MURILLO ESTELLE M. HURLI A COL OF PICT1 INTRO i INTERP LEC LIRE DU( UND RE1 JTIONrS WITI 3TION. :ation 1 .. . . ¦ ¦ 9 YALE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY THE LIBRARY ASSOCIATES Gift of HENRY C. HUTCHINS C^e JRiterjsiUe art ^eriejs MURILLO A COLLECTION OF FIFTEEN PICTURES AND A PORTRAIT OF THE PAINTER WITH INTRODUCTION AND INTERPRETATION BY ESTELLE M. HURLL BOSTON AND NEW YORK HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN AND COMPANY CCbc Jfitoewitte $rej?, dambtibne 1901 COPYRIGHT, 1900, BY HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN & CO. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED PREFACE As most of the important works of Murillo treat reli gious subjects it is unnecessary to apologize for the lack of variety in the selections here made. The object has been to show as far as possible the range of his artistic power and the diversity of his methods. From the strict realism of his genre pictures to the high idealism of the Immaculate Conception, nearly every phase of Murillo's work is represented in this little collection. ESTELLE M. HURLL. New Bedford, Mass. November, 1900. CONTENTS AND LIST OF PICTURES PAGE Portrait of Murillo. Painted by himself. (Frontispiece) From Photograph of the Painting in the Althorp . Gallery. Introduction. i. On Murillo's Character as an Artist ... vii ii. On Books of Reference xi m. Historical Directory of the Pictures of this Collection xii iv. Outline Table of the Principal Events in Murillo's Life xiv v. Contemporary Painters xv I. The Immaculate Conception 1 Picture from Carbon Print by Braun, Clement & Co. II. The Angels' Kitchen 7 Picture from Carbon Print by Braun, Clement & Co. III. Boy at the Window 13 Picture from Carbon Print by Braun, Clenient & Co. IV. The Adoration of the Shepherds 19 Picture from Carbon Print by Braun, Clement & Co. V. The Madonna and Child 25 Picture from Carbon Print by Braun, Clement & Co. VI. Rebekah and Eliezer at the Well 31 Picture from Carbon Print by Braun, Clement & Co. VII. The Dice Players 37 Picture from Photograph by Franz Hanfstaengl. VIII. The Education of the Virgin 43 Picture from Carbon Print by Braun, Clement & Co. IX. Jesus and John (The Children of the Shell) . 49 Picture from Carbon Print by Braun, Clement & Co. X. The Holy Family 55 Picture from Carbon Print by Braun, Clement & Co. XI. The Fruit Venders 61 Picture from Photograph by Franz Hanfstaengl. CONTENTS XII. The Vision of St. Anthony 67 Picture from Photograph by Franz Hanfstaengl. XIII. St. Roderick 73 Picture from Carbon Print by Braun, Clement & Co. XIV. Youth's Head 79 Picture from Carbon Print by Braun, Clement & Co. XV. St. Elizabeth of Hungary (The Leper) .... 85 Picture from Carbon Print by Braun, Clement & Co. XVI. The Portrait of Murillo (See Frontispiece) ... 91 Pronouncing Vocabulary of Proper Names and Foreign Words 95 INTRODUCTION I. ON MURILLO'S CHARACTER AS AN ARTIST In the art of Murillo it is possible to trace the combined influences of his period, his nationality, and his individual temperament. The seventeenth century was a time when the religious fervor which has been the leading factor in Spanish history sought expression in art. Money was poured forth freely for the beautifying of churches and convents. There was a great demand for pictures illus trative of sacred story. It was these circumstances which determined the direction of Murillo's energy. His sub jects were dictated by his orders : it was a case of supply and demand. Given religious subjects to paint, he imbued his work with the strong emotional character which he shared with his race. The ardent temperament, the semi-oriental love of color and sensuous beauty characteristic of all Spaniards, was nowhere stronger than in Andalusia, and Murillo was a true son of the soil. But nature had gifted Murillo with a striking individu ality. By temperament he was a realist; for human nature as he saw it about him he had a love amounting almost to a passion. All the accessories of his composi tions, such as fruit, flowers, animals, household utensils, and the like, he finished with loving minuteness. It was this bent towards realism which gave the distinguishing- mark of individuality to his methods. Strongly as his viii MURILLO work was tinged with his nationality it was nevertheless the work of Murillo the man. It may approximate the truth concerning the influences of which his art was the product to state the case thus : In subject matter and in general character it was shaped by the external influences of his nationality and environ ment ; in method it was peculiarly his own. It is when we turn to his purely genre subjects that we see what Murillo might have been if working under other conditions. How thoroughly alive are his beggar boys ; how deliciously human their gesture and attitude ; what humor lurks in their knowing smiles ! Such studies con firm us in the belief that nature made him a genre painter, but circumstances forced him into religious art. His Old Testament subjects were treated after the genre manner. The pastoral life of ancient Syria was inter preted by the peasant life of Andalusia in the seventeenth century. The picture of Rebecca and Eliezer at the Well is a transcript from real life, full of picturesque local color. Even in such subjects as the Madonna and Child and the Adoration of the Shepherds, the religious senti ment is rendered in a vein of homely realism. But there are other pictures by Murillo which reveal a higher reach of imagination than would have seemed pos sible. In such works as Jesus and John, the Vision of St. Anthony, and above all in the Immaculate Concep tion, the artist shows a rare degree of idealizing power. Though nature made him a realist, faith transformed him at times into an idealist. Murillo's artistic qualities are such as make a popular favorite. He is the people's painter rather than the artist's painter. The critic misses in his work that force and virility which belong to great art, but the average taste, undisturbed by this lack, is attracted at once by his story-telling gifts and his sentiment. What is wanting INTRODUCTION ix in strength is abundantly made up in sweetness. Nor can Murillo be justly charged with lack of force by those who know the full range of his power. What vigorous por trait delineation he was capable of we see in the Educa tion of the Virgin. In strength of characterization the old crone in the picture of St. Elizabeth compares favor ably with the egg-woman of Titian's Presentation of the Virgin, or with some of Rembrandt's old women. It is customary to distinguish three artistic methods of Murillo's work, not indeed always corresponding exactly to three successive chronological periods, but used in turn by the artist for different classes of subjects. There is the cold style, the estilofrio, of his earlier works, in which the color is sombre and the outlines are hard. Much of the genre work is in this manner. The warm style, the estilo calido, is in deeper color and stronger contrast of light and shadow. In the misty or aerial manner, the estilo vaporoso, his tints melt into one another, and in some mysterious way a golden haze seems to envelop the figures. This is the style of work in which the picture of Jesus and John is painted. It would of course be impossible to classify all Murillo's paintings in three groups, and there is danger of forcing these distinctions in his styles. It is enough to indicate the three tendencies corresponding to three of his moods. It may help us to understand Murillo's art to compare him with other great painters with whom he had traits in common. His self-chosen teachers were Ribera, Van Dyck, and Velasquez. Titian and Rubens were also among the masters whose works in the Madrid Gallery attracted his attention. Yet when he returned to Seville, the influ ence of all these masters seemed to drop from him. He could on occasion show himself a clever imitator, as in the Rebecca and Eliezer, which recalls so strongly the style of Rubens. But his own individuality was too well defined to be absorbed in other masters. x MURILLO The same metamorphosis of a born genre painter into a religious artist was seen two centuries before Murillo's time in the history of Filippo Lippi. There is a close affinity between the Tuscan peasant girls who figure as Filippo's Madonnas and the Andalusian maidens of Murillo's works. Yet the comparison cannot be carried far, because Murillo possessed a personal piety appar ently lacking in Filippo Lippi, so that there is genuine religious feeling in Murillo's pictures which we do not always find in Filippo's works. Among the Italians Perugino is perhaps the nearest akin to Murillo in his power to awaken devotional senti ment. There is a parallel between the lives of the two painters in the spontaneous praise awarded them by the voice of the people. Both were the popular idols of their own generation. There was, however, a painter of Murillo's own time who had more in common with him than any other painter before or since. This was Rembrandt. Perhaps the two were as much alike as a Spaniard and Dutchman could well be. Allowing for differences in nationality and religion they had the same general aims. Both were in tensely human in their sympathies ; the picturesqueness of beggars, the poetry and pathos of age, the charm of the commonplace, appealed strongly to both. Both took natu rally the same view-point of homely realism. Both recog nized with the " insight of genius " that " biblical history and the legends of the saints could be best narrated in the dialect of the people." 1 The faults of the two men led in diametrically opposite directions. Murillo sometimes carried sweetness to in sipidity, and Rembrandt sometimes exaggerated homeli ness into grotesqueness. As Murillo's work was modified by the Spanish love of color and sensuous beauty, so 1 Carl Justi INTRODUCTION xi Rembrandt's was shaped by the phlegmatic temperament of the Dutch. After all comparisons are exhausted perhaps Murillo's place cannot be assigned in any better phrase than one which has often been repeated. His works " hold a mid dle rank between the unpolished naturalness of the Flem ish, and the peaceful and dignified taste of the Italian school." i II. BOOKS OF REFERENCE The original source of material relating to Spanish art is a dictionary of painters (" Diccionario historico ") written by Cean Bermudez, himself a painter, and pub lished in Madrid in 1800. The only comprehensive work on the subject in English is the "Annals of the Artists of Spain " by Stirling Maxwell, first published in England in 1848 and reprinted in 1891, in four large volumes. Some 116 pages of volume iii. are devoted to Murillo, and the appendix of the last volume contains a complete list of Murillo's works. Both editions being rare and valuable the student can use them only in the large libra ries, and the general reader must be content with the short biographies compiled from this source. Two of these which are generally available are by Mrs. E. E. Minor in the Great Artists' Series (New York, 1882) and by M. F. Sweetser in Series of Artists' Biographies, (Boston, 1877). There is also an interesting German monograph on Murillo by H. Knackfuss, in the series of Kiinstler-Monographien (Leipsic, 1897), illustrated by sixty-seven half tones. An excellent summary of Murillo's art is made by Viardot, in a small volume called the "Wonders of European Art." Spooner's " Dictionary of Painters and 1 From Spooner's Dictionary. xii MURILLO Engravers " also has a good article on Murillo and his Art, and Carl Justi's " Historical Sketch of Spanish Art," printed as an introduction to Bsedeker's " Spain," discrim inates carefully Murillo's three methods, with examples of each. A descriptive list of Murillo's works was made by C. B. Curtis, and published in New York in 1883, as a " Catalogue of the Works of Velasquez and Murillo." IH. HISTORICAL DIRECTORY OF. THE PICTURES OF THIS COLLECTION Portrait frontispiece. Painted by Murillo when about sixty years of age, at the request of his children, and bearing the following Latin inscription : " Bartus Murillo seipsum depingens pro filiorum votis acprecibus explen- dis." The original is in the possession of the Earl of Spencer, Althorp, England, and a copy by Miguel de Tobar is in the Prado Gallery, Madrid. 1. The Immaculate Conception. Painted in 1678 for the Hospital of the Venerables, whence it was carried to France by Marshal Soult. Acquired by the Louvre (Paris) in 1852. Size : about 10 ft.X6 ft. 2. The Angels' Kitchen. One of the series of pictures painted 1645-1648 for the Franciscan Convent behind the Casa del Ayuntamiento in Seville. Bears the artist's signature and date 1646. From the collection of Marshal Soult. Acquired in 1858 by the Louvre, Paris. Size: 5 ft. 11 in. X 14 ft. 9 in. 3. Bay at the Window. Formerly in the collection of the Marquis of Lansdowne, and presented to the Eng lish nation in 1826 by M. Zachary, Esq. Now in the National Gallery, London. Bust, life size. Size : 1 ft. 9 in. X lft. 3 in. 4. The Adoration of the Shepherds. Painted in INTRODUCTION xiii Murillo's " second manner." Taken to Paris by the French, but restored in 1816 and now in the Prado Gal lery, Madrid. Size : 6 ft. 8 J in.X 8 ft. 2 in. 5. Madonna and Child. In the Corsini Gallery, Rome. Figures full length and life size. Size: 5 ft. 4£ in.X 3 ft. 6J. 6. Rebecca and ffliezer at the Well. Purchased at Seville by Philip V. in 1729. Now in the Prado Gallery, Madrid. In the " second manner," showing transition to better style. Figures full length and about a third life size. Size : 3 ft. 10 in.X 5 ft. 5 in. 7. The Dice Players. In the Munich Gallery. Fig ures life size. Size : 4 ft. 6 in. X 3 ft. 4 in. 8. The Education of the Virgin. Painted in 1674. Formerly in the chapel royal at St. Ildefonso and now in the Prado Gallery, Madrid. Figures life size. Size : 7 ft. 10 in. X 5 ft. 1 in. 9. Jesus and John- {The, Children of the Shell). Painted in the "vaporoso manner." In the Prado Gal lery, Madrid. Size: 3 ft. 8£ in.X 4 ft. 5| in. 10. The Holy Family, signed " Barholm de Murillo F. Hispan," but without date. According to Curtis painted about 1670. Once in the collection of Louis XVI. and now in the Louvre, Paris. Size : 7 ft. 101 in. X6ft. 2f in.. 11. The Fruit Venders. In the Munich Gallery. Figures life size. Size : 4 ft. 7 in. X 3 ft. h\ in. 12'. The Vision of St. Anthony. Perhaps the picture mentioned by Cean Bermudez as belonging to the convent of San Pedro Alcantara at Seville, whence it was taken by Soult in 1810. Now in the Berlin Gallery. Figures life size. Size : 5 ft. 4 in.X 6 ft. 5| in. 13. St. Roderick. Painted, according to Ford, for a canon at Seville by whom the dress was worn on grand occasions. At one time in the convent of St. Clara in xiv MURILLO Seville, and later in the Louis Philippe Collection. Now in the Dresden Gallery. In the "second manner." Size : 7 ft. 4 in.X 4 ft. 10 in. 14. A Youth's Head, (called also a Herd Boy or Shepherd). Probably purchased from the sale of Gen eral Pothier's Collection in 1846, and now in the Hague Museum. Size: 17 in.X 15 in. 15. St. Elizabeth of Hungary {The Leper). Painted as a companion piece of San Juan de Dios for the Hos pital of Charity at Seville, Murillo receiving in 1674, 16,840 reals for the two pictures. It was taken from the hospital by Marshal Soult, restored to Spain in 1814, and since then has hung in the Royal Academy of Fine Arts (formerly San Fernando), Madrid. The original study for the painting, a small sketch on wood, 10^X6f inches, is owned in America. The painting is said to unite the excellencies of Murillo's three styles, more especially the frio and calido. Figures life size. Size : 13 ft. 9£ in.X 10 ft. 6 in. IV. OUTLINE TABLE OF THE PRINCIPAL EVENTS IN MURILLO'S LIFE 1617. Murillo born at Seville. 1618. Murillo baptized New Year's Day. 1639-40. Termination of Murillo's instructions under Castillo. 1642-1645. Visit in Madrid, studying the works of Ribera, Van Dyck, and Velasquez. 1645. Return to Seville. 1645-1648. Eleven large pictures painted for the Fran ciscan convent, Seville, including the Death of St. Clara and the Angels' Kitchen. 1648. Murillo married to Dona Beatriz de Cabrera y Sotomayor. INTRODUCTION xv 1652. Our Lady of the Conception, first painting in " warm manner " painted for Brotherhood of True Cross. 1655. St. Leander and St. Isidore. 1656. Vision of St. Anthony painted. Four large semi circular pictures for Church of Sta. Maria la Bianca. 1660. Foundation of the Academy of Seville, with Murillo as president. 1670-1674. Eleven works for the newly erected Charity Hospital, Seville. Same period, upwards of twenty pictures for Capuchin Convent, Seville. 1676. Murillo's daughter Francisca became Dominican nun. 1678. Three pictures painted for the Hospital de los Venerables, Seville, including the Immaculate Conception, now in the Louvre. 1682. Death of Murillo April 3. Note : Murillo had two sons, Gabriel, who was in the Indies when his father died, and Gaspar, who was a priest. The dates of their birth are not recorded in the biogra phies. V. CONTEMPORARY PAINTERS SPANISH Francesco de Herrara, the elder (1576-1656). Francesco de Zurbaran (1596-1662). Diego Velasquez (1599-1660). Alonso Cano (1601-1667). Sebastian Martinez (1602-1667). Antonio del Castillo (1603-1667). Joseph de Sarabia (1608-1669). Pedro de Moya (1610-1666). Juan de Toledo (1611-1665). xvi MURILLO Associates in Seville Academy : — Francisco de Herrara, the younger, president (1660). Llanos y Valdes, president (1663, 1666, 1669). Juan de Valde"s, president (1664 et seq.). Pedro de Medina Valbuena, president (1667, 1671). Juan Chamarro, president (1670). Cornelius Schut, 1672-1673. Matias de Carbajal, one time steward. Palencia. Ignacio de Iriarte, secretary (1660, 1667-1669). Fernando Marquez Joya, member (1668-1672), imitator of Murillo. Pupils : — Miguel de Tobar. Nunez de Villavicencio. Menesis Osorio. Sebastian Gomez. FLEMISH Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640). Anthony Van Dyck (1599-1641). Jacob Jordaens (1594-1678). Franz Snyders (1574-1657). Gaspard de Craeyer (1582-1669). David Teniers (1610-1690). DUTCH Rembrandt (1606-1669). Franz Hals (1584-1666). Gerard Honthorst (1590-1656). Albert Cuyp (1605-1691). Jacob Ruysdael (1625-1682). INTRODUCTION Paul Potter (1625-1654). Gerard Terburg (1608-1681). Jan Steen (1626-1679). EKENCH Charles le Brun (1619-1690). Eustache le Sueuer (1617-1655). ITALIAN Carlo Dolci (1616-1686). Guido Reni (1575-1642). Domeniehino (1581-1641). Guercino (1591-1666). Sassoferrato (1605-1685). THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION The country of Spain has in former times con tributed much that is beautiful to the art and litera ture of the world. Some of our great men of letters, like Washington Irving, Longfellow, and Lowell, have drawn inspiration from its storied past. The most celebrated Spanish painters lived in the seven teenth century, and among them was Murillo, some of whose pictures we are to study in this little col lection. Murillo passed the most of his life in his native city of Seville, the capital of the old province of Andalusia,1 which is at the southern end of Spain. In his time, the city was called " the glory of the Spanish realms." Great nobles and rich merchants lived there, and from its ports trade was carried on with all parts of the world. It was adorned with splendid buildings and public squares, and sur rounded by beautiful gardens. Now the public buildings of this time were not only fine to look upon on the outside, but they were 1 In modern Spain the territory once called Andalusia is divided into the provinces of Almeria, Jaen, Malaga, Cadiz, Huelva, Seville, Cordova, and Granada. 2 MURILLO made glorious within by the paintings on the walls. This was especially the case with churches, monas teries, and hospitals, and there was a great demand for pictures of religious subjects suitable to adorn such buildings. Most of Murillo's works were pic tures of this kind. They illustrated Bible stories, the life of Christ, the life of the Virgin, and the traditions of the saints. The painter was himself a very pious man, and his heart was in his work. So it came to pass that his pictures were not only great works of art, but they were also full of religious feeling-. His favorite subject was the Virgin Mary repre sented as floating in mid-air as in a vision. The subject is called the Immaculate Conception, and the purpose is to show the stainless purity of Mary's character. Our illustration is from one of his most celebrated pictures of this kind.. The full-length figure of the Virgin is seen in the sky against a golden light, with a crescent moon beneath her feet, and throngs of rejoicing angels about her. The suggestion for the picture is from a verse in the book of Revelation which describes " a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet." She is robed in white with a blue mantle thrown about her. The white is for her maidenly innocence, and the blue — the color of the sky — for truth and eternity. Her hair is unbound and falls over her neck and shoulders like a beautiful veil. It was an old custom for brides to be married with their hair From a carbon print by Braun, Clement & Co. Jului Aii.ii. .. i Soi THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION The Louvre, Paris THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION 5 down as a sacred token of their maidenhood. So Mary is arrayed like a bride ready to receive her heavenly bridegroom. Her figure seems buoyed in the air by heavenly zephyrs. Her face is raised to heaven in rapture. Her hands are pressed lightly to her bosom and hold in place her mantle and scarf. The poise of the head suggests that of a flower lifting itself to the sun, and the face itself has a delicate flower-like beauty. It is like nothing the painter had ever seen among the Andalusian maidens, and like none of the great pictures by the old masters. It was his own ideal of the gentle, innocent sweetness of the Virgin. It is a girlish face, as innocent and trusting as a child's, the index of a soul unspotted by evil. One may well believe that no shadow of sin ever fell across that gentle life, and the lines of Wordsworth come to mind as perfectly describing the picture : — " Mother whose virgin bosom was uncrost With the least shade of thought to sin allied ! Woman ! above all women glorified ; Our tainted nature's solitary boast ; Purer than foam on central ocean tost ; Brighter than eastern skies at daybreak strewn With fancied roses, than the unblemish'd moon Before her wane begins on heaven's blue coast, Thy Image falls to earth." No small part of the beauty of the picture is due to the host of baby angels surrounding the Virgin like a great garland. They are winsome little creatures all, and here and there in the throng one picks out some face of special charm. There is a beautiful 6 MURILLO figure seated on a cloud just below the Virgin. His right arm is lifted exultingly in the air, and a heav enly smile is on the Httle face. He seems to call the attention of his companions to the vision above. The angel at his right turns his face, too, in the direc tion of the lifted arm, and clasps his own chubby little hands together in adoration. Others seem more engrossed in their frolic, as they play in and out the folds of the Virgin's robe. The group in the lower part of the picture is massed in the form of a pyramid to give stability to the composition. The others are grouped in twos and threes, and describe an outline following the contour of the Virgin's figure. The Immaculate Conception was one of three large paintings which Murillo made for the Hospital of the Venerables in Seville. Like most of the painter's works it was long ago taken from its origi nal home, and it now hangs in the great gallery of the Louvre in Paris. II THE ANGELS KITCHEN Some two hundred years before the time of Mu rillo, there lived in a Franciscan convent at Alcala a man named Diego, who was an Andalusian by birth. He was not regularly ordained to the priest hood, but was what is termed a lay brother, that is, he followed the life of a friar without any priestly duties. His work was with the household affairs of the convent : he did the cooking for the brother hood, and was also the convent porter. From all accounts Diego was a common sort of fellow, very ignorant and uncouth. But he was a pious soul, living a life of holiness, and faithfully performing his daily tasks. The Franciscans were one of the mendicant orders, that is, they had no earthly pos sessions of their own and begged their food and clothing. They were taught strict self-denial. The life of Diego must have been a simple, monotonous round from day to day, preparing the frugal meals for the brethren and performing the domestic duties of the household. It would not appear that a convent kitchen was a place where anything interesting could happen, and certainly not a place where a man could become famous. 8 MURILLO But the story runs that one day a marvel befell Diego in his kitchen, and from that day his name became famous in the religious annals of Spam. While busy with his cooking he was suddenly raised into the air in a heavenly ecstasy, while angels filled the room and went on with his work. This is the story illustrated in our picture, and it is one of a series of scenes from the life of San Diego. Our painter had undertaken to decorate the walls of a Franciscan convent in Seville with eleven pic tures. It was a large order, and the brotherhood set a very small price on the work. No painter of established reputation would consider their offer. For Murillo, however, it was exactly the chance he wanted to show what he could do. He was then a young man, and had just returned home after three years' study in Madrid, to make his way in the world. The life of the Andalusian San Diego was an especially appropriate subject for the Sevillian con vent. As the friars came and went about their daily tasks, they would be cheered and inspired by these scenes from the life of one of their own race and order. It was encouraging to see that a humbler man than any of their number was favored with such experiences of heavenly fellowship. We can readily understand how much this particular picture meant to them. The two tall angels conversing together are in the centre of a long, narrow picture, only a portion of which is reproduced here. Beneath them is painted From a carbon print hy BrauD, Clement & Co. John Andrew k Son. Sc. THE AXGELS' KITCHEN The Louvre. Paris THE ANGELS' KITCHEN ll a narrow tablet inscribed with a descriptive title of the picture. In the part cut off at the left side are three men just entering the door, and pausing in astonishment. On the right side is represented the further end of the kitchen. Our illustration, how ever, shows us the heart of the composition, and carries the whole story with it. Indeed, as some one has said, it is not necessary to read the story elsewhere, it is all so plainly seen in the picture. San Diego is floating upward in the air in a kneel ing posture, a mysterious light shining about him. His face is as commonplace as tradition describes it, but is full of earnestness. His eyes are turned heavenward, and he sees nothing of what is going on about him. Meantime the angels are busy prepar ing the dinner, and in the midst of their work a friar comes in at the rear. We notice that the angels are of two quite different orders. Some are tall, lithe beings with large spreading pinions, and others are little creatures, chubby and frolicsome like human babies. The tall ones seem to be plan ning and directing the work, one of them setting forth to draw water, another attending to the meat, and a third busy with mortar and pestle. The baby angels are I n the floor about the pan of vegetables. They enter\ nto the task with the dehght of children who are allowed to help their elders, and the work is turned into play. Murillo's two conceptions of angels may be traced through all his pictures. He painted one kind or the other according to the subject represented. The 12 MURILLO tall angels are the messengers dispatched to earth on active errands, as when they descend and as cend the ladder of Jacob's dream. The baby angels are "the multitude of the heavenly host who fill the celestial spaces with rejoicing. They throng about the Virgin of the Immaculate Concep tion, they accompany the Christ-child as he descends to St. Anthony, they hold the wreath of roses over the head of the child Mary, and crown the martyr St. Roderick. There is scarcely a picture of any religious subject by Murillo where their sweet little faces do not appear. Ill BOY AT THE WINDOW Nearly all the orders which Murillo received for paintings were, as we have seen, for religious pic tures to decorate churches and monasteries. There was, however, another class of pictures which he painted apparently for his own pleasure, and as a means of improvement in his art. These were studies of street children and beggars. Such works are known as genre pictures, because they reproduce directly the scenes of common life, just as they are found by the artist. The city of Seville, where Murillo hved, was full of picturesque scenes at every turn. In southern Spain the common people spend much of their time in the open air, chatting in street and market-place, and lounging in doorways and windows. They are a rather indolent race, good-natured, full of fun, and easily pleased. They are a handsome people too, with rich olive skins, brilliant dark eyes, and glossy black hair. The bright colors which they love to wear set off -their charms to perfection. Murillo was a keen observer of people and things. As he came and went through the streets, his quick eye caught here a smiling face, there a stalwart figure, yonder an effective sash or shawl : the city was full of life and color. 14 MURILLO It was no doubt during some of his strolls about the city that he chanced to see this jolly little boy leaning on a window ledge. There was somethin going on in the street which amused the httle fello mightily, and a broad grin appeared on the- rom* face. Quite unconsciously he made a charming pic ture, and in a single glance the painter took in the scene and resolved to put it on canvas. Nowadays a boy leaning out of a window is pretty sure to be caught by the snap shot of some camera. Something of the same sort befell the boy of our story on this day, long before the invention of pho-j tography. The painter's eye could take a snap shod almost as quickly as a camera, and the picture was! photographed on his memory. When he actually* began to paint it, no doubt the boy himself was called in, that the artist might study the face more carefully. He is a happy-go-lucky little fellow with nothing to do all day but to laugh and grow fat. There are no lessons to puzzle his brain and no schoolmaster's floggings to fear. There was no " compulsory edu-: cation " in these long-ago days. Life is one long holiday, and if he is sometimes hungry he is not the boy to cry for a little thing like that. Something is sure to turn up by and by. In the mean time there are plenty of ways to amuse one's self. One might even stay all day at the window and find something to see. Little donkeys patter by over the cobblestones laden with huge panniers of straw or charcoal. A !¦''"' ¦"^ .. JB I ^^^A*jj^*fc' S^' -~>jj ' - S-M ¦ ¦ ''''I 1 w n a 1 ^ ^t ini 1 ^K " ^fl ' ¦ 'TjH ¦ |P^^^^^^ From a carbon print hy Braun, Clement & Co. John Andrew & Sun, Be, BOY AT THE WINDOW National Gallery, London BOY AT THE WINDOW 17 guitar-player strolls along, thrumming the strings of his instrument to accompany the love song which he sings. Fruit-venders pass, bearing their heaped-up baskets and calling aloud their wares. Perhaps a nobleman may chance to come this way and will toss him a coin. Such are some of the figures which we may imagine passing by the face at the window. It is a round little face, lighted by dancing black eyes which are full of innocent mischief. The boy has a snub nose and a large mouth. His parted lips show a gleaming row of teeth. The Spanish are noted for their fine white teeth, and a witty traveller has said, " They are quite capable of laughing on purpose to show them." The child's black hair is so glossy that the light is reflected from it as from a polished sur face. His blouse is slipping down on one side, and we see his plump neck and shoulders. In this warm climate the poor people go about half clad. We hke to think that the boy and the painter grew to be friends. As there are other pictures of the same child, we feel sure he must have been a frequent visitor at the studio. An open-hearted, confiding little fellow like this could not fail to win the heart of the genial Murillo, whom everybody loved. A useful httle friend, too, the boy proved to be; it was good practice for the painter to study the well-shaped head and plump neck and shoulders. An artist can teach himself a great deal by painting the same model many times in different positions. Such genre pictures as this were very helpful to 18 MURILLO Murillo as preparatory studies for his great histori cal pictures. In some of these he had large com panies of people to paint. Now when an artist paints a crowd he can make it more natural and life like if he puts in people he has actually seen. So with Murillo. When he painted the large companies in his historical pictures, he filled in with the same figures he had already painted from life in his genre studies. There is, for instance, a large painting of the Israelites at the rock of Horeb,1 in which you can easily make out a boy in the crowd much like this Boy at the Window. Thus the painter knew how to adapt the material which lay around him to the various purposes of his art. 1 This is the large painting in the Hospital of Charity, Seville, usually called Moses Striking the Rock. The figure referred to is a boy at the extreme right end drinking from the vessel which is held to his lips. IV THE ADORATION OF THE SHEPHERDS The story of the first Christmas night is one of the dear familiar tales we like to hear repeated. It is the story of the birth of Jesus in the little Judsean town of Bethlehem. It happened that Mary and Joseph had come thither from their home in Nazareth to pay their taxes. The inn where they lodged was so crowded that they laid the new-born babe in a manger used for feeding cattle. Now the country round about was a great sheep country. In this very town centuries before had lived the shepherd David, who was called from his flocks to be anointed king. The surrounding hillsides made good grazing-ground, and in this mild climate flocks were kept out all night. On the night of Jesus' birth some shepherds were watching their sheep when a strange thing happened. The story is told by the evangelist St. Luke in these "words : " And there were in the same country shep herds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them : and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, ' Fear not ; for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be 20 MURILLO to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you ; ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.'' " And suddenly there was with the angel a multi tude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, < Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.' And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, ' Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us.' And they came with haste, and found Mary, and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger." Our picture illustrates this story of the shepherds' midnight visit to the manger. Three of them have crowded into the little room, in the dim corner of which are seen the heads of an ox and an ass. Mary draws back the coverlid to show the babe to the vis itors. She takes a young mother's gentle pride in displaying her wonderful new treasure. The man in the rear is Joseph, wearing a heavy cloak and lean ing on his staff. He contemplates the child thought fully, as if wondering what his future may bring. The shepherds are as simple-hearted as children in the expression of their admiration and dehght. They are big, powerfully built peasants clad in skin and homespun garments. One of them kneels in front, and we see the upturned soles of his bare feet, seamed and hardened by exposure. Beside B&J &r» 1 L> 1 Ite/ v ^ ^v ~~lk. iff; i H^^ Mb lP^?SQ * From & caibon print by Braun, Clement fc Co. f John Andrew & Son, Sc. THE ADORATION OF THE SHEPHERDS The Prado Gallery, Madrid THE ADORATION OF THE SHEPHERDS 23 him on the floor he the fowl which he has brought as a gift to the babe. The woman behind him has a basket of eggs, and the youth accompanying her leads a lamb. These, too, are gifts such as peasant farmers would naturally bring. They have no money for rich presents, and they choose the best that they have of their own raising. The lamb is a symbol of the child's innocence as the " Lamb of God who taketh away the sins of the world." The eggs are an emblem of the Resurrec tion. The light of the composition is concentrated upon the child, and shines brightly on the mother's face. It was an old custom of painters to make the Christ child the source of light in a picture, as symbolic of his character as the Light of the World. In this strong light we can see what a beautiful babe he is, with plump limbs and a well-shaped head. The mother bends a tender glance upon him. She is a gentle young woman who adapts herself quite simply to her strange surroundings, as if there were nothing unusual about them. There is indeed no sign of the supernatural in the picture except in the light shining from the child. The whole sentiment is that of a simple, homely, everyday religion. To a pious nature like Murillo's this story of long ago was as real as if it had taken place in his own country and among his own people. So instead of casting about in his mind to imagine some strange scene, he represented the story precisely as if he had himself seen it in a country town of Andalusia. 24 MURILLO There is an old Latin Christmas hymn1 which dates from the mediaeval period, which expresses so well the religious feeling of the picture that it is pleasant to read it in this connection. Here are a few verses in which some of the phrases would almost seem in tended to describe this very picture : — " O what glad, what rapturous feeling Filled that blessed Mother kneeling By her Sole-Begotten One J How her heart with laughter bounding She beheld the work astounding Saw his birth, the glorious Son. " Jesus lying in the manger, Heavenly armies sang the Stranger, In the great joy bearing part ; Stood the Old Man with the Maiden, No words speaking, only laden With this wonder in their heart. "Mother, fount of love still flowing, Let me, with thy rapture glowing, Learn to sympathize with thee. Let me raise my heart's devotion, Up to Christ with pure emotion, That accepted I may be. "All that love his stable truly, And the shepherds watching duly, Tarry there the livelong night ; Pray that by thy Son's dear merit His elected may inherit Their own country's endless light." 1 " Stabat Mater Speciosa," translated by Dr. Neale. V THE MADONNA AND CHILD The child Jesus was brought up in the little Gahlean town of Nazareth, with Mary his mother, and her husband Joseph. Strange stories were told of the family, and it was said that they were in com munication with the angels. Before the birth of Jesus Mary had been visited by an angel to tell her of the great mission he was coming to fulfil. On the night when he was born, angels had announced his birth to some shepherds of the neighborhood. When King Herod ordered a massacre of babes, an angel directed Joseph to flee with his family to Egypt. And again, on the death of Herod, an angel had bidden them return to their own country. When at last they settled in Nazareth, Mary herself said little of all these things, but kept them in her heart. Everybody knows the later history of the boy, how he went about preaching and doing good, and how he set the standard of ideal manhood. After all these centuries the story of his hfe is repeated every day throughout the whole world. It is natural to try to imagine how this wonderful child looked. Artists have never wearied of painting pictures representing the mother holding him in her arms. Such pictures are called the Madonna and 26 MURILLO Child, the word Madonna meaning " My lady," as the Itahans address the Virgin. The Italian word has become attached to the subject from the fact that such pictures were first popular in Italy. It was a favorite subject with Murillo, and he painted it many times. In the picture reproduced in our illustration the Mother sits out of doors beside a bit of ruined wall, with the boy on her capacious lap, nestling against her shoulder. They have the dark eyes and black hair of the Spanish type. One could easily imagine that the painter, walking some day in the country, had seen just such a mother and child among the peasants of Andalusia. "Here," he might have said to himself, "is a sweet young mother worthy to represent the mother of Jesus, and here is a babe whose robust little figure would serve well as a model for the Holy Child." Evidently it did not occur to him that the mother and child must be made beautiful, except as fine healthy bodies make for beauty. Beauty of face is not an essential mark of beauty of soul. Earnest ness of character was rather what he sought to ex press in the two faces. They are indeed rather serious faces which look out of the canvas, and the same mood is upon them both. The eyes do not meet ours, but seem to be gazing into space, as if in a waking dream. It is as if they awaited the approach of those angel visit ants who had so often taken them under their pro tection. From a carbon print by Braun, Clement & Co John Andrew St Son, Se. THE MADONNA AND CHILD The Corsini Gallery, Rome &7.° AA MADONNA AND CHILD 29 But while their expression is dreamy, they have the open countenances betokening a frank nature. The little boy is not at all precocious-looking, and we might not predict any great things of his future. But from such earnest, simple-hearted children as this grow the sturdy, honest men who are the hope of the world. The mother does not appear very intellectual, but motherhood lends a touch of dignity to her bearing. Her mature matronly face con trasts with the girlish beauty of the Virgin of the Immaculate Conception. Perhaps what we hke best about the picture is that it is so natural and homely. There is nothing stiff or affected in the pose of the figures. Murillo did not even surround the heads with the halo, or circle of light, in the old Italian manner. He let the faces tell their own story. We hke to think that were the Christ child born again in the midst of us to-day, we might find him sitting with his mother by the wayside, — simple earnest country folk hke these. We do not always appreciate the greatness of art when it is so simple as it is here, and we must study the picture carefully to learn its good points. We notice that the main lines are few in number, and drawn in long unbroken sweeps. The line of the mother's right arm flows in a long fine curve from neck to finger tip. Her drapery falls in simple folds. We can see how much stronger such a com position is than one broken into many insignificant lines. 30 MURILLO The two figures fall within an imaginary pyramid outlining the group. This was a frequent style of composition with Murillo, as we shall see in other pictures of our collection. The light of the picture is massed in the upper part, bringing into clear rehef the heads of the two figures. VI REBEKAH AND ELIEZER AT THE WELL A charming story is told in the Book of Genesis 1 of the way in which a bride was chosen for Isaac. Isaac was the son of the patriarch Abraham, who had left his native country and had gone into a strange land to found a new nation. The father, being now an old man, desired to see his son happily married to a maiden of their own country. He had a faithful servant named Eliezer, who was at the head of his household affairs. To him he intrusted the delicate task of going in search of a wife. The servant naturally felt doubtful about the success of his errand, but Abraham reassured him. " The Lord God of Heaven shall send his angel before thee," said the godly old man. So Eliezer took ten camels and departed, and when he drew near the city of Nahor he made his plans. Taking his stand by a well, he knew that in the course of the day the maidens of the city would come thither for water. He prayed God to help him make his choice in this way : " Let it come to pass," he asked, " that the damsel to whom I shall say, ' Let down thy pitcher, I pray thee, that I may drink ;' and she shall say, ' Drink, and I will give thy 1 Genesis, chapter xxiv. 32 MURILLO camels drink also: ' let the same be she that thou hast appointed for thy servant Isaac." Hardly had he spoken these words when a dam sel " very fair to look upon " appeared at the well. Running to meet her, Ehezer said, " ' Let me, I pray thee, drink a little water of thy pitcher.' And she said, ' Drink, my lord : ' and she hasted and let down her pitcher upon her hand, and gave him drink. And when she had done giving him drink, she said, ' I will draw water for thy camels also, until they have done drinking.' And she hasted, and emptied her pitcher into the trough, and ran again unto the well to draw water, and drew for all his camels." Thus far all was well, and now Eliezer drew forth a gift of earrings and bracelets and inquired the maiden's name. He was delighted to learn that she was Rebekah, the daughter of Nahor and Bethuel, who were kinsfolk of Abraham. The family received Eliezer with hospitality, but he said, " I will not eat until I have told mine errand." So he related how Abraham had sent him forth to seek a wife for Isaac among their kins folk ; how he had been troubled in his mind how to make the choice ; how he had planned to choose the first damsel who offered water both to him and his camels; and how Rebekah had been this maiden. " Then Laban [the -brother] and Bethuel [the mo ther] answered and said, ' The thing proceedeth from the Lord. . . . Behold, Rebekah is before thee, take her and go.' . . . And they called Rebekah, and said unto her, ' Wilt thou go with this man ? ' And she said, ' I will go.' " V From a carbon print by Braun, Clement & Ci REBEKAH AND ELIEZER AT THE WELL The Prado Gallery ', Madrid REBEKAH AND ELIEZER AT THE WELL 35 Rich presents were now distributed by Eliezer, and there was much eating and drinking. The next morning the party set forth, Rebekah and her maidens riding on the camels. On the way Isaac came to meet them, and when Rebekah saw him she alighted from her camel. The two were happily married and lived together to a good old age. Our picture illustrates that moment in the story when Eliezer, having asked for a drink, receives the answer he has fixed upon as a sign. He stoops and drinks eagerly from the vessel which Rebekah holds to his mouth. It is the hour of sunset, and the young woman has come to the well with three of her maidens, all carrying large earthen jars to fill with water. In primitive times water was brought a long distance from the house, and such work often fell to the women. This was the case, no doubt, in the country about Seville, where Murillo must often have seen groups quite like the one in the picture. The sunny climate of Spain, with its blue skies, is indeed not widely different from that eastern land in which the scene of the story is laid. The Spanish maidens have the dark eyes, black hair, and brilliant color of Oriental beauties. So this picture, which is really a wayside scene in Andalu sia,1 is a fitting illustration of the old story of Pal estine. It expresses perfectly the spirit of the buoy ant happy out-of-door life in warm climates, where it is good merely to be alive. 1 Compare the face of Rebekah with that of the Madonna of the Corsini Gallery (page 26), evidently from the same model. 36 MURILLO Rebekah's maidens are all pretty, but their mis tress is plainly their superior. There is an air of distinction in her bearing which the others lack. They do not conceal their curiosity in regard to this stranger. Visitors are rare, and they stare boldly into his face, wondering who he is, whence he came, and whither he goes. Not so Rebekah. She is too well bred to betray her curiosity, and turns her face aside modestly as Eliezer bends his head to drink. She has the gentle face of a submissive nature, and a trusting childlike expression as of one who would readily put confidence in a stranger. Her strong robust figure shows her quite equal to the heavy work of water-carrying. In the distance are the camels waiting their turn for water. As we study the picture, we see that the artist took pains to give Rebekah the place of honor, in the centre of the composition. Of the other maid ens two are seen only in half-length, and the third in a rear view. Rebekah stands beside the well, her finely proportioned figure in full view, and her well- poised head turned to show her entire face. Eliezer is of secondary importance. Though his sturdy frame is displayed to good advantage, his face is turned away. Because of his stooping posture he is overtopped by Rebekah, who stands apart in the centre, the tallest and finest figure of the picture. VII THE DICE PLAYERS Three children and a dog make up a party of boon companions gathered near the corner of a ruined wall. They are little hoodlums of the poorest class, half clad in ragged garments. They pick up their scanty living as best they may, by begging in the streets of the great city. All the large cities of southern Europe swarm with beggar children. In Rome, Naples, and Se ville the modern traveller is beset with them, and it was much the same way in Murillo's time. One's needs are very few in these southern countries. The climate is so mild that the poor take no thought about clothing and shelter, and the soil yields so abundantly that food costs little. A crust of bread and a bit of fruit are always to be had for the ask ing. These conditions and the enervating chmate tend to make the people indolent. They are, how ever, so good-natured and merry, that for all their idleness we cannot help hking them. Some of the child beggars are so bewitching in their manners that it is hard to refuse them a coin. Such are the children of our picture. What passer-by could resist the appeal of these little faces when lifted with a confiding smile ? It appears that 38 MURILLO they have indeed reaped a harvest of coins, and have straightway repaired to this retired spot to stake them in a game of dice. A large flat stone serves admirably for a table. Two are engaged in the game, while the third stands near by, idly eating a crust of bread. His little dog watches every mouthful eagerly, and ex presses his mind as plainly as if he could speak, but his young master seems to have completely forgotten him. The dice players bend over their game in an ani mated discussion, but with perfect good nature. Each keeps the count on the fingers of the right hand. From his pleased expression, the boy in the rear seems to be the winner in this throw. They are not pretty children, but their lithe young hmbs are well modelled in the curves which artists love. The child on this side wears a branch of vine leaves in his hair, drooping at one side from a sort of fillet bound about the head. One is reminded of the young Bacchus, the Greek god of wine, whose figure is often seen in classic sculpture crowned with vine leaves. The Spanish have an inherent sense of the picturesque, and dearly love all kinds of personal adornment. We see this trait in the costly jewels worn by rich senoritas and the rose which the peasant girl wears in her hair. Even a child hke this shows the artist in him with a bit of decora tion. The boy standing at one side cares nothing for the game, and appears entirely oblivious of his sur- Fr. Hanfstaengl, photo. John Andrew £ Hon, Ho. THE DICE PLAYERS Munich Gallery %A "^z THE DICE PLAYERS 41 roundings. He is lost in a day-dream, and gazes before him into space. It is a pathetic little face, full of childish yearning. The child seems of a more poetic and sensitive temperament than his com panions. One wonders why he is so thoughtful, and if he really is unhappy. Certainly he is not hungry, for he clasps in his left arm a big loaf of bread, and he bites very deliberately into the slice he is eating. Perhaps he himself could hardly tell just why he feels in this discontented mood. This is a child whom we should single out in a crowd of beggar children when the other two would pass unnoticed. He is, in fact, the principal figure of the picture. His large eyes are very expressive ; his head is well shaped and well set on his shoulders ; his curls fall about his face in charming ringlets. With another and happier expression he might be really beautiful. A painter like Murillo would be quick to see the artistic possibilities of such a figure. The whole picture is a perfect transcript of the life of the streets : it has its merry, happy-go-lucky side, but the pathetic element is always present. Murillo, as a true interpreter of human nature, knew how closely akin are humor and pathos. This scene is indeed so thoroughly human and typical that one might come upon its counterpart any day in some of our great cities, as, for instance, in the Itahan quar ters of Boston or New York. The picture shows, too, how well Murillo knew the ways of children. Few painters have equalled him in this respect. Children of all sorts and conditions appealed strongly 42 MURILLO to his sympathies ; he seemed never to tire of paint ing them. Like the Boy at the Window, the picture of the Dice Players is a genre painting, intended, as it were, for practice. How useful a study it afterwards proved we shall presently see in another picture. VIII the education of the virgin Many pretty stories are told of the infancy and girlhood of the Virgin Mary. It is beheved that she was more precocious than other children, and more gentle and teachable in her nature. Some of the painters have dehghted to represent her as a child at her mother's knee, as in this picture by Murillo. Mary was the daughter of Joachim and Anna, rich people of Nazareth. They were a devout fam ily, and divided their substance into three parts, one for the poor, one for the service of the temple, and the third for their household. The one gift denied them, and which they greatly longed for, was a child. At. length, in their old age, Mary was born to them, and they rejoiced in their daughter. From the first the child was dedicated to the ser vice of God, and was brought up with peculiar care. The parents expected great things of her, and the mother watched her grow from day to day. We know how in royal families a young princess is edu cated from her earliest childhood to meet her future responsibihties. She learns foreign languages, that she may converse with people of all nations. She is taught the social graces, that she may be at ease among her subjects. She is trained to self-control, 44 MURILLO that she may be fitted to control others. She is exhorted to love and obey God, that she may be a worthy princess. Now, Mary was brought up much after this manner. Like a princess, she was destined to fill a place of great responsibility in life. We like to know how faithfully her mother prepared her for her life-work. In our picture we see the two at one of the daily lessons. A basket of sewing-work is on the floor at one side, and they are reading together from some wise book. They seem to have come to a saying which is hard for the httle girl to understand, and the mother explains the meaning. The child her self holds the open book, but to save the tender hand from the weight of the thick volume, the mother grasps it firmly at the top. As the reading proceeds the little pupil follows the lines with the finger of her right hand. She still holds the finger on the spot where they have stopped, lest she lose the place. The mother is an elderly woman, as she is de scribed by tradition. Her strong, well-cut face shows the firmness of character and dignity which come from years of experience. The little girl takes her lessons seriously. Though her mother speaks with an encouraging smile, the little mouth is set very soberly, and the eyes have an almost wist ful expression. She seems to find lessons very per plexing, and perhaps she wishes that she might run and play as freely as other children. The modern English artist poet, Rossetti, thought From a carbon print by Braun, Clement & Co. John Andrew & Son, So. THE EDUCATION OF THE VIRGIN The Prado Gallery, Madrid Ko5T- !(.<*£ THE EDUCATION OF THE VIRGIN 47 a great deal about the girlhood of the Virgin, and himself painted an imaginary scene of that subject. He also wrote a poem to the Virgin, in which these fines touch upon the mystery of her girlhood : — " Work and play Things common to the course of day, Awed thee with meanings unfulfilled; And all through girlhood, something stilled Thy senses like the birth of light, When thou hast trimmed thy lamp at night Or washed thy garments in the stream ; To whose white bed had come the dream That he was thine and thou wast His Who feeds among the field-lilies." The lines help us to interpret the child's expres sion in the picture. The little girl seems " awed " with the " unfulfilled meanings " of her lesson. Her face is of one who has had strange dreams of the solemnity of life. Hovering in the air, unseen by mother and daugh ter, are two baby angels who hold a wreath of flowers over the child's head. Our curiosity is not a little aroused by the quaint costumes of both figures in the picture. The mother wears on her head a thin mantle or veil, which falls in folds over her shoulders. The child is dressed in a long gown sweeping the floor, and made with high neck and long sleeves. The thick blond hair is parted on one side, falling to the shoulders, and adorned with a white rose. It is evidently the dress worn by Spanish children of the upper classes in the seventeenth century. To confirm this belief we have only to turn to the portraits by Murillo's 48 MURILLO contemporary, Velasquez, to find children similarly dressed. In fact, the little Virgin is not unhke the young princess Margaret whom Velasquez painted. Probably both Mary and her mother are actually portraits, and some have suggested that the origi nals may have been the painter's own daughter and wife. It is said that Rossetti's mother and sister sat to him for his picture of this subject. It matters little who were the models for any great picture so long as the painter succeeds in ex pressing the character appropriate to the persons represented. Certainly this fine old woman is worthy to be the mother of the Virgin. The httle girl her self has a face innocent and serious enough to por tray the childhood of one who was called " blessed among women." As in many houses in Spain, the room in which the Virgin is seen opens on a balcony, and the pic ture is therefore lighted from out of doors. IX JESUS AND JOHN {The Children of the Shell) Jesus had a cousin John about his own age, the son of a priest, Zaeharias, and his wife Elizabeth. The lives of the two" cousins were bound together in a very sacred relation. Before the birth of either the parents had received angelic messages concern ing the future of their children. John was to be a preacher and to prepare the way for Jesus. When he grew to manhood he took up his work boldly and announced Jesus as the Messiah. He was called John the Baptist, because he baptized his followers in the Jordan. At last he was thrown into prison and beheaded because he had condemned the sins of the king. It is pleasant to think that the two cousins may have been playmates in childhood. Though John was the elder, Jesus would always be the leader by natural right. Even in boyhood their distinctive characteristics would begin to show. John was a rugged, vigorous boy, frankly outspoken in his opin ions, but quick to recognize the superiority of his cousin. Jesus was of a gentler, more refined nature, thoughtful and loving to all. 50 MURILLO Our picture shows the two children playing to gether out of doors in happy companionship, with a lanfb for a playfellow. Heated with their romp, they seek water from the brook, and Jesus, using a shell as a drinking-cup, holds it to John's lips. This is the imaginary story we read in the picture, but it evidently has a higher meaning. It is a sort of pic ture allegory symbohzing the future mission of the children and the relation between them. The httle Baptist is clad in a skin garment such as it is supposed he afterwards wore during his sojourn in the wilderness. As the forerunner of Christ, he carries a reed cross about which is wound a banderole inscribed with the words .Ecce Agnus Dei. This is the Latin form of the greeting with which John met the Saviour at the river Jordan, " Behold the Lamb of God." The lamb is another reminder of the same words. The water that Jesus gives his cousin symbolizes the water of life. He offers it with a pretty httle gesture of authority, and his companion drinks eagerly, as if to quench a great thirst. The Christ child is a beautiful golden-haired boy with a winning smile. His happy, sunny nature shines on his round little face. The boy Baptist is of a contrasted type, more swarthy and hardy in appearance, and of a rather serious nature. Just above the children's heads, through an opening in the clouds, a group of baby angels peep down upon them as if they, too, would join the play. The golden light surrounding them makes a bright back- From a carbon print by Braun, Clement & Co. John Andrew & Son, Be. JESUS AND JOHN — "THE CHILDREN OF THE SHELL" The Prado GaUery, Madrid JESUS AND JOHN 53 ground against which the Christ child's head is seen. The old Italian artists used to surround Christ's head with a halo, and here a similar effect is pro duced more simply. The artistic qualities of our picture deserve care ful study, for this is one of the most noted works of Murillo in the great gallery at Madrid. The figures, we notice, are arranged in a pyramidal composition, with the apex at the Christ child's head. On the right side, the oblique line runs along the edge of St. John's back, while the balancing line on the left is formed by the figure of the lamb. These enclos ing lines, however, are not straight, but are drawn in waving curves. There is nothing " set " about the picture. The angel heads in the upper air also relieve the over-prominence of the pyramidal form. The color of the original painting is very wonderful. It is suffused with a beautiful misty golden atmo sphere. The picture of Jesus and John makes an interest ing contrast to the picture of the Dice Players, which we have already seen. The Sevillian street beggars are evidently drawn from life. We call the picture reahstic, because the figures are real children. Jesus and John, on the other hand, are child ideals. They represent the painter's conception of perfect child ish beauty, and so we call the picture a work of idealism. Nevertheless, it was doubtless just some such street children as the Dice Players who furnished, as it were, the material for Jesus and John. The 54 MURILLO wistful little beggar dreamily eating a piece of bread may well have been the model for the Christ child; the head is indeed strikingly hke. In the dice player who wears the crown of vine leaves we see the same faun-like face as in the httle Baptist. Even the attitudes of both children are similar in the two pictures. It is as if the painter found in these types from real life some suggestion of the ideal beauty which he was in search of. It needed only the magic of his art to transform them into the beauti ful ideals of his imagination. X THE HOLY FAMILY The family circle in which Jesus grew up in Nazareth is always spoken of as the " holy family." Hence a picture representing the Mother and Child, accompanied by any other relative, is called a Holy Family. Our ihustration shows such a group. The two mothers, Mary and Ehzabeth, are here with their children, the cousins Jesus and John. Though there was a great difference in the ages of the two women, the friendship between them had begun in the days before their boys were born. Mary had paid a visit to her cousin Elizabeth in the hill country, and they had talked together of the future destinies of their children. Both must have been anxious to prepare their sons for the great career predicted for them by the angels. Day by day Mary watched Jesus grow " in wis dom and stature and in favor with God and man." The great English poet Milton has described Jesus as referring thus to his mother's influence on his childhood : — " These growing thoughts my mother soon perceiving By words at times east forth, inly rejoiced, And said to me apart, ' High are thy thoughts, O Son; but nourish them and let them soar To what height sacred virtue and true worth Can raise them, though above example high.' " 56 MURILLO We may well believe that Elizabeth, on her part, trained her little John to reverence his cousin Jesus. A spirit of true humility seems to have been im pressed upon the child. In after life he declared himself unworthy to unloose the latchet of Jesus' shoes. In our picture Mary sits on a mound with the Christ child standing erect on her lap. His right elbow rests lightly on his mother's bosom to steady himself, and her strong, motherly arms hold him firmly. Ehzabeth kneels on the ground, pressing the little skin-clad Baptist forward to receive the cross from Jesus. We see at once that the picture does not represent any ordinary scene in family hfe. The subject is devotional rather than domestic. Like our other picture of Jesus and John, it is an allegory to show the sacred mission of the two children. The cross is an emblem of suffering, because Jesus afterwards died upon the cross. He taught that whosoever taketh not up his cross is not worthy of him (Matt. x. 38). John therefore receives it bravely, willing to endure anything for the sake of Jesus. In his hand the boy Baptist carries the scroll which is to be fastened to the cross, as in the other picture (page 51). Again there is a little lamb to suggest the gentle character of Christ. It is written of him that when he was persecuted, " as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he opened not his mouth." In the upper air a fatherly figure seems to lean out of heaven with hands outstretched in benedic- --¦-'¦- 'jRP' A ¦ ' '**"' ik* P3L ' ' ^Jfc^ jfllnfl ft rJrlaHU^i BMP' ^8E ' ' *^^Bh^BiV ¦• wSiS - ^^^'"^^BJBBBB From a carbon print by Braun, Clement & Co. John Andrew & Son, Se. THE HOLY FAMILY The Louvre, Paris !l? THE HOLY FAMILY 59 tion. We are thus reminded that our Heavenly Father's care is always over his children. A dove hovers over Jesus' head, as on the day of his baptism in the river Jordan. Although there is so much solemn meaning in the picture, it is a very happy scene. All eyes centre upon the Christ child, who is indeed a lovely boy. The gentle young mother looks at him fondly j Eliza beth's kindly face is lighted by an admiring smile ; and the sturdy little Baptist is dehghted with his cousin. Even the angels of heaven look on with re joicing, their baby forms floating in a golden hght in the upper air. In our previous pictures it has been interesting to trace the source of the artist's material. In some of his works, like the Immaculate Conception, he seemed to draw his ideal from his own imagination. In others, like the Madonna and Child, he evidently painted the peasants of his own country very much as they were. Again, in the picture of Jesus and John, we have seen how he could take ordinary people about him and transform them into ideal types. Now, in this picture of the Holy Family we see two methods of work combined. The children are ideal figures, suggested, no doubt, by some in real life, but made more beautiful. On the other hand, the two mothers seem like portraits painted directly from Andalusian peasants. Mary has a sweet, gentle face, quite in keeping with the character of the Virgin. Elizabeth's strong, wrinkled visage accords 60 MURILLO perfectly with our conception of John's mother. The two women are as strongly contrasted as the chil dren. The one carries on her countenance the story of a life's experience, while the other has the fresh young smile of one on the threshold of life. We may find Elizabeth's face in other pictures by Murillo, as in the Adoration of the Shepherds, and among the sick folk about St. Elizabeth of Hungary. The composition is in the painter's favorite style, the pyramid, crowned at the apex with the head of the child Jesus. The figure of the Father in the upper air is also outlined in the same form as a sort of enclosing pyramid. XI THE FRUIT VENDERS The old province of Andalusia has been called the " Eden of Spain." It is a fertile valley watered by the Guadalquivir River, and in this southern cli mate the rich soil yields abundantly. Even without much cultivation the country on either side the river has an almost tropical vegetation. Wheat and maize ripen in April ; olives and oranges, grapes and lemons flourish luxuriantly. It is perhaps best de scribed in the old Bible phrase as " a land flowing with milk and honey." In its heyday of prosperity, when methods of irri gation were employed, the country might be hkened to our own southern Cahfornia. It was covered with rich vineyards and olive orchards, the products of which were sent to all parts of the world. Those who hve in the more rigorous climate of the north have little idea how dehcious and beauti ful is the fruit of these southern countries. The tropical fruits sold in northern cities are gathered in their native land while still green, and ripen during their journey northward. They thus lose altogether the peculiar rich flavor which they have when ripened in the natural way. Of what the grapes and oranges of Andalusia are we have some faint notion 62 MURILLO from reading about them. A world-wide fame attaches to the grapes of Malaga, grown in this pro vince. In Murillo's time the city of Seville was a great fruit market for the peasants of the country round about. The streets were fuU of venders bearing their precious wares in large straw baskets, and calling them aloud as they went. Many of these were children who could be spared from the farm better than those who were strong enough to work in the vineyards. Their fresh young voices and winning ways made them good salesmen. Such are the girl and boy of our picture, who have met by the wayside beyond the city. The girl has had good luck to-day. Setting forth early in the morning, she sold her fruit in a few hours ; and is already, on her way back to her village home, when she meets the boy just entering the city. The two hail each other gaily ; the boy sets down his basket, and the girl, drawing the coins from the money bag hanging at her side, counts them from one hand into the other. This is a quiet spot in the shadow of a ruined wall, where they are not likely to be dis turbed. It is, in fact, the very place where the street children come to play dice, and the flat stone here makes a comfortable seat. The girl has a capable look, as if she bore on her young shoulders some of the family cares. Her hair is tidily brushed and knotted at the back in a coil which lies in the pretty curve of her neck. She would not be thought pretty, but has a rather plain, Fr. Hanfstaengl, pboto. John Andrew & Son, Sc. THE FRUIT VENDERS Munich Gallery A >o L THE FRUIT VENDERS 65 serious face. But it is such a sensible face that we like it for what it reveals of her character. She is evidently a good little business woman. The boy takes a generous pleasure in his com panion's good fortune. There is not a trace of envy in his good-natured face, as he bends over the girl's open palm and gazes at the coin with innocent delight. There seems to be something a httle un usual in the day's transactions. Perhaps some wealthy purchaser, struck by the girl's modest de meanor, added an extra coin to the price of the fruit. It may, indeed, have been some foreign traveller, who gave her a strange coin of his own country. The children seem to belong to the better peasant class, whose thrift and industry contribute so much to the prosperity of the country. They are in direct contrast to the vagabond element we have seen in the picture of the Dice Players. As they count the coins they are perhaps thinking of all the good things they will buy. One would like to know how Spanish peasant children of the seventeenth century would spend their money. Not for books and toys and sweets, certainly, such as tempt the children of to-day. Except the broken shoes, which are doubtless worn for comfort rather than by necessity, the girl's clothes are very neat and well made. Her sleeves are rolled back to the elbow, and her skirt is care fully turned up to save it from the dust of the road. The bodice is low, and shows the fine curve of her neck and shoulder. She has a pretty ear, a feature 66 MURILLO which many do not notice, but which painters are sure to observe. We see that the two figures are so arranged that the lines enclosing the group form a pyramidal com position like those we have noted in other pictures of our collection. Murillo's groups are all so simply and naturally arranged that they seem to have been placed without thought. This is the way in which " art conceals art," as the saying is. In reality the painter was very painstaking in his work, and care fully observed the principles of composition. XII THE VISION OF ST. ANTHONY St. Anthony of Padua was a Franciscan friar who hved in the twelfth century. He was a Portu guese by birth, and was in Lisbon when he heard of the martyrdom of some Christian missionaries in Africa. This fired him with ambition to emulate their example. His career as a foreign missionary was, however, cut short by illness, so he returned to Europe and came to Italy. On account of his great intellectual gifts he was advised by St. Francis, the founder of the order, to devote himself to scholarly pursuits. He became a university lecturer, and taught divinity at Bologna, Toulouse, Paris, and Padua. In later years he de voted himself entirely to preaching, and went about the country among the people. His eloquence and persuasive powers drew crowds to hear him, and he generally preached in the open air. Everywhere he pleaded the cause of the poor, and wherever there was tyranny and oppression he boldly denounced it. He was a man of tender heart and gentle character, fond of flowers and all hving crea tures. His good deeds and kindly influence made him greatly beloved by his people. Worn out by his arduous labors, he died at the age of thirty-six, 68 MURILLO and was buried in the city of Padua. There a splendid shrine holds his remains, in the church built in his honor. Among many stories of St. Anthony's life, there is one which is repeated oftener than any other. It relates that at one time, when the preacher was ex pounding to his hearers the mystery of Christ's birth, the infant Christ himself appeared to him in a vision. This story had a peculiar attraction for Murillo. The Franciscans were his chief patrons, and in his work for them he had occasion to paint the Vision of St. Anthony in nine different pictures. Our illustration is one of the most beautiful of these. The vision here takes place in the open air, as if in some spot where, according to custom, the saint had been preaching. But the people have now dis persed, and the vision is for the preacher alone. A broad ray of hght streams from heaven to earth and illumines the distant landscape. Along this golden pathway descends the blessed Christ child, accom panied by a host of angels. The saint falls on his knees before the vision, and gathers the babe into his encirchng arms. The little visitor has come to bring some message of comfort, and he lays his hand caressingly upon St. Anthony's cheek. The rosy face is pressed against the pale, austere countenance of the friar. The holy man does not presume to clasp 'the child to his heart in close embrace. He holds him rever ently in his arms, the fine face lighted by a smile of perfect happiness. In this moment of ecstasy ah Fr. Hanfstaengl, photo. John Andrew & Son, So. THE VISION OF ST. ANTHONY Berlin Gallery THE VISION OF ST. ANTHONY 71 his toils and privations are forgotten ; he has his rich reward. St. Anthony wears the dress of the Franciscan order, a dark brown tunic with long loose sleeves. A scanty cape falls from the shoulders, and to this is attached a hood tp be drawn over the head. The tunic is fastened about the waist with a knotted cord, which represents symbolically a halter. The Fran ciscan idea of the body is as a beast which must be subdued, and the brothers are taught severe self- denial. The top of the head is shaven, leaving a surrounding circle of hair, called a tonsure. On the feet is worn a sort of wooden sandal. The angels seem to enter into the spirit of the occasion with delight. One of them is seated on the ground holding the preacher's book. A second stands just behind, triumphantly holding up a hly stalk. This attracts the attention of his companions in the upper air, one of whom stretches forth an eager hand to grasp it. The lily is an emblem almost always used in pictures of St. Anthony. It is peculiarly appropriate, because he was a lover of flowers and used to preach of the lilies of the field. Its whiteness typifies the purity of his saintly life. In artistic qualities there are various points of re semblance between this picture and the picture of Jesus and John. In both, the figures are grouped in a pyramidal composition which nearly fills the ob long canvas. In both the light comes from a break in the clouds to flood the important part of the pic ture. The lovely conception of the baby angels 72 MURILLO » looking down out of heaven is repeated in the two pictures, as, indeed, in many other works. Besides these technical resemblances, what is some times called the "feehng " of the pictures is similar Both are in the most refined and dehcate vein which Murillo's art commanded. These two ideals of the Christ child are the highest which the painter achieved. XIII ST. RODERICK A strange and troublous period in the history of Spain was during the seven hundred years when the country was in the possession of the Moors. This was a time extending from the eighth to the fifteenth centuries. Previous to this, Spain had been occu pied by the Visigoths, who were Christians. Then came the Arab host, sweeping over the land with irresistible force, and all but two provinces were conquered. The Moors were followers of the Mohammedan religion, whose founder was the so-called prophet Mohammed, and whose sacred book was the Koran. These Mohammedans, Mussulmans, or Moslems, as they were variously called, were exceedingly zealous in their faith, and tried to force it upon the people they had conquered. The difference in religions was a cause of continual warfare between the two races. In the end, the Christians drove the Moslems out of Spain, but only after a long and fierce strug gle. The Moslem rulers persecuted their subjects cruelly, and many good men laid down their lives for the faith. One of the Christian martyrs of the ninth century was St. Roderick, who was a priest of Cor dova. 74 MURILLO Now, Cordova was the capital of the Moorish em pire in Spain, and the stronghold of Mohammedan ism. Here was the palace of the caliph, who was the temporal and spiritual ruler of the Moslems. Here, also, were some six hundred mosques, as the Mohammedan churches were called. It fared hard with Christians in such a place. Roderick was one of three brothers, two being Christians, and one a Mussulman. One night when they were all together, Roderick's Christian brother and the Mussulman began quarrelling, and he tried to act as peacemaker. His interference angered them, and they fell upon him so fiercely that they nearly killed him. Then they fled from the spot, leaving him, as they supposed, dead. The Mohammedan brother now spread the news that Roderick was dead, and that before dying he had embraced the Moslem faith. This false report made it unsafe for Roderick to declare himself alive. He had no mind to renounce the Christian religion, but had he appeared in the streets he would have been greeted as a Mussulman. He therefore hid himself in the mountains for a season. It happened one day that descending the mountain towards Cor dova, he met his Mohammedan brother. The un natural wretch, far from being pleased to find his supposed victim ahve, caused him to be cast into prison. The offence charged against him was that he had turned from Mohammedanism to Christianity, while, as a matter of fact, he had never been any thing but a Christian. From a. carbon print by Braun, Clement & Co. John Andrew & Son, Bo. ST. RODERICK Dresden Gallery ST. RODERICK 77 The consolation of his imprisonment was the com panionship of a fellow martyr, St. Salomon. The two became fast friends, but when the friendship between them was observed they were separated. Roderick had three trials, when he was given a chance to recant his faith. As he did not falter in his loyalty to his Christian belief, he was condemned to death. He was executed in the year 857, and his body was thrown into the Guadalquivir River. Murillo's picture is an imaginary portrait of the good St. Roderick. He is a tall, well-built young man with the dark skin of the Spanish race. He stands in priestly garments by a marble pillar, at the angle of a balcony. His face is lifted, and he seems to look " steadfastly into heaven," like the first martyr, Stephen. One wonders if, like that early hero, he sees there "the glory of God." The gentle face shows the suffering of one who has found fife's burdens hard to bear. A small circular wound in his throat indicates the manner of his death. On his left arm he bears the palm which is the emblem of martyrdom. In the vision of heaven described in the book of Revelation a great multitude of people are seen bearing palms in their hands. One of the Elders explains that " these are they which came out of great tribulation." * This is why a painter, representing a Christian martyr, places a palm in his hand to show that he " came out of great tribulation." The richly embroidered chasuble, as the vesture 1 Revelation, chapter vii., verses 9 and 14. 78 MURILLO is called, which St. Roderick wears, deserves special attention because of its history. Murillo painted it from a real garment in the Seville cathedral, where it is still shown to the visitor. Down the centre of the front runs a wide strip of embroidery in which three ornamental medalhons are wrought. The central one represents the apostle Paul with the sword which is the emblematic attribute of that apostle. The third shows St. Andrew with the large cross on which he was crucified. It is not to be supposed that this chasuble was ever worn by the real St. Roderick. It probably belonged to a certain canon of Seville, for whom Murillo painted the picture. The canon would naturally be pleased to have so beautiful a vesture immortalized, and it was, besides, an honor to the memory of St. Roderick to array him so magnifi cently. XIV youth's head It sometimes happens that in a large company of people, such as might be gathered in the streets of a great city, some face in the crowd catches the eye and holds it with a singular fascination. There are dozens of commonplace folk about, and among them all this one seems like a denizen of another sphere. There is a haunting quality in the face wliich makes us remember it a long time. Now, the face of the youth in our picture has just this pecuhar quality. Though quite unprepossessing in its features it attracts our notice at once. Per haps on some great gala day, when the streets of Seville were full of people, Murillo suddenly saw it in the crowd. It so possessed his fancy that he could not rest till he had put it on canvas, and. here it still remains to exercise its strange charm. It is, indeed, a face quite out of the ordinary. Compare it a moment with the Boy at the Window in one of our previous illustrations.1 At the first glance at that mischievous httle face, we begin to wonder where we have seen a boy just like him. We may not be able to recall his exact counterpart, but he is what we call a common type. This youth, 1 See page IS. 80 MURILLO on the other hand, is quite unlike any one we have ever seen. His personality is unique : we exclaim at once, What a singular face ! His shaggy, unkempt locks and shy, fawn-like eyes suggest some wild creature of the woods. The face calls to mind that imaginary being of the old Greek myths called a faun, " neither man nor animal, and yet no monster, but a being in whom both races meet on friendly ground." It will be remembered that in Hawthorne's novel of the " Marble Faun " there was a character named Donatello, who gave a similar impression. One of his peculiarities was to wear his hair in long curls, concealing his ears. His friends playfully pretended to suspect that he had the pointed ears of a faun. One cannot help fancy ing that, could we brush aside this youth's long locks, we might find faun's ears. Setting aside such fancies, we judge that this is a portrait of an Andalusian peasant. It is described in some of the art books as a Herdsman or Shep herd. Look again at the picture of the Adoration of the Shepherds, and pick out the figure of the shepherd leading a lamb. You may see a far-away resemblance between that head and this. The face is not at all intellectual, and we fancy that the youth is alike slow of wit and slow of tongue. Apparently he belongs to that class of oddly balanced minds which produces both the genius and the fool. The old-time phrase " God's fool " perhaps best describes those puzzling natures who fail to grasp worldly wisdom, but have so much From il carbon print by Braun, Clement k Co John Andrew & Son, Sc. YOUTH'S HEAD Hague Museum YOUTH'S HEAD 83 wisdom of another kind. Such characters are pos sessed of the gift of eternal childhood: one can never tell how old they are. Like children, too, they are impulsive and affectionate. They often show a touching fidelity in their attachments. There is, indeed, a strong vein of pathos in such hves. Our youth is, we suspect, one of Nature's poets. His expression is of one who has lived alone with his flocks, far from the haunts of men. It is full of poetic feeling. Not, indeed, that he is gifted with any power of expression, but he has the poet's capacity for enjoying beauty. His long days under the open sky have filled him with a sense of the mystery of hfe. One is reminded of that " herdsman on the lonely mountain tops," of whom Wordsworth writes in the "Excursion." The poet tells us that the youth's whole being was possessed by the beauty of nature. He is described as standing on some bold headland, whence " he beheld the sun Rise up and bathe the world in light ! He looked ! Ocean and earth, the solid frame of earth And ocean's liquid mass, beneath him lay In gladness and deep joy. The clouds were touched, And in their silent faces did he read Unutterable love. Sound needed none, Nor any voice of joy; his spirit drank The spectacle: sensation, soul, and form, All melted into him." We must understand that only a great painter could make a portrait of such a head a real work of art like this. The features are irregular and ill 84 MURILLO formed, and in another position the contour of the face might be very ugly. To overcome these diffi culties required much skill. The pose here is par ticularly good. It makes a pleasing outline for the composition, and it expresses admirably the poetic sentiment of the face. What is most remarkable about the picture is that the painter has caught in the expression that haunting quahty which is so subtle and transient in real life. XV ST. ELIZABETH OF HUNGARY {The Leper) There was once a princess of Hungary, named Elizabeth, who was celebrated for her beauty and goodness. She had "a tall, slender figure, a clear brown complexion, large dark eyes, and hair as black as night." She was married at the age of fifteen to Prince Louis, the son of the landgrave of Thu ringia. They hved together in the Castle of Wart- burg, on a steep rock outside the town of Eisenach. In her early childhood, Elizabeth was devoted to deeds of charity, and used to save food from her own meals to carry to the poor. After her marriage her habits of self-denial were redoubled. Often at royal feasts she contented herself with a crust of bread and a cup of water. Her husband was proud of his wife's piety, and sympathized with all her benevolent plans. His mother and sister, however, bitterly opposed them, and in the prince's absence Elizabeth had much to suffer. At length there was a famine in the land, and it was Elizabeth's benevolence and wisdom which saved the lives of the people. She divided the corn and bread into portions, so that the supply lasted through the summer till harvest-time. The famine was fol- 86 MURILLO lowed by a great plague, and to meet this new emer gency Elizabeth founded hospitals in Eisenach. She exhausted the treasury and sold all her own robes and jewels to pay for these. She herself, with her court ladies, daily visited the hospitals, waiting upon the sick with her own hands. It is in this labor of love that our picture repre sents the saintly princess. She stands beside a large basin on a platform surrounded by a group of patients. A leprous boy bends over the basin while her dehcate hands bathe the sores on his head. It is this figure which gives the Spanish name to the picture, El Tinoso, the Leper. On the opposite side another leper waits his turn, removing the plaster from his head with a wry face. A cripple is just hobbling off in the rear, and a man sits in front un doing the bandage from his leg. An old crone sit ting on the edge of the platform raises her face to St. Elizabeth, with a pathetic expression. The ladies who attend the princess do not con ceal their aversion to the loathsome task, but there is no sign of shrinking in their mistress. Her face has a heavenly calm as the face of an angel. She is dressed in the robes of a nun with a crown worn over the veil. The sleeves are rolled back and show the shapely hands and wrists. The face has lost the brilliancy of its early beauty, and has grown pale and austere from long self-denial. The once splen did hair is concealed under the veil. But the fea tures are cast in an aristocratic mould, and the poise of the head is that of a queen. The noble soul From a carbon print by Braun, Clement & C- ST. ELIZABETH OF HUNGARY — " THE LEPER" Royal Academy of Fine Arts, Madrid ST. ELIZABETH OF HUNGARY 89 shining through the face gives it a moral beauty which is deeply impressive. There is a German poem describing St. Elizabeth's visits to the hospitals, some fines of which seem to apply with pecuhar ap propriateness to our picture : — " The poor cripple (ofttimes scorn'd and vex'd), The idiots by their painful lot perplex'd, — These, who found scoffs and shame their bitter part, Were still the dearest to her pious heart ; They hung upon her robe with joyous cries, And gazed with love into her loving eyes, The sick and dying when she strove to cheer, Through the long room the cry rose, ' Here ! oh, here ! ' With tender care their wounds she drest, And laid the suffering to rest ; With softest words she calm'd th' impatient mood ; And if the handmaids who around her stood Sought in her ministry to share, The sick would suffer only her sweet care, And her fair hands were kiss'd, her name was blest." l Our picture shows that the painter's art ranged all the way from strict realism to pure ideahsm. The figures of the sick are so real that one almost turns away from them in disgust, as from scenes of actual suffering. On the other hand, the princess is a purely ideal creation ; only from his own imagina tion could the painter have drawn such a figure. The strong moral effect of the picture is produced by this contrast. Elizabeth's spiritual beauty is heightened by the repulsiveness of her surroundings. The abruptness of the contrast is modified by the figures of the attendant ladies. They form a con- 1 Translated from the German of Wolf von Goethe by Adelaide Procter. 90 MURILLO necting link between the ugliness of the patients and the beauty of Elizabeth. The portico opens out of doors at one side, and under a covered porch in the distance Ehzabeth is again seen serving a company of the poor at table. This distant view serves an important artistic pur pose. It not only furnishes light for the compo sition, but gives an effect of spaciousness. St. Elizabeth of Hungary is one of a series of eleven pictures painted by Murillo to adorn the church connected with the Charity Hospital in Seville. The subjects were all chosen for their ap propriateness to the place. The work was done in the later years of his life, and was among his noblest productions. A critic has said that " for grandeur of style, harmony of color, and grace of composition, it would be difficult to name an equal number of pictures by any artist that could surpass them." 1 The life of St. Elizabeth had a sad ending. Her husband went to the Crusades and died in a foreign land. His family cast her out of the castle, and she and her children wandered about as exiles. At length she entered the order of St. Francis, and spent her declining years in ministry to lepers. i C. B. Curtis. XVI THE PORTRAIT OF MURILLO The painter Murillo was what we call in our country a " self-made man." Being left an orphan before he was eleven years old, he was apprenticed at an early age to his uncle, the painter, Juan del Castillo. The boy was an apt pupil, but even when he had learned all his master could teach him, he was far from being an artist. For a few years he earned a scanty livelihood by painting cheap pictures to sell in the market-place. Then came a turning- point in his life in this wise. A young man named Pedro da Moya, who had once been a fellow student with Murillo in Castillo's studio, returned to Seville after six months' study under the Flemish painter Van Dyck. Murillo saw with astonishment and envy how wonderfully his old- time companion had improved. A new world of art was opened to him in the copies of Van Dyck's paintings which the traveller had brought home. He straightway resolved that he, too, would go out into the world to learn the secrets of great art. Rome was the object of his pilgrimage, but Rome was a long distance from Seville, and Murillo had no money. The young man was, however, too much in earnest to let any difficulties discourage him. 92 MURILLO Keeping his own counsel, he procured a piece of linen, cut it into squares, painted the squares with bright pictures, and by selling the lot obtained money enough for his immediate needs. This was all he wanted. He was young and courageous, and he set forth at once on foot towards the royal city of Madrid. It was a long and tedious journey, and there were mountains to cross, but he came at last to the great city. He had intended to make Madrid only a stop ping-place on his longer journey to Rome, but cir cumstances now changed his mind. The court painter, Velasquez, himself an Andalusian by birth, offered his young countryman a home. There were plenty of great pictures to see in the royal galleries, and Murillo gladly accepted the offer. He now devoted himself to studying some of the masterpieces, making copies of many of the works of Ribera, Van Dyck, and Velasquez. In this way he progressed so well that he thought no more of Rome. At the end of three years he felt himself ready to return to Seville and begin his career. We have already seen how he had an opportunity to prove his ability, in the decoration of a Francis can church in Seville. From that time forward he had never an idle moment. His life was full of activity. He was a man of gentle, winning nature, whom everybody loved. He took his honors simply, and had no ambition to extend his fame beyond the bor ders of his native city. He loved his own country Photographed from the Fainting John Andrew & Son, Sc. BARTOLOME ESTEBAN MURILLO (By Himself) Collection of the Earl of S fencer ^ Althorf, England THE PORTRAIT OF MURILLO 93 and his own people with passionate loyalty. Above all things else he was a man of sincere piety. We do not know many of the details of his private hfe, except that he was married in 1648, and had two sons and a daughter. When the children grew up they begged their father to paint them a portrait of himself. This is the picture which we have for our frontispiece. The Latin inscription on the scroll below records the circumstances of its painting. We are glad to look into the kindly face of the great painter. He is by no means a handsome man, and the features are rather coarse and heavy. He came from the common people whom he loved, and there seems to have been nothing of the aristocrat in his make-up. Yet the fine high brow shows that this is not an ordinary man. His bearing and expression are those of a man past his prime, who has made a success of hfe. He shows the dignity and modest self-satisfaction to which he is entitled. Painted as it was for his own family, the portrait represents Murillo as he wished to be remembered by those who knew and loved him. PRONOUNCING VOCABULARY OF PROPER NAMES AND FOREIGN WORDS The Diacritical Marks given are those found in the latest edition of Webster's Inter national Dictionary. EXPLANATION OF DIACRITICAL MARKS. A Dash (') above the vowel denotes the long sound, as in fate, eve, time, note, use. A Dash and a Dot (*) above the vowel denote the same sound, less prolonged. A Curve (~) above the vowel denotes the short Bound, as in Sdd, Snd, 111, odd, up. A Dot (' ) above the vowel a denotes the obscure sound of a in past, abate, America. A Double Dot (") above the vowel a denotes the broad sound of a in father, alms. A Double Dot (..) below the vowel a denotes the sound of a in ball. A Wave (~) above the vowel e denotes the sound of e in her. A Circumflex Accent (") above the vowel o denotes the sound of o in bSrn. o and k denote the guttural sound of ch in German. n indicates that the preceding vowel has the French nasal tone. 9 sounds like s. ¦e sounds like k. g sounds like z. g is hard as in get. g is soft as in gem. Alcaic (al ka la'). Almeria (al ma re 'a). Andalusia (an da lob'zi a). Bacchus (bSk'us). Beth'lehgm. Bethu'gl.Bologna (bo lon'ya). Ca'diz.calido (ka'la do). Castillo, Juan del (hob an'dSl kas tel'yo). Cor'dova>Corsini (kor sc'ne). Diego (de a'go). Donatgl'lo.Ecce Agnus Dei (gk'ke ag'noos da'e). Eisenach (I'zgn 5k). Elie'zgr. estilo (es te'16). Franciscan (friSn sis'kan). frio (fre'6). Galne'an. genre (zhaur). Goethe, Wolf von (volf fon gS'tfi). Grana'da.Guadalquivir (ga dai kwiv'Sr). Ho'reb. Huelva (wel'va). Hungary (hung'ga ri). Jaen (ha en'). Joachim (jo'a kim). Justi (hoos'te). Ko'ran (or ko ran'). 96 MURILLO La'ban.Lippi, Filippo (fa lep'po lep'pe). Lisbon (liz'bun). Louvre (lob'vr). Madrid (mad rid'). Mal'aga.Moham'med.Moslems (moz'Iemz). Moya, Pedro da (pa'drO da mo'ya). Murillo (moo rel'yo). Mussulmans (miis'sul manz). Na'hSr. Naz'argth. Pad'ua.Perugino (pa rob je'no). Portuguese (por'tu gez). Rebgk'ah. Rembrandt (rem'brant). Ribera (re ba'ra). Rossetti (r5s sgt'te). Rubens (rob'benz), Sal'&mon. SeSlorita (san ya re'ta). Seville (se vii'). Stabat Mater Speciosa (sta'bat ma'tar spe ki o'sa). Thurin'gia.Tifioso (ten yo'ss). Titian (tish'an). Toulouse (too lobz'). Van Dyek (van dik'). vaporoso (va pO r&'so). Velasquez (va las'kath). Visigoths (viz'i goths). Wartburg (vart'boSrG). Zaeharias (zak a ri'as). (Che Sttargioe $zz## Electrotyped and printed by H. O. Houghton &• Co. Cambridge, Mass., U.S. A.