Pongal

Why is Pongal celebrated?
Pongal is a unique festival celebrated by Tamils ​​for four days starting on the first day of Thai month.
This Pongal Festival is being celebrated by Tamils ​​around the world (India, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Singapore, European countries, North America, South Africa and Mauritius). The sunbathing is celebrated in thanksgiving to the God of the working people, Kathiravan and other lives.



History of Pongal
The Pongal festival is celebrated on the 1st day. The crops grown in the month of Adi will give good yield. Pongal pongal is the sole purpose of sharing the pongal pongal with milk, sugar / jaggery, ghee, cashews, grapes and cardamom.

The Pongal brigade will mainly include turmeric, sugarcane, banana, tuber and vegetable varieties. It is also common to grind green rice with lentils without adding bran. Also, all Tamils ​​eat vegetarian food.

The Taipongal festival is considered by many to be the national festival of Tamils. Not only the Pongalai Hindus but also the Tamil Christians and Tamil Islamists enjoying a special treat with their families, makes the majority of Tamil Nadu feel.

Uzhavar Thirunal / Tiller Day
The Taipoongal Festival is considered as a festive day for all working people, thanks to the livestock and nature that helped them in their work. Taipongal is a four-day festival celebrated by Tamils ​​around the world:

1. Bhogi Festival / Bogi Festival

Pokipandi is a festival celebrated by Tamils ​​on the first day of Pongal, the last day of Makkali. It is customary to clean the house on a regular basis and to burn unnecessary old items. Old deductions and new entries are the go-to. People who are celebrating with a boutique insert the roof of their house.

2. Thai Pongal / Taipongal
Taipongal is celebrated on the first day of Tamanism. To this day, Tamils ​​are also believed to have given birth to Thai.

3. Mattu Pongal / Cow Pongal

The cow is celebrated on the 2nd day of Tamil Nadu. Pongale Cow Pongale is a place where cattle are bathed and decorated. Thanksgiving for the "b" that is helpful for tillage is celebrated in every home where the cow is raised.






4. Kaanum Pongal / Pongal seen
Pongal Thai month is observed by Tamils ​​(mainly in Tamil Nadu). People will share their love for their relatives at the home of their relatives.

We wish our spiritual readers and all the Tamils ​​in the world a good day to have this rich day.

பொங்கல்

பொங்கல் ஏன் கொண்டாடப்படுகிறது?

பொங்கல் என்பது தமிழர்களால் தை மாதம் முதல் நாள் தொடங்கி நான்கு நாட்களுக்கு சிறப்பாகக் கொண்டாடப்படும் ஒரு தனிப்பெரும் விழா தைப்பொங்கல். இந்த பொங்கல் விழாவானது தமிழர் திருநாளாக உலகம் முழுதுமுள்ள தமிழர்களால் (இந்தியா, இலங்கை, மலேசியா, சிங்கப்பூர், ஐரோப்பிய நாடுகள், வட அமெரிக்கா, தென் ஆப்பிரிக்கா, மொரிசியசு) கொண்டாடப்பட்டு வருகிறது. உழைக்கும் மக்களின் தேவனாகிய கதிரவனுக்கும், ஏனைய உயிர்களுக்கும் நன்றிசெலுத்தும் விதமாக சூரியப்பொங்கல் கொண்டாடப்படுகிறது.

 பொங்கல் வரலாறு

பொங்கல் பண்டிகை தை 1-ம் நாள் கொண்டாடப்படுகிறது. ஆடி மாதத்தில் பயிரிட்ட பயிர்கள் நல்ல விளைச்சளைத் தைமாதம் தரும். இதில் அறுவடை செய்த நெல்லின் அரிசியைக்(பச்சரிசி) கொண்டு பால், சர்க்கரை/வெல்லம், நெய், முந்திரி, திராட்சை மற்றும் ஏலக்காய் சேர்த்துப் புது பானை & புது அடுப்பில் கொதிக்க விட்டு பொங்கும் வேளையில் பொங்கலோ பொங்கல் என்று கூறி சூரியபகவானுக்கு, மாட்டுக்கும் படைத்தது நாமும் பகிர்ந்து உண்ணுவதே பொங்கல் விழாவின் தனிச்சிறப்பாகும்.

பொங்கல் படையலில் முக்கியமாக மஞ்சள் கொத்து, கரும்பு, வாழை, கிழங்கு வகைகள், கொடி வழிக் காய்கறி வகைகள் சேர்க்கப்படும். பச்சை நெற்களை அரைத்து தவிடு நீக்காமல் தண்ணீர் சேர்த்து வைக்கப்படும் பருப்புக் குழம்புடன் படையலிடுவதும் வழக்கத்தில் உள்ளது. மேலும் பொங்கலன்று தமிழர்கள் அனைவரும் சைவ வகை உணவுகளையே உண்கின்றனர்.

தைப்பொங்கல் விழாவானது தமிழர்களின் தேசிய விழாவாக பலர் கருதுகின்றனர். பொங்கலை இந்துக்கள் மட்டுமல்லாமல் தமிழ் கிருத்துவர்கள், தமிழ் இஸ்லாமியர்களும் சர்க்கரைப் பொங்கல் வைத்து சிறப்பு விருந்தாக குடும்பத்தினருடன் உண்பதும் தமிழ்நாட்டில் பெரும்பான்மையை உணர்த்துகிறது.

உழவர் திருநாள்

உழைக்கும் மக்கள் அனைவரும் தங்களின் உழைப்பிற்கு உதவிகரமாக விளங்கிய கால்நடைகளுக்கும் இயற்கைக்கும் நன்றி செலுத்தும் விதமாகவே தைப்பொங்கல் விழா உழவர் திருநாளாக கருதப்படுகிறது. தைப்பொங்கல் நான்கு நாள் விழாவாக உலகிலுள்ள தமிழர்களால் கொண்டாடப்படுகிறது:

1.  போகி பண்டிகை

போகிப்பண்டிகை என்பது பொங்கலுக்கு முதல்நாள் அதாவது மார்கழி கடைசி நாள் தமிழர்களால் கொண்டாடப்படும் பண்டிகையாகும். போகிப்பண்டிகையன்று வீட்டை சுத்தம் செய்து, தேவையில்லாத பழைய பொருட்களை எரிப்பது வழக்கம். பழையன கழிதலும் புதியன புகுதலுமே போகியாகும். போகிப்பண்டிகை கொண்டாடும் மக்கள் தங்கள் வீட்டின் மேற்கூரையில் காப்புக்கட்டுதல் / பூலாப்பூ செருகி வைப்பர்.

2.  தைப்பொங்கல்

தைப்பொங்கல் தைமாதம் முதல்நாள் கொண்டாடப்படுகிறது. தை பிறந்தால் வழி பிறக்கும் என்கிற பழமொழியும் தமிழர்களால் இன்றுவரை நம்பப்படுகிறது.

3.  மாட்டுப் பொங்கல்

மாட்டுப்பொங்கல் தைமாதம் 2-ம் நாள் தமிழர்களால் கொண்டாடப்படுகிறது.

மாட்டுப் பொங்கலன்று தொழுவத்தில் உள்ள மாடுகளை குளிக்கவைத்து அலங்காரம் செய்து வைக்கப்படும் பொங்கலே மாட்டுபொங்கலாகும். உழவுத்தொழிலுக்கு உதவியாக இருக்கும் “ஆ”வினத்திற்கு நன்றி செலுத்தும் விதமாகவே மாட்டுப்பொங்கல் மாடு வைத்திருக்கும் ஒவ்வொரு வீட்டிலும் கொண்டாடப்படுகிறது.

4.காணும் பொங்கல்

காணும் பொங்கல் தை மாதம் 3-ம் நாள் தமிழர்களால் (முக்கியமாக தமிழ்நாட்டில்) கொண்டாடப்படுகிறது. காணும் பொங்கலன்று மக்கள் தங்கள் உறவினர்களின் வீட்டிற்குச்சென்று தங்களின் அன்பைப் பகிர்ந்து கொள்வர்.

நம் ஆன்மீக வாசகர்கள் மற்றும் உலகிலுள்ள அனைத்து தமிழர்களுக்கும் இந்த தைத்திருநாளானது எல்லா விதமான செல்வங்களும் கிடைக்கும் நல்ல நாளாக அமைய வேண்டுகிறோம்.

Bartolomé Esteban Murillo Born: 31 December 1617,( Spain ) In December 1617, Bartolomé Esteban Murillo was born in Seville, where he would live and work his entire life. Throughout his childhood, Seville remained the foremost city in Spain, equal in power and population to Venice, Amsterdam, or even Madrid. Seville had long held the monopoly on trade with the New World, and despite Spain's near constant wars with France and the Low Countries, the city remained prosperous well into the 1630s. Later, when Murillo established his career, Seville's population and standard of living decreased, while its churches and religious fraternities increased. Eventually, his identity became integrated so strongly with religion that his pictures arguably shaped Baroque Seville as much as the city moulded his career.

Bartolome Esteban Murillo

• Full Name:
• Bartolomé Esteban Murillo
• Short Name:
• Murillo
• Date of Birth:
• 31 Dec 1617
• Date of Death:
• 03 Apr 1682
• Focus:
• Paintings, Drawings
• Mediums:
• Oil, Other
• Subjects:
• Figure, Scenery
• Art Movement:
• Baroque
• Hometown:
• Seville, Spain

Introduction

• 

  Christ the Good Shepherd
  Bartolome Esteban Murillo

• 

  Boy with a Dog
  Bartolome Esteban Murillo

Today, Bartolomé Esteban Murillo is best known as the painter of sweetness and light. His demure, rosy-cheeked Virgins and mischievous, smirking street urchins have often caused the painter to be dismissed as sentimental, weak and inconsequential, unlike his far darker, more serious contemporaries, Ribera, Zurbarán and Velázquez. Due to this less than flattering interpretation of his paintings, until recently Murillo had virtually disappeared from the art history books.

This disappearing act is all the more incredible given that in the 17th and 18th centuries, Murillo was one of the most famous artists in all of Europe, far more famous even than Velázquez. Murillo's paintings were considered the triumph of the Spanish Baroque.

Although today Velázquez is cherished as the genius of the 17th century, in his own time Murillo's paintings were far more widely known outside of Spain, and were considered so valuable that at one point the king actually forbade their export. The sweetness and easy accessibility of Murillo's style was a welcome relief from the darkness and grave sobriety of artists like Zurbarán, and the inoffensive piety of Murillo's paintings made them perfectly suited for Counter-Reformation tastes. The artist was a pious, deeply religious man, and almost the totality of Murillo's oeuvre is religious in nature.

So where did it all go wrong? Today, art historians and museum curators are exploring that very question as they begin to revaluate Murillo's paintings. In fact, recent expositions and scholarly studies have revealed that Murillo's oeuvre is in fact less syrupy and far more consequential for the history of art than previously suspected. Soon, Murillo's reputation will be rightly restored to that of one of history's greatest painters.

Bartolome Esteban Murillo Artistic Context

• 

  Two Women at a Window
  Bartolome Esteban Murillo

• 

  Federico Barocci
  Urbino

Murillo was the last great painter of the Spanish Golden Age. During the 17th century, Spain saw her greatest artists and some of her greatest literature and drama in the nation's entire history; unfortunately, this century also saw Spain's worst political defeats and economic and natural disasters, including plague, earthquakes, poverty and famine. The orphaned street urchins and impoverished characters of Murillo's genre scenes were thus the hard reality of the artist's times (although the artist's depiction of such figures has been generously sweetened and idealized).

Murillo's paintings bridge the dark drama and sometimes ascetic simplicity of Spain's early Baroque artists and the fanciful sensuality of the approaching Rococo era.

In his early career, Murillo was deeply influenced by the most prominent painter in Seville at the time, Zurbarán: from the master, the younger artist learned the expressive power of chiaroscuro as well as a predilection for relatively neutral, highly compressed pictorial space.

After visiting Madrid in 1658, however, Murillo discovered a new artist who would have a profound influence on the further development of his style: Peter Paul Rubens, who along with other painters represented in the Spanish royal collection showed Murillo the powerful potential of using a bright, bold palette and dynamic, expressive brushwork.

One of the most significant influences on Murillo was the pioneer of the Italian Baroque, Federico Barocci, who was completely overlooked by other Spanish painters of the Baroque era, but who was cherished by Murillo for the cheerful, sweet softness of his style.

Bartolome Esteban Murillo Biography

• 

  The Immaculate Conception
  Francisco de Zurbaran

• 

  The Immaculate Conception of the Venerable Ones or of 'Soult'
  Bartolome Esteban Murillo

• 

  Four Figures on a Step
  Bartolome Esteban Murillo

Early Years:
Murillo was born in Seville, Spain's artistic center and home to fellow artists Velázquez and Zurbarán. Although his father was a barber-surgeon, Murillo's uncle and cousins were artists, and the boy apparently showed an aptitude for the family craft from an early age. After being orphaned at age ten, Murillo was taken in by his older sister and her husband, who apprenticed him to the local painter Juan de Castello about two years later.

During his teen years and early twenties Murillo seems to have been rather undecided about what path to take but initially made a living by painting decorations for local fairs as well as canvases for export to the Americas, where the boy had family and where he planned to go in 1633 at the age of fifteen.

The decisive turn in Murillo's career came in 1645, when he married the wealthy Beatriz Cabrera y Villalobos (with whom he would have eleven children) and began to garner his first major commissions. Although Zurbarán was still Seville's leading painter in the 1640s, the student quickly overtook the master, and by the 1650s Murillo's fresh new style was the talk of the town.

Middle Years:
In 1658, Murillo visited Madrid, likely in the hopes of wooing Velázquez into throwing some important royal commissions his way. Murillo may not have gotten the commissions he wanted, but had the chance to visit the impressive royal collections, and the works of artists like Rubens and van Dyck, as well as the Italian paintings, would have an important influence on Murillo's style.

Murillo's success continued to grow as time passed, despite a series of tragedies; the death of several of his children and the death of his wife around 1663. Yet, none of these obstacles could stop Murillo's progress and in 1660, he achieved a lifelong dream by helping to found Spain's very first academy of art, the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de St. Isabel de Hungría, serving as the co-president in its first years of existence.

Advanced Years:
Murillo continued to garner major commissions and earn Spain's top accolades and honors throughout the 1660s and 1670s and was also widely acclaimed in Europe and the Americas. Sadly, in 1680, while the artist was painting the main altarpiece for the Capuchins Church in Cádiz, Murillo fell from the scaffolding. He died from his injuries a few months later, and was buried in front of his favorite painting in the Cathedral of Seville.
Bartolome Esteban Murillo Biography

Bartolome Esteban Murillo Style and Technique

• 

  Adoration of the Shepherds
  Bartolome Esteban Murillo

• 

  Joseph and Potiphar's Wife
  Bartolome Esteban Murillo

• 

  The Holy Family
  Bartolome Esteban Murillo

Murillo's paintings were so wildly popular due to the artist's cheerful, sweet, easily approachable style, a welcome reprieve from the dark severity of Zurbarán. Although at the beginning of his career, Murillo was heavily influenced by the heavy chiaroscuro and Baroque drama of his predecessors, with time the artist developed his signature style.

Murillo's mature style evidences a syrupy sweetness most akin to the early pioneer of the Italian Baroque, Federico Barocci. By the 1650s, he had abandoned his early Caravaggesque chiaroscuro and the severity of Zurbarán in favor of unadulterated sentimentality.

It was Murillo's trip to Madrid in 1658, however, that proved key in the evolution of the artist's style: while at court, he had the chance to see paintings by Rubens and Italian Renaissance artists, which taught him to use warmer tones, richer colors, thicker brushstrokes and brilliant highlights.

Murillo's style continued to evolve to the very end. In his last decade of life, Murillo took Rubens's lesson even closer to heart: during this period, his brushwork became looser and more visible than ever before, sometimes even to the point that the canvases appear unfinished. Murillo also reduced his palette to the more sober hues of mauve, grey, brown, and carmine, making his late style more refined than in any previous period.

Murillo's techniques were just as distinct from his Spanish contemporaries as his style. Murillo was unusual for a Spanish artist not only for his immediate and widespread fame, but for his prolific drawings. Although drawings abound for most of the top artists of the Baroque (with the notable exception of Caravaggio), very few drawings are known by the painters of the Spanish Baroque.

Murillo, on the other hand, drew prodigiously in preparation for his paintings, using his drawings to work out problems of composition, light and shade.
Bartolome Esteban Murillo Style and Technique

Who or What Influenced Bartolome Esteban Murillo

• 

  Madonna with Child
  Francisco de Zurbaran

• 

  Assumption of the Virgin Mary
  Peter Paul Rubens

• 

  Saint Francis of Assisi Receiving the Stigmata
  Federico Barocci

Murillo, like the majority of Spanish artists, was heavily influenced by northern Italian realism, as well as the naturalism and careful, detailed precision of Dutch and Flemish genre scenes, all of which were extremely popular in Seville at the beginning of the 17th century. However, his paintings evidence the influence of certain artists that fellow Spaniards like Ribera, Zurbarán and Velázquez ignored. The following artists had the most notable influence upon Murillo's style;

Francisco de Zurbarán:
Young Murillo would hardly have been able to escape the influence of Zurbarán, the most popular artist in Seville during the period in which Murillo was training to become a painter.

From Zurbarán, Murillo would have learned the power of dramatic chiaroscuro and realism that was carefully studied from life. Murillo's early paintings were executed in this typically Spanish style of strong shadows and a limited palette, a stylistic idiom that was introduced to Spain largely through the unique style of Caravaggio.

Unfortunately for Zurbarán, this younger artist would ultimately come to replace his more ascetic elder as the most coveted artist of the mid-17th century, and Zurbarán would be forced to paint for the new market in the Americas and then move to Madrid in an effort to find more work.

Peter Paul Rubens:
Murillo visited Madrid too late to actually meet this dynamo of the Flemish Baroque in person, but by the time he visited the royal collections in the 1640s, he would at least have had ample opportunity to study Rubens' paintings.

Seeing Rubens's paintings had a huge influence on Murillo: from the Flemish painter, he learned to use richer, bolder colors, warmer hues and bolder, more expressive brushstrokes. Studying the Italian paintings in the royal collection (especially by Genoese Renaissance artists) furthered the evolution of Murillo's style in a Rubenesque direction.

Federico Barocci:
Most Spanish Baroque painters were influenced by northern Italian painters, especially Caravaggio. In his early years as an artist, Murillo was as well, but this younger artist soon came to take after an Italian artist who couldn't be more different in both style and content.

Barocci, a pioneer artist of the Italian Baroque painting at the tail end of the Mannerist period, was adored for his syrupy sweet and poignantly pious religious paintings, which accorded perfectly with the artistic ideals of the Counter-Reformation and Council of Trent.

Murillo's paintings often evidence a sentimental softness (especially evident in the warm colors, golden light, and sweet, idealized faces of the protagonists of his paintings) that almost could have been painted by the hand of Barocci himself.

Bartolome Esteban Murillo Works

• • 

    Adoration of the Magi (Paintings)

    Murillo treats the subject in a human way and t...

    • Date of Creationcirca 1660
    • Height (cm)190.80
    • Length (cm)146.10
    • MediumOil
    • SupportCanvas
    • SubjectFigure
    • FramedNo

  • 

    Adoration of the Shepherds (Paintings)

    This early painting demontrates the typical cha...

    • Date of Creation1655
    • Height (cm)187.00
    • Length (cm)228.00
    • MediumOil
    • SupportCanvas
    • SubjectScenery

  • 

    Beggar Boys Eating Grapes and Melons (Paintings)

    Another of Murillo's genre paintings

    • Date of Creation1645
    • Alternative NamesTwo Boys Eating Grapes and Melons
    • Height (cm)146.00
    • Length (cm)104.00
    • MediumOil
    • SupportCanvas
    • SubjectScenery

  • 

    Boy with a Dog (Paintings)

    Paintings such as this made Murillo famous duri...

    • Date of Creation1655
    • Height (cm)78.00
    • Length (cm)62.00
    • MediumOil
    • SupportCanvas
    • SubjectFigure

  • 

    Christ the Good Shepherd (Paintings)

    A youthful and gentle depiction of Christ

    • Date of Creationcirca 1660
    • Height (cm)161.00
    • Length (cm)123.00
    • MediumOil
    • SupportCanvas
    • SubjectFigure

  • 

    Don Andrés de Andrade y la Cal (Paintings)

    Don Andres de Andrade y la Cal was a marshal of...

    • Date of Creationcirca 1672
    • Height (cm)200.70
    • Length (cm)119.40
    • MediumOil
    • SupportCanvas
    • SubjectFigure

  • 

    Four Figures on a Step (Paintings)

    This genre scene is an exception to Murillo's o...

    • Date of Creationcirca 1660
    • Height (cm)109.90
    • Length (cm)143.50
    • MediumOil
    • SupportCanvas
    • SubjectFigure

  • 

    Immaculate Conception (La Colosal) (Paintings)

    One of various paintings produced by Murillo on...

    • Date of Creationcirca 1650
    • Height (cm)436.00
    • Length (cm)297.00
    • MediumOil
    • SupportCanvas
    • SubjectFigure

  • 

    Immaculate Conception of El Escorial (Paintings)

    This is considered among the best examples of M...

    • Date of Creation1660
    • Alternative NamesImmaculate Conception
    • Height (cm)222.00
    • Length (cm)118.00
    • MediumOil
    • SupportCanvas
    • SubjectFigure

  • 

    Jacob's Dream (Paintings)

    The subject of Jacob's dream is one of the most...

    • Date of Creationcirca 1665
    • Height (cm)246.00
    • Length (cm)360.00
    • SubjectScenery
    • FramedNo

  • 

    Joseph and Potiphar's Wife (Paintings)

    Another of Murillo's religious works

    • Date of Creationcirca 1665
    • Height (cm)64.00
    • Length (cm)85.00
    • MediumOil
    • SupportCanvas
    • SubjectScenery

  • 

    Landscape (Paintings)

    Murillo's landscapes are evocative of Dutch and...

    • Date of Creation1680
    • MediumOil
    • SupportCanvas
    • SubjectLandscapes

  • 

    Self-Portrait (Paintings)

    The Latin inscription in the centre of this pai...

    • Date of Creationcirca 1673
    • Height (cm)122.00
    • Length (cm)107.00
    • MediumOil
    • SupportCanvas
    • SubjectFigure

  • 

    St. Anthony of Padua with the Child (Paintings)

    Murillo's religious paintings are marked by a h...

    • Date of Creation1665
    • Height (cm)190.00
    • Length (cm)120.00
    • MediumOil
    • SupportCanvas
    • SubjectScenery

  • 

    St. Francis of Assisi at Prayer (Paintings)

    Murillo painted many works based on episodes fr...

    • Date of Creation1650
    • Height (cm)182.00
    • Length (cm)129.00
    • MediumOil
    • SupportCanvas
    • SubjectFigure

  • 

    The Annunciation (Paintings)

    Murillo's religious works were enormously popul...

    • Date of Creationcirca 1660
    • Height (cm)125.00
    • Length (cm)103.00
    • MediumOil
    • SupportCanvas
    • SubjectScenery

  • 

    The Holy Children with a Shell (Paintings)

    The Christ child holds a shell for his cousin J...

    • Date of Creationcirca 1670
    • Height (cm)104.00
    • Length (cm)124.00
    • MediumOil
    • SupportCanvas
    • SubjectFigure

  • 

    The Holy Family (Paintings)

    The Holy Family assembles beneath the dove of t...

    • Date of Creation1670
    • Alternative NamesThe Virgin of Seville
    • Height (cm)240.00
    • Length (cm)190.00
    • MediumOil
    • SupportCanvas
    • SubjectScenery
    • FramedYes

  • 

    The Holy Family with a Little Bird (Paintings)

    The Virgin Mary watches the Christ Child, who l...

    • Date of Creationcirca 1650
    • Height (cm)144.00
    • Length (cm)188.00
    • MediumOil
    • SupportCanvas
    • SubjectScenery

  • 

    The Immaculate Conception of the Venerable Ones or of 'Soult' (Paintings)

    This work is regarded as an extraordinary examp...

    • Date of Creationcirca 1678
    • Height (cm)274.00
    • Length (cm)190.00
    • MediumOil
    • SupportCanvas
    • SubjectFigure

  • 

    The Young Beggar (Paintings)

    This work was Murillo's first in a significant ...

    • Date of Creationcirca 1650
    • Alternative NamesThe Louse-Ridden Boy
    • Height (cm)134.00
    • Length (cm)110.00
    • MediumOil
    • SupportCanvas
    • SubjectFigure
    • FramedYes

  • 

    Two Women at a Window (Paintings)

    One of the finest examples of Murillo's genre p...

    • Date of Creationcirca 1660
    • Alternative NamesA Girl and her Duenna
    • Height (cm)125.10
    • Length (cm)104.50
    • MediumOil
    • SupportCanvas
    • SubjectFigure
    • FramedYes

  • 

    Virgin of the Napkin (Paintings)

    Murillo's humble intimacy and sweetness is part...

    • Date of Creationcirca 1666
    • Height (cm)63.00
    • Length (cm)68.00
    • MediumOil
    • SupportCanvas
    • SubjectFigure

Bartolome Esteban Murillo Critical Reception

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  Beggar Boys Eating Grapes and Melons
  Bartolome Esteban Murillo

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  The Holy Children with a Shell
  Bartolome Esteban Murillo

Murillo was wildly popular in his own lifetime, and even more so during the Rococo period of the first half of the 18th century. In fact, the demand for Murillo's paintings abroad during this period was so great, the Spanish king was forced to place a moratorium on their export.

By the end of the 18th century, however, Murillo's favor slowly began to wane. The artist's seemingly frivolous sentimentality and what was interpreted as a uniquely Spanish sensuality did not gel with Neoclassical sensibilities, and by the 19th century, copies and imitations of Murillo's paintings were so ubiquitous, the public frankly grew tired of the artist.

By the end of the 19th century and beginning of the 20th, Murillo was dismissed as "weak" and essentially inconsequential in favor of Velázquez, and the artist virtually disappeared from the art history books.

Fortunately, Murillo's reputation has slowly come to be rehabilitated as art historians and museum curators begin to re-evaluate the artist's role in Baroque art. This rehabilitation began in 1983, with a major exposition of Murillo's paintings at the Royal Academy in London, with subsequent expositions in Europe and the United States. The extraordinary talent and importance of the Spanish painter are finally beginning to be appreciated for their just value.
Bartolome Esteban Murillo Critical Reception

Bartolome Esteban Murillo Bibliography

For further information about Murillo, please refer to the recommended reading list below.

• Bartolomé Esteban Murillo, 1617-1682. Wedenfeld and Nicolson, 1982
• Brooke, Xanthe, and Peter Cherry. Murillo. Merrell, 2001
• Brown, Jonathan. The Golden Age of Painting in Spain. Yale University Press, 1991
• Davies, E. The Life of B. Esteban Murillo: Compiled from the Writings of Various Authors. London, 1819
• Kagane, Ludmilla. Murillo: The 17th Century Spanish Master. Parkstone Press, 1997
• Keysor, Jennie Ellis. Great Artists: Raphael, Rubens, Murillo, and Dürer. Educational Publishing Company, 1899
• Mallory, Nina A. El Greco to Murillo: Spanish Painting in the Golden Age: 1556-1770. Harper Collins, 1990
• Stratton-Pruitt, Suzanne. Bartolomé Esteban Murillo, Paintings 1617-1682: Paintings from American Collections. Harry N. Abrams, 2002
• Taggard, Mindy Nancarrow. Murillo's Allegories of Salvation and Triumph: The Parable of the Prodigal Son and the Life of Jacob. University of Missouri Press, 1992

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