Getty Museum
A Monk Carrying a Cross
Creator
Bartolomé Esteban MurilloSpanish Artist · 1617–1682
All works by this person →The market for Bartolomé Estebán Murillo's pictures was so large and lucrative that the king refused to allow their export from the country. Murillo himself never left Spain. Living with his uncle after his parents died, the young Murillo made devotional pictures to sell at Seville fairs. Later, he was apprenticed to local painters. Like all Spanish painters of his time working outside the court,
More on Getty ULAN- Date
- about 1680–1700
- Medium
- Pen and brown ink, brown wash over black chalk
- Culture
- Spanish
- Department
- Drawings
- Institution
- Getty Museum
With light, delicate strokes, the artist created a scene of almost geometric simplification. Using spare contours and pale washes, he created the long cloak that covers the body of the monk; his small, round head; and the straight lines of the cross. Faint shadows extend out from either foot, as well as from the small winged putto holding an empty escutcheon in the left corner, giving both figures an impression of depth. Scholars guess that the monk may be San Diego de Henares de Alcalà, a Spanish lay brother of the Capuchin order who died in 1463. San Diego was sent with missionaries to the Canary Islands and was canonized by Philip II of Spain. The king prayed to him when his son lay dying and, out of gratitude for the boy's recovery, asked the pope to make him a saint. Artists often drew San Diego carrying a cross or with the infant Jesus Christ in his arms.
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