If this is Thursday it must be postcards, 446

El Divino Pastor (fragment) by Murillo, 1660

Since Easter is this coming Sunday it seemed a good time to share this unused postcard showing a fragment of the painting titled “El Divino Pastor” or “The Good Shepherd” by the Spanish artist, Bartolomé Esteban Murillo (1617-1682).  The card is identified as a product of Ediciones Barsal, Barcelona and has the number 11 at the lower left corner of the reverse. 

The original painting is displayed at the Prado National Museum in Madrid, Spain.  The Spanish Baroque painter, Bartolomé Esteban Murillo, is best known for his religious pieces but also produced a number of paintings of women and children that depicted everyday life of his era.  The paintings include realistic portraits of flower girls, street urchins, and beggars that provide a record of what life was like.  

The original oil painting of Jesus as the shepherd boy with a lamb measures 63” X 48” (161.00 cm X 123.00 cm) and is dated 1660.  Murillo was not only a successful religious painter, his gift for painting children, especially the Infant Christ and the Infant Saint John the Baptist, made his works sought after by both Spanish and foreign collectors.  Many of his works are still among the most widely produced.  In the painting on the card he provides a glimpse into everyday life with a child and animal and at the same time illustrates the sacred subject, the Lamb of God.  

Murillo was the youngest of 14 children.  He was about 10 years old when both his parents died and he became a ward of his sister’s husband, Juan Agustin Lagares.  Instead of using his father’s surname he used the surname of his maternal grandmother, Elvira Murillo.    He was not the only artist in his extended family and began his studies with a relative, Juan del Castillo.  His uncle, Antonio Perez was also a painter. Murillo had many pupils and followers and at one time his work was better known than any other Spanish artist.  Public collections of his works can be found in several different museums including the Prado Museum in Madrid, Spain; the Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg, Russia; Timken Museum of Art in San Diego, California; and the Krannert Art Museum in Champaign, Illinois as well as others.

For additional information, see:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bartolomé_Estaban_Murillo
https://www.theartstory.org/murillo-bartolome-esteban/artworks/