Bartolomé Esteban Murillo

Bartolomé Esteban Murillo’s paintings join devotional subjects with attentive human expression. His Seville commissions include biblical narratives, images of the Virgin, and stories of charity and Christian devotion. Soft transitions of light and color give figures a gentle, substantial presence. Scenes of ordinary life and self-portraits show other uses of observation, while his Prodigal Son paintings develop a biblical story through successive moments of action and response.