Immaculate Conception of Soult by Bartolome Esteban Murillo - Eternal Glory of Love

Immaculate Conception of Soult

Immaculate Conception of Soult c1678 by Spanish Painter Bartolome Esteban Murillo (1617 – 1682); considered to be one of the leading painters of the Golden Age and also was the head of the Seville school

This painting shows the magnitude of Murillo talent, showing the Virgin Mary, surrounded by a multitude of angels, floating upon the clouds in the foreground and background above her an below her.

This is a retouched digital art old masters reproduction of a public domain image.

Info Below Derived From Wikipedia.org

Bartolomé was the son of Spanish parents Gaspar Esteban a barber nad surgeon and María Pérez, and may have been born in either Seville of in pilas Spain, a smaller Andalusian town; and was the youngest son of a family of fourteen.

When Bartolomé was 10 years old he lost one of his parents, and then a year later in 1628 at the age of 11 he lost his other parent; thus becoming a ward of his sister’s husband Juan Agustín Lagares.

Bartolomé began his artistic studies under Baroque Spanish Painter Juan del Castillo (1590 – 1657); who was a relative of his mothers and his uncle on his mother side of the family Antonio Pérez, was also a painter.

If you are wondering where Bartolomé last name comes from, it is from his maternal grandmother, Elvira Murillo; he rarely used is fathers surname.

At the age of 26, in 1642 he moved to Madrid Spain, becoming familiar with the works of Spanish Painter Diego Rodríguez de Silva y Velázquez (1599 – 1660); and the works of Venetian and Flemish masters that were in the royal collection; which is suggested by the rich colors and soft modeled forms of his later works.

Bartolomé was an artist that was in great demand throughout his career and he had many pupils and followers; as such, much of his work was imitated by others, which insured that his reputation in Spain and fame throughout Europe, made his artwork more widely known than any other Spanish artist.