A Young Man with a Basket of Fruit (Personification of 'Summer'), ca.1650 Happy New Year! Welcome to the first post of 2013 ! January is a busy month for artists, with only November and July coming close for the sheer amount of artist birthdays. Born on December 31 and baptized on January 1, 1618 in Seville, Spain, Bartolomé Esteban Murillo was a giant of the Spanish Baroque era known for his flawless figures, graceful poses, and deep colors. Murillo is unique in his range of subject matter for his time, ranging from the genre of poor young boys to religious figures, lovely women and children to aristocratic portraits. Murillo may have been among the first to portray poverty after Velázquez, who was a profound influence on his work as a young artist in his twenties. However, Murillo has an optimism, a gentle quality to his work that is tender and soothing, a sort of antithesis to Caravaggio's tenebrism which was far more distopian and dark. At times this makes hi...
Thoughts and inspirations on art from the Old Masters to my own art