MURILLO, BARTNOLOME ESTEBAN, was b. at Seville, and baptized Jan. 1, 1618; and after receiving some education, was placed with his relative, Juan del Castillo, to study painting. Having saved a little money, which lie made by painting religious pictures for exportation to South America, he went to Madrid in 1641, being then in his 24th year, was favorably noticed by his celebrated townsman, Velasquez, and through his influence, was enabled to study the Clufs-dwuvre of Italian and Flemish nit in the royal collections. In 1645, lie determined to return to Seville, though advised to proceed to Rome by Velasquez who offered him letters from the king. After in Seville, lie received numerous important commissions, and was soon acknowledged as the head of the school there. In 1648, Murillo married a lady of fortune; he now maintained a handsome establishment, and his house was the resort of people of taste and fashion. The academy of Seville was founded by him in 1660, but he filled the office of president only during the first year. He fell from a scaffold when painting in Cadiz on an altar piece for the church of the capuchins, returned to Seville, and soon after died from tl.e
injury he received, April 3, 1682. In early life, he painted many pictures illustrath e of humble life; in these, the manner was darker and less refined than that exhibited in his later pictures, which are mostly scriptural or religious pieces. In the Louvre, and in England, there are about forty of his works. Sir David Wilkie, who greatly admire a1 and carefully studied the Spanish school, has remarked, in reference to it: "Velasquez and Murillo are, preferred, and preferred with reason, to all the others, as the most original and characteristic of their school. These two great painters are remarkable for having lived in the same time, in the same school, painted for the same people, and of the same age, and yet to have formed two styles so different and opposite, that the most unlearned can scarcely mistake them; Murillo being all softness, while Velasquez is all sparkle and vivacity."