Bartolomé Esteban Murillo (born late December 1617, baptized January 1, 1618 – April 3, 1682) was a Spanish Baroque painter. Although he is best known for his religious works, Murillo also produced a considerable number of paintings of contemporary women and children. These lively, realist portraits of flower girls, street urchins, and beggars constitute an extensive and appealing record of the everyday life of his times. Murillo had many pupils and followers. The prolific imitation of his paintings ensured his reputation in Spain and fame throughout Europe, and prior to the 19th century his work was more widely known than that of any other Spanish artist. Artists influenced by his style included Gainsborough and Greuze. His death was, for a long time, wrongly attributed to a hernia caused by a fall from a scaffold while working on a fresco at Santa María la Blanca (Cadiz). However, recent research shows that during this time he did not leave Seville, disproving this theory.
The Museo del Prado in Madrid; Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg, Russia; and the Wallace Collection in London are among the museums holding works by Murillo. His painting Christ on the Cross is at the Timken Museum of Art in San Diego.[6] Christ After the Flagellation is at the Krannert Art Museum, Champaign, Illinois.[7] His work is also found at the Mabee-Gerrer Museum of Art in Shawnee, Oklahoma, and at the Meadows Museum at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas.
