BARTOLOMÉ ESTEBAN MURILLO | The Presentation of the Virgin

Probably in the Convento de la Vírgenes, Seville;

Probably private collection, England, before 1737; 

Archbishop of Sorrento, Capri, c. 1840;

Rev. William Thomas Saward, Nottingham;

With Anthony F. Reyre (trading as the Vermeer Gallery), London, by 1925;

With Julius Böhler, Munich (stock #25.131, half interest acquired from Reyre on September 16, 1925);

With Reinhardt Galleries, New York, by March 1926 (on consignment);

Theodor Fischer, Lucerne, acquired from Böhler and Reyre August 29, 1936;

Hans Wendland, Geneva; 

Confiscated from the above by the Office Suisse de Compensation, service de la liquidation des biens allemands from the le Coultre Warehouse Geneva, c. 1947;

Presumably cleared for return and given back to Wendland by the Office Suisse de Compensation at an unknown date after 1947;

Probably with Galerie Fischer, Lucerne, 1949;

Acquired from the above by the father of the present owner; Thence by descent.

New York, Exhibitions of Paintings by Tintoretto, Bassano and Murillo, 1927;

Madrid, Museo Del Prado, Bartolomé Esteban Murillo, 8 October – 12 December 1982;

London, Royal Academy of Arts, 15 January – 27 March 1983, no. 76.

Sevilla Mariana, 1882, vol. II, p. 214;

A.L. Mayer, ‘Three Paintings by Murillo’, in The Burlington Magazine, vol. XLVIII, no. 278, May 1926, p. 251, reproduced plate II, C;

D. Angulo Iñiguez, Murillo, Madrid 1981, vol. II, p. 137, cat. no. 131, reproduced vol. III, plate 384;

Bartolomé Esteban Murillo, exh. cat., Madrid 1982 and London 1983, p. 196, cat. no. 76, reproduced p. 145;

E. Valdivieso, Murillo. Sombras de la tierra. Luces del cielo, Madrid 1990, p. 194;

E. Valdivieso, Murillo, Catálogo Razonado de Pinturas, Madrid 2010, p. 529, cat. no. 378, reproduced.

The following condition report has been provided by Hamish Denwar Fine Art Conservation, 13 & 14 Mason's Yard, Duke Street, St James's, London, England, SW1Y 6BU, +44 (0) 20 7930 4004, hamish@hamishdewar.co.uk, an independent restorer who is not an employee of Sotheby's. The canvas has been lined and this is ensuring a stable structural support and has successfully secured the overall pattern of very fine lines of drying craquelure, which are now entirely stable and are not visually distracting. The paint surface has a reasonably even varnish layer with the exception of an area of overpaint in the background which is rather more matt than the surrounding varnish coating. This could be comparatively simply resolved by revarnishing. Inspection under ultraviolet light shows a number of small scattered retouchings as well as the area in the background mentioned above. This retouching measures approximately 12 x 11 cm and is 27 cm below the upper horizontal framing edge and 80 cm in from the right vertical framing edge. There are also some retouchings on the draperies of the two male figures standing on the right of the composition. There are a number of small scattered spots and lines of retouching across the paint surface and retouchings around the framing edges. It is encouraging to note that the fine details of the painting appear to be well preserved. There may be other retouchings beneath older layers which are not easily identifiable under ultraviolet light. The painting would therefore appear to be in good stable condition and the only work that might be required is revarnishing to ensure an even surface coating over the retouchings.
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First published in the literature on Murillo by August Mayer in 1926, The Presentation of the Virgin is an extremely rare subject in his œuvre. The painting serves as testimony to the richness that Murillo's art could achieve in his last period, both in terms of the inventiveness of his compositions and as a colourist. The depiction of the little Virgin, a typically sensitive portrayal of a child, evokes Murillo's extraordinary abilities as a painter of children, while the presence of a beggar in the foreground recalls his poignant images of the destitute. The spatial arrangement of different levels, each thrown into light from different sources, is complex. The monumental scale of the canvas allows us to follow Murillo’s narrative from the beggar who fixes us with his gaze, to the figures of Saint Anne and Joachim who urge their little daughter up the great stone steps of the temple, and into the open arms of the waiting High Priest. Past authorities on Murillo all agree on the dating of this work to the artist's last years, with Mayer pointing to Murillo's characteristic use of dark greyish tints in works of his later period, and Diego Angulo Iñiguez placing it in his final decade. Manuela Mena Marqués, writing in the 1982–83 catalogue of the exhibition held in Madrid and London, gives a dating of about 1680. She notes the vigour of Murillo's technique in this work, his rapid and broad brushwork, and its affinity with the work of Rembrandt (1606–1669). She characterises the spatial conception of the painting, with large open spaces around the figures, as typical of Murillo's late style and with an atmospheric quality comparable to the work of Velázquez (1599–1660), an approach explored by Murillo as early as 1656 in his Vision of Saint Anthony of Padua for Seville Cathedral.¹

A work of considerable size and grandeur, The Presentation of the Virgin must once have decorated the wall of a chapel. Given that the choice of subject and its conception are exceptional in Murillo's œuvre, it is probable that this painting is the very same one recorded as residing in the Convento de la Vírgenes, Seville.² Reference to a 'Presentation of the Virgin' is made in Sevilla Mariana, a religious publication dedicated to Our Lady, its aim to make known the glories of Andalusia, and in particular the city of Seville’s long-standing devotion to the Blessed Virgin, as manifest in its historical monuments and the principal images of the Virgin in the city's most famous sanctuaries. By about 1840 the painting was recorded as belonging to the Archbishop of Sorrento, having left Spain the previous century following its sale to an English peer sometime before 1737, as noted by Angulo.

Mayer considers it highly probable that The Presentation of the Virgin once had a companion piece, while Angulo suggests it was probably part of a series, most likely depicting the life of the Virgin. The rarity of the subject in general – Titian’s treatment of the theme at the Accademia, Venice, stands out as the most celebrated example – distinguishes this work. The presentation of the little child in profile, her placement at the centre of the composition and the overall effect of the lighting, which emphasises her illuminated figure, all serve to draw attention to her as she solemnly ascends the temple steps under her parents’ attentive gaze.  

The introduction of a beggar at the lower left of the composition recalls Murillo's secular painting and the genre motifs he incorporates into religious works, such as the comparable figure of a man in rags at the lower left of Saint Isabella of Hungary, Hospital de la Caridad, Seville. The inclusion here of a mendicant – here a crippled beggar one hand clutching his staff, the other held open in hope of donations – serves to underscore the importance of alms giving and works of charity as a route to God. His presence here offers a particularly striking contrast to the spiritual self-containment and purity of the young Virgin resplendent in white and blue.

 

1 Angulo Iñiguez 1981, vol. II, pp. 238–39, no. 284, reproduced vol. III, plates 128–30.

2 Madrid and London 1982–83, p. 196; Angulo Iñiguez 1981, vol. II, pp. 383–84, no. 867.