 reals (26). In 1655 he executed his two famous paint ings of San Leandro and San Isidore at the order of Don Juan Federigo, archdeacon of Carmona, which are now to be seen in the cathedral of Seville. These are two noble