Bartolomé Esteban Murillo

Chevalier Sébastien Erard (1752-1831);
His deceased sale, Paris, 7-14 August 1832, lot 51 (77 x 44 pouces, bought back by the family with most of the sale);
By descent to Comte de Franqueville, Château de la Muette, Paris;
His sale, in situ, 31 May - 2 June 1920, lot 27;
Anonymous sale, Monaco, Sotheby's, 25 June 1984, lot 3344;
Anonymous sale, London, Christie's, 6 December 2007, lot 34, for £400,000.

London, Harari and Johns, Winter Exhibition, 1989.

Comte de Franqueville, Le Château de la Muette, Paris, 1915, p. 238.
D. Angulo Iñiguez, Murillo. Catálogo crítico, Madrid 1981, vol. II, p. 205, no. 223 and vol. III, reproduced pl. 136 (judging from a poor photograph, 'pudiera ser suyo de hacia 1655-1660');
E. Valdivieso, Murillo. Sombras de la tierra. Luces del cielo, Madrid 1990, p. 106;
E. Valdivieso, Murillo. Catálogo razonado de pinturas, Madrid 2010, p. 330, cat. no. 94.

The following condition report is provided by Sarah Walden, who is an external specialist and not an employee of Sotheby's. This painting has an old lining and stretcher, perhaps late eighteenth century. There appears to be an original strip added along the base about two inches wide, with a line of retouching along the seam. The lining appears still to be firm and the stretcher strong. The surface is completely uncrushed with a faintly cupper texture apparent in the dark background. However there is no unstable or raised paint, as any insecure flakes have been consolidated. The brighter areas have been lightly cleaned fairly recently, with a film of older varnish left in the darks. There is retouching along the top edge with a little also in places within the putti. The border of the neck of the Madonna’s robe seems to have been retouched perhaps connected with a pentiment, and some little retouchings in the face of the Madonna are within some of the craquelure. There is slightly open premature craquelure, which was also retouched in the Madonna’s bodice and various little touches in the body of the Child, although no actual damage. Retouching is also visible under ultra violet light in the foreground near the base and along the seam there. However these are minimal imperfections in a remarkably pure, and beautifully preserved painting. This report was not done under laboratory conditions.
"This lot is offered for sale subject to Sotheby's Conditions of Business, which are available on request and printed in Sotheby's sale catalogues. The independent reports contained in this document are provided for prospective bidders' information only and without warranty by Sotheby's or the Seller."

Both Prof. Enrique Valdivieso and the late, great Diego Angulo Iñiguez concur on a dating of this dramatic large canvas to circa 1655-60. At precisely this time Murillo made his first lengthy sojourn in Madrid where he encountered the extensive royal and aristocratic collections. Here he studied particularly closely the work of Rubens, Van Dyck and the Venetian colourists of the Cinquecento, all of whom would have a marked influence on his work for several years to come, an influence that can be seen nowhere better than in his monumental Birth of the Virgin painted for the Capilla de la Concepción in Seville in 1660.¹  With the latter the present painting shares not just the same palette and the drama of a nocturnal setting, but also the extraordinary multiple light source. Where, in the Birth of the Virgin, light illuminates Christ’s nurses and the attendant angels from His halo, a separate smaller group of figures from a fire, the Virgin from a door stood ajar and the hovering putti from a celestial source, so here Christ, His mother and the ox are bathed in the golden light from His halo, Joseph is subtly illuminated by the candle that he shields from the draught, the shepherds in the distance by the Angel’s divine light and the putti, again, by a distant celestial source.  Thus a series of episodes are treated, in both pictures creating a narrative that here juxtaposes the drama of the Annunciation to the shepherds in the distance with the tenderness of the familial scene of adoration in the foreground.

Other than the composition, further comparison with the Birth and other works from c. 1655-60 may be made between the facial types of Christ and His parents and the means of depicting the hovering putti. As Valdivieso has previously pointed out, the preparatory underdrawing of the figures is consistent with other large-scale works from this date.²

PROVENANCE
The Château de la Muette is situated on the edge of the Bois de Boulogne near the Porte de la Muette. It started life as a royal hunting lodge but was transformed into a palace by Henri II for his favourite daughter Marguerite de Valois. It was subsequently reconstructed by Louis XV in the 18th century and used by him to entertain his mistresses, including Madame de Pompadour and Madame du Barry. In post-revolutionary France the château became state property and was split into two wings. One wing and most of the grounds were purchased in 1820 by Sébastian Erard, a manufacturer of pianos used by Chopin and Liszt. The château and the present painting were subsequently inherited by the De Franqueville family who held onto both until the early twentieth century.

1.  Musée du Louvre, Paris, inv. no. MI202; see Valdivieso, 2010, pp. 352-3, cat. no. 127, reproduced.
2.  In a letter dated 20 March 2006 to the previous owner. See 2007 sale catalogue.