A Popular Handbook to the National Gallery, Volume I, Foreign Schools: Including by Special Permission Notes Collected from the Works of John Ruskin
History
A Popular Handbook to the National Gallery, Volume I, Foreign Schools: Including by Special Permission Notes Collected from the Works of John Ruskin
National Gallery (Great Britain); Painting -- England -- London -- Catalogs
instead of rising in the opalescent mystery which invariably
characterises the distant snows, have the forms and the colours
of heaps of chalk in a limekiln, not of Alps" (_ibid._, sec.
iv. ch. ii. §§ 8, 9).
13. THE HOLY FAMILY.
_Murillo_ (Spanish: 1618-1682).
Bartolomé Estéban Murillo, the most widely popular of the
Spanish painters, was himself sprung from the "people." He was
born of humble parents in Seville, and his earliest attempts
at art were pictures for fairs. He is also believed to have
supplied some of the Madonnas which were shipped off by loads
for the convents in Mexico[51] and Peru. A turning-point in
his artistic career came, however, when a certain Pedro de
Moya came into the studio of Murillo's uncle, Castillo. De
Moya had been studying under Van Dyck in London. Van Dyck's
style was a revelation to Murillo, who determined forthwith to
start off on the grand tour. First, however, he went to Madrid,
where Velazquez helped him greatly. His studies there were
so successful, and his popularity became so great, that the
foreign journey was abandoned. He married a lady of fortune,
his house became a centre of taste and fashion, commissions
poured in upon him, and in 1660 he formed the Academy of
Seville. His life was as pious as it was busy. He was often
seen praying for long hours in his parish church, and in his
last illness (which was brought on by his falling, in a fit of
absence of mind, from a scaffold) he was carried every day to
pray before Pedro Campaña's "Descent from the Cross." "I wait
here," he said to the sacristan who asked one day if he were
ready to go, "till the pious servants of our Lord have taken
him down."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account