,,masterpieces    ,,in ,,colour         
,,edited ,,by    ,t4 ,,leman ,,hare     
,,murillo    #afah-afhb                 
,,plate ,i4--,,the ,,immaculate         
,,conception4  ,frontispiece4    7,from 
the ,louvre1 ,paris7    ,this greatly   
admired canvas is one of the painter's  
many studies of a  familiar subject4    
,there are more than a dozen pictures of
 the  ,immaculate ,conception whose     
authenticity is undisputed1 and there   
are  many others on offer in ,spain1    
clever and sometimes old imitations of  
the master's mannerisms4  ,in this case 
the figure of the ,virgin is  rather    
over-elaborated1 but the treatment of   
the attendant cherubs is  delightful and
 the composition very skilful4          
,illustration3 ,,plate ,i4--,,the       
,,immaculate ,,conception               
,,murillo    ,,by ,s4 ,l4 ,,bensusan    
,,illustrated ,,with ,,eight            
,,reproductions ,,in ,,colour           
,illustration3 title page art           
,,london3 ,t4 ,c4  ,e4 ,c4 ,,jack       

,,new ,,york3 ,,frederick ,a4 ,,stokes  
,,co4    #aiaj          ,,list ,,of     
,,illustrations      ,plate        ,i4  
,the ,immaculate ,conception 4 4 4 4 4 4
 4 4 4 4 4 ,frontispiece                
,from the ,louvre1 ,paris       ,,ii4   
,the ,beggar ,girl             ,from the
 ,dulwich ,gallery      ,,iii4 ,the     
,holy ,family             ,from the     
,louvre1 ,paris       ,,iv4 ,madonna of 
the ,rosary             ,from the       
,dulwich ,gallery        ,v4 ,the       
,beggar ,boy             ,from the      
,dulwich ,gallery       ,,vi4 ,a ,boy   
,drinking             ,from the         
,national ,gallery1 ,london      ,,vii4 
,the ,nativity             ,from the    
,louvre1 ,paris     ,,viii4 ,the        
,marriage of the ,virgin                
,from the ,wallace ,collection          
,illustration3 ,murillo          ,i     
,there have been long years in which the
 name of ,bartolom ,esteban1  known to  
the world as ,murillo1 was one to       
conjure with4  ,velazquez1 ,el  ,greco1 

,ribera1 ,zurburan1 ,goya1 were long    
uncertain in their appeal1  recognised  
only by the enlightened among their     
contemporaries and  ignored by the great
 majority of their fellow-countrymen4   
,the pendulum  of taste swings slowly   
from one extreme to the other1 and1 as  
the moods  and needs of men change so   
they cast their idols into the dust1    
where  they remain until another        
generation restores what it can find to 
the  old pedestals4  ,nowadays ,murillo 
has fallen from his high estate among   
the elect2 they prefer to magnify his   
shortcomings rather than to  acknowledge
 his many merits1 to ignore the splendid
 service he rendered  to ,spanish art   
and the profound effect of his pictures 
in drawing  countless simple souls      
within the sheltering folds of the      
,church4  ,the  fifty years of his      
devoted labours count for nothing1 the  
self-searching and criticism that       
enabled the painter to move from a  low 
plane to a high one are forgotten4      

,this is not as it should be4  ,bartolom
 ,esteban ,murillo had his limitations1 
but remains1 despite  them all1 one of  
the world's teachers1 and such glimpses 
of his life as  may be seen through the 
shadows of some two hundred and fifty   
years  reveal him as a serious artist   
who added to splendid natural gifts a   
steadfastness of purpose1 a             
determination to do his best1 a love of 
,andalusia1 and a devotion to the       
religion in which he was brought up     
that must compel the admiration of      
thinking men however critical1 and      
enable the artist to stand alone4  ,in  
the early years of his sojourn he       
suffered from the pinch of poverty4  ,he
 was born when ,diego de ,silva         
,velazquez was just about to enter upon 
his splendid career1 in fact1  ,murillo 
would have been about five years old    
when his great  contemporary left       
,seville for ,madrid4  ,perhaps if we   
could see with  understanding eyes we   
might be tempted to believe that the    

less  distinguished artist enjoyed the  
happier life1 for ,velazquez in the     
court of kings had much to endure that  
never troubled the younger man  who     
laboured in the service of the ,king of 
kings1 and may have seen  such visions  
as lightened the labours of ,beato      
,angelico in the ,convent  of the       
,dominicans of ,st4 ,anthony in ,padua1 
and ,st4 ,francis in ,assisi4  ,for the 
best of ,murillo's canvases whisper to  
us of inspiration1 of  devout belief1   
and of an overmastering love for the    
,maria santissima1  and when the        
simple-hearted painter saw that his work
 brought honour to  the cathedrals and  
convents for which he laboured he must  
have felt  that his art was its own     
exceeding great reward4        ,,plate  
,,ii4--,,the ,,beggar ,,girl    7,from  
the ,dulwich ,gallery7    ,we should    
prefer to call this picture the         
,flower-seller1 for the girl  is not    
really a beggar at all4  ,her clothes   
are worn with some approach  to nicety1 

and she carries roses that command a    
ready sale in ,seville  if the seller be
 attractive and young4  ,murillo has    
given us a very  charming type of       
,spanish girl1 and has obtained some    
striking colour  harmonies4             
,illustration3 ,plate ,,ii4--,,the      
,,beggar ,,girl        ,to this day     
,andalusia is a country of dreamers1 and
 ,seville1 despite  its electric trams  
and motor cars1 its barracks and        
cosmopolitan  hostelries1 is par        
excellence the city of dreams4  ,how    
much more so  then1 three hundred years 
ago1 when ,murillo was born to enjoy its
  beauty8  ,in ,seville wealth is a mere
 accident1 even the poor may return     
thanks without mental reservation for   
the nugatory gift of life4  ,faith      
flourishes to-day in the agnostic       
generation as of old time1 blended  with
 what we would regard as superstition1  
but sharing this fault with  all the    
,latin countries4  ,in the ,cathedral   
and the ,caridad1 to say  nothing of    

smaller religious houses1 the pictures  
of ,murillo still  remind us that to the
 ,catholic religion the world owes the  
worship of a  woman4  ,to ,murillo1 ,god
 and the ,virgin were not pale          
abstractions2 they  were his father and 
his mother1 for he was hardly more than 
ten years  old when his earthly parents 
fell victims to one of the epidemics so 
common in ,europe in days when          
sanitation and isolation were not       
understood4    ,for twenty years1 the   
most impressionable of his life1        
,murillo lived  alone4  ,those who sneer
 at his work in these early times ignore
 the  conditions under which it was     
done1 forget that the cost of canvas and
  pigment was a very serious item in his
 exchequer1 and that his reward  was of 
the smallest4  ,wealth never came his   
way until he was no longer  quite young1
 but as his circumstances became easier 
he did all that in  him lay to express  
his message more completely and1 while  
his labour  was unremitting1 his last   

work was his best1 and included         
masterpieces  that may hold their own in
 any company1 even though it include the
  masters before whom artist and layman 
bow the head4  ,murillo has been        
cheapened by forgers and copyists who   
have succeeded in placing many of  his  
shortcomings and very little of his     
quality on their hurried  canvases4     
,every picture dealer in a ,spanish city
 of any pretensions  has a ,murillo or  
two that he is prepared to vouch for    
even though the  canvas gives the lie to
 his protestations4  ,the artist's work 
has been  used shamelessly for purposes 
of advertisement1 it has paid the       
fullest  penalties of popularity1 and   
yet1 a real ,murillo in the best manner 
is  a picture to which we can turn again
 and again1 to find over and above  the 
conquest of technical difficulties and  
the beauties of colour the  qualities of
 imagination and inspiration that are   
associated with the  select few in every
 branch of creative work4  ,one might go

 as far as to  say that ,seville would  
lose as much as ,madrid if the ,murillos
 were  taken from the one and the       
,velazquez pictures from the other4     
,there  would be no hesitation on the   
writer's part to say as much if the     
capital of ,andalusia had never been    
rifled of its proper store by the       
,french conquerors of ,spain4  ,it is   
not in foreign galleries that one  must 
go to see the work of a great artist1   
but in the city that was his  home--the 
city wherein the sources of his         
inspiration linger and his  pictures    
find an appropriate setting4            
,transplanting is not good for          
anything4  ,the trees and flowers1 the  
birds and beasts of a foreign  land may 
endure in a clime for which they were   
not intended1 but there  is no more than
 an arrested growth2 they cannot do     
justice to  themselves4  ,frankly and   
without reserve we admit that ,murillo  
was  almost as much an ,andalusian as a 
painter1 but when we know his city  and 

his work there1 a fine picture in the   
,national ,gallery or the  ,louvre will 
bring ,seville back to us as surely as a
 sea-shell brings  back the ceaseless   
murmur of the waves4          ,,ii      
,,the ,,artist',s ,,life    ,murillo    
came into the world with the close of   
the year #afag1 and was  baptized in a  
church destroyed during the ,french     
invasion nearly two  hundred years      
later2 the record of his baptism is     
preserved to-day in  the ,church of ,st4
 ,paul4  ,history is silent about his   
early years1 but  the authorities make  
it clear that his parents were among the
 very  poorest of the city and that he  
was brought up in the old ,jewish       
quarter1 always the abiding place of    
indigence and suffering4  ,in all       
probability he roamed the streets of the
 ,triana and the ,arrebola1  little     
better off than the beggar boys who were
 destined to provide so  much striking  
material for his brush4  ,when his      
parents died of the  plague that visited

 ,seville the lad and his sister were   
adopted by an  uncle who was a          
struggling doctor4  ,times were bad in  
spite of the  epidemic2 probably there  
was more demand than payment for medical
  services of the quality that ,don     
,juan ,lagares could offer3 but his     
little nephew's cleverness with brush   
and pencil was too obvious to  escape   
notice1 and ,don ,juan del ,castillo1   
one of the city's leading  painters1 was
 induced by the doctor to accept the lad
 as a pupil  without payment of a fee4  
,in the studio of a moderately          
successful artist a pupil would be      
required to do menial work--to grind    
colours1 clean brushes1 sweep  floors2  
he would pick up what he could of the   
master's methods when he  had nothing   
else to do4  ,it was no good            
apprenticeship for a beginner  whose    
youthful talent required direction from 
a bigger man1 but beggars  cannot be    
choosers1 and doubtless uncle and nephew
 were grateful to  ,castillo1 who has   

few claims upon our memory save in his  
capacity as  master of ,seville's great 
painter4  ,he found a willing pupil     
whose work  was admitted to some of the 
poorer religious houses in the city when
 he  was only fifteen1 and the relations
 between the two would seem to have     
been pleasant1 for ,murillo worked in   
the studio for ten years or more1  and  
probably received some small regular    
payment in return for his  services as  
soon as he had demonstrated their value4
  ,then ,juan del  ,castillo moved to   
,cadiz1 and ,murillo remained in        
,seville4  ,judging by  his actions in  
years to come1 he remained because the  
city was very  dear to him2 he would    
undoubtedly have been useful to his     
master1 and  beyond doubt the closing of
 ,castillo's workshop left him at the   
age of  twenty-three in dire financial  
straits4  ,he had his sister to support1
  and the means of doing so were of the 
smallest1 for he was only known  to the 
poorer brethren of the ,church who had  

few commissions to offer  and very      
little to pay for them4  ,the best paid 
work was in strong  hands and1 if no    
high dignitaries of the ,church in      
,seville knew much  about the struggling
 painter1 it must be confessed that he  
had not done  much to attract or to     
deserve attention4  ,he was an artist in
 the  making just then1 and the making  
was a slow and painful process4         
,,plate ,,iii4--,,the ,,holy ,,family   
7,from the ,louvre1 ,paris7    ,this is 
one of the masterpieces of the ,paris   
collection1 beautiful  alike in         
conception1 colouring and composition1  
with all the merits of  the artist in   
evidence1 and the most of his weaknesses
 conspicuous by  their absence4         
,illustration3 ,,plate ,,iii4--,,the    
,,holy ,,family        ,without the     
means for pursuit of serious study and  
with urgent need for  present pence1 the
 young painter was forced to do as the  
lowest members  of his class were doing1
 and he did work not unlike that with   

which  needy gentlemen adorn street     
corners in our own year of grace4  ,to  
be  sure he did not choose a pitch and  
decorate it with busts of the  reigning 
family1 the ruling minister1 a church1 a
 ship at anchor1 and a  flock of sheep  
in a snowstorm1 but he purchased the    
cheapest and  coarsest cloth he could   
buy1 cut it up1 stretched it1 and       
painted  pictures for the ,fair4    ,at 
least once a week there would be a ,fair
 in the ,triana or ,macarena1  every day
 would witness the arrival there of     
country farmers and  dealers with       
something to buy or sell2 and when a    
man's store or purse  was full1 when he 
had eaten well1 and was conscious of the
 joy of life1  he would often consent to
 become a patron of the arts in response
 to  the petition of some needy son of  
the brush who showed him a flaming1     
flaring picture of a ,madonna or a ,holy
 ,family1 or produced a piece of        
unspoilt saga-cloth and offered to paint
 a portrait almost as quickly  as the   

itinerant photographer of ,brighton     
beach or ,margate sands can  prepare the
 counterfeit of his victim with the aid 
of evil-smelling  collodion plates4     
,such pictures were always to be bought 
at the ,feria1  though the writer has   
not found itinerant artists at the      
,fairs of  either ,seville or ,cordova  
in the past few years--perhaps they can 
make  more money by painting genuine    
,murillos for small dealers and owners  
of shops that sell second-hand goods4   
,doubtless1 the young painter was  a    
quick worker1 his gifts in those days   
were readily expressed1 and  when he    
lacked a commission from any of the     
visitors to the ,fair he  prepared a few
 canvases for traders who sent them to  
the religious  houses of ,south         
,america1 where the influence of ,spain 
was so widely and  heavily felt4  ,it is
 not easy to guess how long he would    
have been  content with such work1 but  
when he had followed it for about two   
years  a great change came into his     

life1 and for the first time he became  
acquainted with better things4    ,in   
the studio or workshop of ,juan del     
,castillo he had formed a  friendship   
with a lad from ,granada1 one ,pedro    
,moya1 who1 on leaving  ,castillo1 seems
 to have followed art and war and to    
have served his  native land in the ,low
 ,countries1 where there were ample     
chances for  the soldier of fortune who 
had the good luck to pass unscathed     
across  the stricken field4  ,moya's    
talent was stimulated by a chance       
acquaintance with ,van ,dyck's work1 and
 in order to study this great  master he
 retired from the army and left for     
,london1 where ,van ,dyck1  then in the 
last year of his life1 admitted him as a
 pupil4  ,when ,van  ,dyck had passed   
away1 ,moya found his occupation gone1  
so he left our  fogbound shores for his 
native ,andalusia1 took up his residence
 in  ,seville1 and renewed his          
friendship with his old friend and      
fellow-student4  ,murillo soon found in 

his friend's work qualities he  had     
never seen before2 they revealed the    
poverty of his own efforts1  and filled 
him with an overmastering desire to     
travel and to learn4  ,it  was easier to
 feel the desire than to respond to it4 
,italy1 then as  now the ,mecca of the  
,spanish artist1 was far beyond his     
reach1 but he  had heard stories of the 
success that had come to his            
fellow-countryman  ,velazquez in        
,madrid1 and thought that if he could go
 to him he would  gain a little of the  
advice and instruction of which he stood
 so much  in need4  ,with this idea he  
entered into an arrangement with a      
picture  exporter1 who carried on a     
large trade with ,south ,america1 and   
undertook to paint a large number of    
works at a special price4  ,working  at 
high pressure he completed the order1   
received his pay1 placed his  young     
sister under the care of friends1 and   
shook the dust of the  ,macarena from   
his feet4  ,his road lay towards the    

,north1 and once in  the capital of     
,spain1 he presented himself before     
,velazquez4    ,we do not know much     
about the private life and character of 
the  greatest of ,spanish painters1 but 
the little that is known is all to  his 
credit4  ,he did not hesitate to take   
the raw1 ill-trained lad of             
five-and-twenty under his protection1   
though his only claims upon the  ,court 
painter were his talent and such kinship
 as may be said to exist  between two   
men1 the one distinguished1 the other   
unknown1 who hail  from the same city4  
,what ,velazquez did was done           
thoroughly4  ,as soon  as he was        
satisfied of the bon fides of his       
visitor1 he gave him a  home1 examined  
his work1 and pointed out its defects1  
procured his  admission to the royal    
galleries1 and advised him to copy the  
work of  ,ribera and ,van ,dyck4  ,these
 opportunities were all ,murillo        
required4  ,he could not have seen or   
hoped to see ,velazquez very often1 for 

the  ,court painter was a man whose     
leisure was much restricted1 but he     
settled down to his work1 and for two   
years or more was a painstaking  copyist
 who lacked no opportunities4           
,velazquez1 not content to do all  he   
could unaided1 had even shown his       
pupil's work to his own patron the      
,duke of ,olivares then still at the    
zenith of his power and1 either         
directly or through ,olivares1 had      
brought it before the notice of the     
king4  ,when ,velazquez returned from   
,lerida in #afdd1 ,murillo had made so  
much progress that his patron thought he
 was quite fit to complete his  studies 
in ,italy1 and offered him the necessary
 introductions and money4    ,all lovers
 of ,murillo must wish that he had      
availed himself of the  opportunity1 but
 in the circumstances it is not         
altogether surprising  that he did not4 
,doubtless1 he had heard ,seville       
calling through all  the days and nights
 of his sojourn in ,castile4  ,madrid is

 not a  pleasant city to those who know 
the ,south1 and then1 too1 the young    
painter would have been lonely1 and must
 have remembered that his  sister1 his  
only near relative1 would be anxiously  
awaiting his return4  ,he had learned a 
great deal2 he may have felt that his   
gifts such as  they were would secure   
him a good living in his own city1      
perhaps he  felt he had assimilated as  
much as he could express for many years 
to  come4  ,we cannot tell what was in  
his mind1 though to those of us who     
have fallen under the spell of ,seville 
there is not much difficulty in  forming
 an opinion about it1 and we are        
inclined to think that his  decision    
offended his splendid patron1 for the   
two great ,sevillians  never met again4 
,henceforward ,murillo's home was to be 
in the city of  his birth1 and his work 
was to be limited by the commissions    
that the  city could yield him4         
,doubtless1 he travelled gladly to the  
,south to  take up his residence in the 

,plaza de ,alfaro1 and display his      
latest  work to men who might possibly  
become his patrons4  ,he had left       
,seville  unknown and undistinguished1  
now he had enjoyed the advantage of     
training under the greatest ,sevillian  
of all4        ,,plate ,,iv4--,,madonna 
,,of ,,the ,,rosary    7,from the       
,dulwich ,gallery7    ,the ,virgin sits 
enthroned1 with the ,holy ,child on her 
knee and  attendant cherubs at her feet4
  ,her expression is full of sadness4   
,the  composition is admirably thought  
out and the colouring effective4        
,illustration3 ,,plate ,,iv4--,,madonna 
,,of ,,the ,,rosary        ,he was still
 poor1 and his poverty induced him to   
accept an ill-paid  commission from the 
fathers of the ,franciscan convent for  
eleven  pictures4  ,fresh from the long 
course of study in ,madrid1 conscious   
that this his first chance might be his 
last if he did not do his best1  he set 
to work and produced a series that      
roused the city to  enthusiasm4         

,literally1 he woke one morning to find 
himself famous4  ,the ,franciscan       
convent was destroyed by fire in #ahaj1 
but the pictures  were not lost1 for    
,marshal ,soult had carried off ten out 
of eleven1 and  the other had passed    
into the gallery of a ,spanish grandee  
on its way  to this country4  ,the      
,french invaders of ,spain were         
connoisseurs as  well as soldiers1 and  
in consideration of their flair we may  
at this  time of day overlook the       
shortcomings in their ethical code4     
,murillo  had made the ,franciscan      
convent famous2 the ,franciscans had put
 their  painter beyond the reach of     
monetary trouble and had settled for him
  the lines his talent was to follow4   
,the painter of a picture1 like the     
writer of a book or a play1 must pay    
this one tribute to success2 he  must do
 the work that the public looks for4    
,should he venture to  discover himself 
in other directions his early patrons   
will turn and  rend him4  ,happily the  

whole trend of this artistic talent was 
in the  direction of sacred picture     
painting1 and in the years that follow  
we  find little else from his hand save 
a few portraits and a landscape or  two 
of minor importance4    ,it may occur to
 the reader to ask what was the special 
quality of  ,murillo's work that made so
 prompt an appeal to his countrymen1 and
 the  answer is not far to seek4        
,hitherto sacred subjects had been dealt
  with in most unattractive fashion4    
,art1 the handmaiden of the ,church1    
had delighted in the presentation of    
ascetic figures as far removed  from    
struggling humanity as the heavens are  
above the earth4  ,saints  and martyrs  
looking as though they were newly       
escaped from the grip of  the           
,inquisition were to be met with on     
every side2 the virtues1 the            
kindliness1 and even the humanity of the
 lives of saints and devotees           
altogether were ignored4  ,murillo      
peopled his canvas with an entirely  new

 class of people1 as human and as       
fascinating as the ,sevillians          
themselves4  ,on ,murillo's canvases his
 fellow-countrymen saw no more          
long-drawn agonies of martyrdom1 but    
gracious ,madonnas and delightful       
,children1 and ,saints who had not been 
soured in the pursuit of  righteousness4
  ,it was a revelation to ,andalusia    
this strange new view  of holiness1 this
 mingling of the heavens with the earth1
 this  insistence upon a common bond    
that united the aureoled saint with the 
sick beggar to whom he gave alms4       
,then1 too1 the rich almost sensuous    
colouring of the new work was a quality 
hitherto unknown to ,seville1  although 
we may wonder why some of the ,spaniards
 from other cities1 who  may have been  
warm colourists1 had not been attracted 
to sun-loving  ,seville1 where they     
could have created an immediate market  
for work  that responded to the         
unvarying humour of the people4         
,,plate ,v4--,,the ,,beggar ,,boy       

7,from the ,dulwich ,gallery7    ,the   
little gallery near ,dulwich ,college1  
some five miles away from the           
boundaries of the ,city of ,london1 is  
rich in works by ,murillo4  ,this  study
 of a beggar boy possesses more than the
 interest created by the  artist's      
clever treatment of shadow and light1   
the happiness of the  posing and the    
skilled brushwork4  ,it reveals the     
truth that between  the beggar of nigh  
three hundred years ago and to-day there
 is little  or no difference in ,spain4 
,you may meet this child to-day in and  
round  the ,andalusian country the      
painter knew so well4    ,illustration3 
,,plate ,v4--,,the ,,beggar ,,boy       
,the painter's studio was now thronged  
with the lite of ,seville1 by  the      
crowds that muster when genius has been 
acclaimed by responsible  parties and   
they need have no fear of their own     
taste4  ,the man who had  painted       
pinturas de la feria only three years   
ago could now choose  his own           

commissions4  ,he made the best use of  
his opportunities1 and1 a  couple of    
years after his work for the            
,franciscans had given him a  start in  
life1 he married ,dona ,beatrice de     
,cabrera y ,sotomayor4  ,a  portrait by 
,murillo said to be of the lady1 is in  
the collection of ,sir  ,j4             
,stirling-,maxwell1 but1 seen through   
the medium of a photograph1 it  does    
nothing to explain why the painter      
married her4  ,perhaps the facts  that  
she was of noble family1 and had wealth1
 may be trusted to provide  the key4    
,her flatterers could hardly have said  
that she was  attractive4  ,in the      
picture she wears a mantilla1 and a     
flower in her  hair after the fashion of
 the ,sevillana1 and looks as though she
 seldom  suffered from good temper1 but 
if the portrait does stand for the      
painter's wife1 it is only fair to add  
that we have no record to  suggest that 
she was as difficult as she appears     
here4  ,the suggestion  that one of his 

later portraits of a really attractive  
woman represents  his mistress is not   
supported sufficiently to convince us4  
,down to the year of his return to      
,seville the painter's work is of  small
 importance1 and in all probability the 
most of it has been lost4  ,in a country
 where the wealthy were better prepared 
to buy pictures  than to attach any     
importance to those who painted them1 it
 is hardly  likely that the rough       
immature efforts of the painter who     
sought his  patrons at the weekly ,fair 
would command attention4  ,critics of   
,murillo  divide his works into three   
periods1 the first dating from #afdf to 
#afeb1 when his outlines were hard and  
the background lacked depth1 and  the   
colouring was more or less metallic4    
,following this came a short  period of 
transition lasting till #afef1 when more
 of the individuality  behind the brush 
becomes expressed on the canvas1 and one
 does not see  the joints in the        
composition1 or the definite effects by 

which the  colour scheme has been       
secured4  ,from #afef ,murillo may be   
said to have  entered into his kingdom1 
to have expressed his conception of     
,holy  ,family and saints as they       
occurred to his mind1 to stand outside  
the  conventions that had fettered him  
hitherto4  ,some hold that these        
changes were merely the result of       
constant study1 but the writer  inclines
 to a strong belief that they were more 
than the fruit of mere  technical       
efficiency4  ,the painter was turning   
more and more from  things of earth1 to 
what he held to be things of ,heaven1   
his emotional  nature was responsive to 
the ceremonial of the ,church1 and to   
the lives  of its worthiest             
representatives4  ,nearly all his work  
was done1  whether directly or          
indirectly1 in the service of the       
,faith1 and he  learned devoutly to     
believe in the miracles he was asked to 
express on  canvas4  ,then it was that  
he sought to represent female forms of  

simple  but enduring beauty1 making     
luminous the surrounding air1 angels    
hovering over saints1 little cherubs1   
whose feet had never touched our  own   
hard earth1 smiling from folds of the   
,madonna's robes4    ,unconsciously1    
perhaps1 he was doing as the ,florentine
 and ,venetian  painters of the         
,renaissance had done before him2 he was
 studying the  motherhood and childhood 
in the streets around him1 and          
transferring it  with sure touch and    
reverent hand to his canvas4  ,small    
wonder then  that his work in the latter
 days went home more directly than ever 
to  the people among whom he lived1 and 
that they looked upon ,murillo as  they 
looked upon the ,cathedral1 or the      
,giralda ,tower1 as a monument to  their
 city and an instruction to strangers4  
,to this day in the ancient  city if you
 would praise a work of art of any      
description1 you say it  is a ,murillo1 
i4e4 a masterpiece4  ,perhaps the source
 of the  painter's struggle gives us    

also the key-note to his weakness4  ,the
  ,church gave him faith and            
commissions1 but it also imposed upon   
him a  certain stilted handling of his  
subjects4  ,his angels and cherubs came 
from the streets around his home1 and   
sometimes one feels that they are  a    
little tired1 a little intolerant of the
 pose he has inflicted upon  them1 and  
are anxious to return to less unnatural 
surroundings4  ,for  all his facility he
 had no daring2 he felt and uttered the 
restrictions  that the ,church imposed4 
,do not let us blame him for this1 we   
should  rather remember his achievement 
in humanising the heavenly host than    
his failure to make it human without    
self-consciousness4  ,only a wider      
training and a deeper knowledge in many 
directions could have freed his  brush1 
but had it been too free1 he would have 
found his occupation  gone4  ,there must
 have been zealous churchmen who looked 
askance at  many of his pictures1 for   
the bulk of these clerics could hardly  

have  looked at art save through the    
narrowing glasses of theology4  ,to     
estimate the debt that ,spanish art owes
 to ,murillo1 let us look at the        
representation of the subjects he made  
his own by any of the men who  preceded 
him4    ,although ,murillo was so       
largely concerned with sacred art and   
religious  feeling that his pictures for
 religious houses are largely in excess 
of  all others1 he took an intelligent  
interest in the social and artistic     
life around him4  ,his home became one  
of the centres of intellectual          
communion in a city that has never      
devoted itself altogether to affairs  of
 the mind1 and he associated with the   
heads of ,sevillian society in  and out 
of the ,church4  ,the old lean years    
were far behind him1 his  pictures      
commanded the highest prices in the     
city1 and were in demand  beyond its    
boundaries1 though it is extremely      
unlikely that he left  ,seville for long
 at any time4  ,he may have gone as far 

as ,cadiz1 before  he went to his death 
there1 but that would have been the     
extreme limit  of his excursions4  ,now 
and again by way of relaxation he       
painted a  landscape--there are one or  
two in ,madrid which have not yet been  
explained away by critics--and he       
painted portraits from time to time1    
though he preferred to give to some     
saint the features he was asked to      
record4  ,doubtless he felt that the    
,church had the first and final  claims 
upon his services1 and that he had no   
right to devote his time  to secular    
subjects4        ,,plate ,,vi4--,a ,,boy
 ,,drinking    7,from ,national         
,gallery1 ,london7    ,when ,murillo was
 not concerned with ,virgin1 ,saints or 
,martyrs1 he loved  to turn to the      
picturesque types of childhood that he  
found in the  streets around him4  ,he  
has undoubtedly brought more character1 
more  humanity1 and above all more      
movement into his child-life studies    
than  into his sacred pictures4  ,the   

,national ,gallery is the fortunate     
possessor of one of the painter's most  
successful studies of children1         
reproduced here4    ,illustration3      
,,plate ,,vi4--,a ,,boy ,,drinking      
,as his social influence and his        
opportunity for intercourse with        
leading contemporaries increased1 he    
entertained the idea of  establishing in
 ,seville a ,public ,academy of ,art4   
,in pursuit of this  idea he would have 
received the hearty encouragement of the
 ecclesiasts  who looked upon art as a  
sure aid to devotion1 and it may be that
 their  assistance contributed largely  
to the success of the inaugural meeting 
held in ,seville in the beginning of the
 year #affj1 when a score or more  of   
the leading painters of ,andalusia drew 
up the constitution of the  new body1   
and elected ,murillo and the younger    
,herrera as joint  ,presidents4         
,students were to be admitted on payment
 of what they could  afford1 and the    
suggestion that the ,church was         

supporting the new  venture is justified
 by the fact that every student was     
required to  abjure profanity and       
profess his orthodoxy by reciting an    
established  formula4  ,the ,presidents 
devoted a week in turn to the ,academy1 
teaching1 criticising1 and advising1 and
 the struggling young artists  of the   
city and its environs made haste to     
avail themselves of the  chance of      
securing tuition and assistance4        
,herrera did not remain  constant to his
 self-imposed task1 and doubtless       
,murillo found it  irksome1 but the     
,academy was to no small extent the     
creation of his own  brain1 and he did  
his best for it1 taking up the burden   
that his fellow  president had laid     
aside4  ,it is clear that he must have  
possessed some  talent for organisation 
and administration2 the ,academy seems  
to have  thrived as long as he was able 
to direct its affairs1 but shortly after
  his death its doors were closed4      
,some of the ,spanish writers who have  

had access to old papers and            
correspondence declare that ,murillo's  
position was one of great difficulty    
from the first1 that the jealousy  of   
men who were older and less successful  
than he hampered him very  considerably1
 and that many of his best intentioned  
efforts were  thwarted4  ,it is not     
difficult to understand that the        
painter's  extraordinary career had     
provided him with plenty of detractors1 
and  that his position at the head of   
the ,academy would be resented by the   
elderly unsuccessful gentlemen who knew 
that the experiment was being  watched  
from the highest quarters in ,madrid4   
,it is not possible in this place to    
refer at any length to the  important   
work executed by ,murillo in the first  
fifteen years of his  latest manner4    
,to attempt such a task would be to     
compile a catalogue  that could hardly  
be of interest1 save to the few ,english
 lovers of  ,murillo1 who know his work 
in ,national ,gallery1 ,louvre1 ,prado1 

,hermitage1 and the public and private  
collections in ,seville4  ,let it       
suffice for the moment to point out that
 he had been honoured with  commissions 
to paint pictures for the ,cathedral of 
,seville1 once a  ,temple to ,venus1 and
 possessing to this day1 if the writer  
has been  truly informed1 dungeons      
wherein the officers of ,holy           
,inquisition  wrought their will upon   
the corpus vile of the heretic4  ,he    
decorated  the ,chapel ,royal in honour 
of the canonisation of ,st4 ,ferdinand4 
,in  the ,chapter ,room of the          
,cathedral are eight portraits painted  
in oval  for the dome4  ,all are saints1
 six men and two women1 the latter being
  ,st4 ,justa and ,st4 ,rufina1 the     
patron saints of the city4  ,in years to
  come ,goya was asked to paint ,st4    
,justa and ,st4 ,rufina1 and showed his 
respect for their sanctity by employing 
two courtesans to sit for the           
portraits2 but this is another story1   
and belongs to the time of the  ,french 

war and ,ferdinand the ,desired4  ,there
 are countless studies of  ,christ in   
the ,cathedral1 one as a lad1 another at
 the ,baptism by ,st4  ,john1 a third in
 which the child ,christ appears to ,st4
 ,anthony of  ,padua1 another after the 
scourging4  ,the picture of ,christ and 
,st4  ,anthony was probably one of the  
finest of the master's works1 but it    
has been vilely restored4  ,as a rule1  
the gentlemen employed in ,spain  to    
restore masterpieces seem to have as    
much knowledge of art as the  ,african  
witch doctor has of the healing art that
 is practised by a  ,london ,doctor of  
,medicine4  ,it is only now and again1  
when one finds  ,murillo at his best in 
a picture that has defied the assaults  
of time1  that one can realise what the 
cruel mercies of the restorer have done 
to obscure the painter's work4  ,they   
have accentuated the obvious1  turned   
sentiment into sentimentality1 and made 
colour schemes lose  their refinement4  
,if ,shakespeare's sonnets had been     

found mutilated1  and had been restored 
by that philosopher true1 the late      
,martin  ,tupper1 we should have had in 
literature a counterpart of the result  
we  have here in art4    ,beyond        
,murillo's highly important work in     
,seville ,cathedral1 attention  must be 
called to the pictures he painted for   
the ,church of ,santa ,maria  la        
,blanca1 the ,convent of the ,capuchins1
 and the ,caridad4  ,only one of  them1 
a ,last ,supper1 not in the painter's   
best manner1 remains there  to-day2 but 
the splendid semicircular picture of the
 ,conception1 now in  the ,louvre1 was  
painted for ,santa ,maria la ,blanca1   
and hung there until  ,marshal ,soult   
cast his rapacious1 but well cultivated1
 regard upon it2  and in the ,academy of
 ,san ,fernando in ,madrid1 where so    
many of the fine  ,goyas are preserved1 
we can see two others1 ,the ,dream and  
,the  ,senator and his ,wife before the 
,pope4  ,the story set out is founded   
upon the legend of a ,roman ,senator and

 his wife1 who being childless  vowed to
 leave their wealth to the ,virgin4     
,she appeared to them in a  dream1 the  
infant ,christ in her arms1 and bade    
them erect to her a  church on the      
,esquiline1 at a spot she indicated4    
,to this dream the  ,church of ,santa   
,maria ,maggiore in ,rome is said to owe
 its foundation4  ,the two canvases     
stolen or annexed by ,soult were        
returned to ,spain  after his death4    
,,plate ,,vii4--,,the ,,nativity        
7,from the ,louvre1 ,paris7    ,on      
several occasions ,murillo chose the    
,nativity for the subject of his  great 
canvases4  ,he was always safe to       
attract the admiration of his  clients  
by his reverent treatment of a scene    
that left so much to the  imagination of
 the artist4  ,his pictures were very   
greatly admired by  the ,french invaders
 of ,spain1 and it was to ,marshal      
,soult that many  ,frenchmen owed their 
first introduction to ,murillo4         
,i,llustration3 ,,plate ,,vii4--,,the   

,,nativity        ,the ,caridad1 a      
well-managed hospital1 scrupulously     
clean1 light and  airy1 thrives to-day  
on the banks of the ,guadalquivir1 close
 to the  ,tower of the ,gold1 and       
doubtless the writer is but one of many 
who have  spent long hours there1       
content to endure the sights and sounds 
of  suffering for the sake of the       
remnant of work that still graces the   
wall of church and hospital4  ,there    
would be much more than can be seen     
to-day but for the visits of the        
indefatigable ,marshal ,soult1 who had  
such a penchant for the master's work   
that neither ,cathedral nor  hospital   
could guard it from his eyes and hands4 
,it is easy enough to  study ,murillo in
 the public galleries1 but it seems more
 satisfactory  to see his canvases in   
the places for which they were painted1 
and a  special interest attaches to the 
hospital of the ,caridad1 because it    
was founded by one of the men whom an   
age of devout belief is apt to  produce 

from time to time--a desperate sinner   
turned saint4  ,don ,miguel  ,manara of 
,calatrava1 born a few years after      
,murillo1 was a man of  pleasure who    
wasted his substance in riotous living4 
,one night as he  was reeling home from 
a debauch he saw a funeral procession   
approaching  him1 the open bier         
surrounded by torch-bearing priests4    
,whom do you  carry to the grave8 he    
cried1 and one of the priests replied1  
,don  ,miguel ,manara4  ,greatly        
terrified1 the profligate looked at the 
corpse  and recognised the features as  
his own4  ,then he knew no more until   
morning broke and he found himself in a 
church4  ,had he lived in this  prosaic 
age his friends would have taken him to 
a nursing home to enjoy  the benefits of
 bromide and a rest cure1 but two       
hundred and fifty  years ago a man had  
to work out his own salvation4  ,he did 
so very  thoroughly1 turned from a      
profligate to a devotee and1 after      
infinite  labour1 founded the hospital  

and church of the ,caridad on the ruins 
of  an early building of the same       
character4  ,it is a splendid           
institution1  and preserves to this day 
the character proposed by its founder1  
whose  anxious careworn face looks at us
 from the canvas painted by ,juan de    
,valdes in the ,cabilda4  ,murillo      
painted ten or eleven pictures for the  
,church of ,san ,jorge attached to the  
hospital2 three remain3 one is in       
,madrid1 and two are in the town house  
of the ,duke of ,sutherland4  ,perhaps  
the ,moses is the best of those that    
remain1 but the ,saint  ,elizabeth of   
,hungary1 now in ,madrid1 is a master   
work4    ,gratitude for such favours as 
he had received would appear to have    
been  one of the painter's              
characteristics1 and may be held        
accountable for  the splendid effort on 
behalf of the ,franciscans1 who in early
 days had  given the commission that    
made him famous4  ,when the brethren    
appealed  to him in #afgc he was a rich 

man1 and able to work as cheaply as in  
the  days when every real was worth     
saving4  ,the ,convent1 then on the     
outskirts of the city1 had taken forty  
years or more in the building4  ,now it 
needed decoration1 and the brethren did 
not appeal in vain to  the greatest     
ecclesiastical painter of the day4  ,we 
do not know his  fee1 but we do know    
that he devoted six years to his task4  
,upwards of  a score of pictures        
testified at once to his devotion and to
 his skill1  for they are among the best
 he has painted1 and happily the most of
  them are to be seen in the ,murillo   
,salon of the ,seville ,museum4  ,the   
brethren of ,st4 ,francis1 though they  
made one or two exchanges of the  kind  
that ,glaucus made with ,diomedes1 had  
the sense to put the canvases  they     
elected to preserve beyond the reach of 
,marshal ,soult1 and the  ,salon of     
,trabella holds inter alia the ,st4     
,francis at the foot of  the ,cross1    
,justa and ,rufina1 ,st4 ,thomas of     

,villanueva1 and two  ,conceptions4  ,it
 will be remembered that the ,papal     
,edict declaring the  ,immaculacy of the
 ,mother of ,god was issued in the year 
of ,murillo's  birth1 and doubtless many
 a devout ,catholic believed that the   
painter  was given to ,spain as a reward
 to ,philip ,,iv4 by whose strenuous    
endeavour ,pope ,paul ,v4 had issued his
 momentous decree4    ,the pictures     
painted for the ,franciscans were held  
by ,murillo's  contemporaries to place a
 crown upon his achievements4           
,brilliant as  his work had been for the
 ,cathedral and the ,caridad1 for the   
hospital  known as ,los ,venerables1 and
 for the ,church of the ,augustines1 the
  ,franciscans were held to have been   
the most fortunate of all the  painter's
 patrons1 and his pictures gave an      
immense stimulus to the  labours of the 
,church4  ,the ,capuchins of ,cadiz     
besought him to journey  to their city  
and to paint some pictures for their    
house4  ,he had  already reached a great

 age and an assured position1 and no    
pecuniary  recompense that the ,capuchin
 ,friars had to offer could have drawn  
him  from his beloved native city2 but  
the temptation to work for the  greater 
glory of ,god was irresistible1 and he  
set out4  ,it was an  unfortunate       
journey4  ,while engaged on a picture of
 the marriage of  ,santa ,catherine1 he 
stumbled in mounting the scaffolding1   
and ruptured  himself badly4  ,suffering
 great pain1 and unable or unwilling to 
describe his condition precisely1 he was
 brought back to ,seville1 and  we may  
feel assured that the journey must have 
aggravated his symptoms4  ,his children 
and friends did all they could to       
alleviate his  sufferings1 but in those 
days of elemental knowledge rupture was 
not  readily diagnosed1 nor was there   
any effective treatment4  ,we are told  
that the dying man was taken every day  
to the ,church of the ,holy ,cross1     
where he prayed beneath the shadow of   
,campana's ,descent4  ,feeling  that his

 end was upon him he sent for all his   
family and friends1 and  with the       
evening of ,april #c1 #afhb1 the end    
came4  ,he was buried under  ,campana's 
,descent from the ,cross1 and his       
funeral afforded an  occasion for all   
classes of ,seville to show how greatly 
they respected  the distinguished dead4 
,he left but little money1 though he had
 some  real estate and a valuable       
collection of plate and pictures4  ,by  
his  will he left instructions that four
 hundred masses were to be said for  the
 repose of his soul--a generous         
allowance surely for one whose life  was
 singularly free from blame4  ,his wife 
had predeceased him1 but his  sister1   
for whom he had laboured in the far-off 
early days1 survived2  she had married a
 distinguished man of noble birth4  ,his
 children were  two sons and a daughter2
 the elder son was in the ,west ,indies3
 the  second1 who took to art1 died     
before middle age4      ,you may find   
his work in all the great galleries     

to-day1 but to know  ,murillo intimately
 one must go to ,spain--to ,seville and 
,madrid for  choice4  ,france boasts a  
fine collection1 and many of those that 
adorn  our ,national ,gallery1 ,dulwich 
and ,wallace ,collections1 are worthy of
  the painter4  ,in ,rome1 ,florence1   
,dresden1 ,munich1 ,berlin1 ,vienna1 and
  ,st4 ,petersburg he is represented by 
work that demands attention4  ,doubtless
 much of his output has been lost1 much 
has been restored to  death1 some       
pictures remain to be discovered1 but it
 should not be  difficult to compile a  
list of #ejj pictures painted by        
,murillo1 the  greater part in the third
 or vaporoso manner1 and painted in the 
last  twenty-five years of his life4    
,had he not received the commission from
  ,cadiz1 or had he refused to accept   
it1 we may suppose that his output      
would have been considerably greater    
than it was1 for he was in  excellent   
health1 was a conscientious worker1 and 
was painting his  finest pictures4  ,he 

has enabled us to know what manner of   
man he was  by the records of his life1 
by his work1 and by several portraits of
  himself that he painted4  ,two are in 
,england4  ,one of the painter in  his  
youth was bought by ,sir ,francis ,cook 
at the ,louis ,philippe sale in  #ahec1 
and is now at ,doughty ,house2 another  
painted in later years is in  ,lord     
,spencer's famous collection at         
,althorp4  ,there are said to be  others
 on the ,continent2 one1 said by those  
who have seen it to be the  best of all1
 was formerly in the ,louvre1 but its   
present resting-place  is not known to  
the writer4  ,the artist suffers to-day 
from the fact  that ,velazquez was his  
contemporary1 and from the              
indiscriminate praise  of those who     
became acquainted with him for the first
 time when ,soult  came back from the   
wars4  ,his panegyrists ignored or never
 saw his  weakness1 the theatrical      
posing of his figures1 the              
ever-recurring  sacrifice of reason to  

sentiment1 of strength to prettiness4   
,his  detractors1 on the other hand1    
have blinded themselves to the beauty of
  his conceptions1 the skill of his     
compositions1 the exquisite quality  of 
his colouring1 and the spirit of genuine
 belief that kept a subject  from       
becoming hackneyed1 even when he had    
painted it a score of times4  ,he did   
repeat himself2 if we are not mistaken  
he has more than a score  of canvases   
known to-day1 setting out the story of  
the ,immaculate  ,conception4  ,the     
writer has seen some ten or twelve in   
,spain and  ,france1 and though the     
treatment is fairly uniform1 each has   
been the  object of the artist's most   
meticulous handling2 indeed1 it is on   
this  account that the central figure   
lacks the charm that comes to the       
little angels clinging round her4       
,,plate ,,viii4--,,the ,,marriage ,,of  
,,the ,,virgin    7,from the ,wallace   
,collection7    ,this is a panel-picture
 of considerable merit1 full of charm   

and very  sincerely felt4  ,as is       
customary with ,murillo1 the grouping is
 better  than the colouring1 which has a
 certain tendency to crudity1 not       
altogether restrained by the limits of  
the canvas4    ,illustration3 ,,plate   
,,viii4--,,the ,,marriage ,,of ,,the    
,,virgin        ,murillo must have loved
 little children2 he is never so happy  
and free  from his besetting sin of     
posing figures stiffly as when he turns 
for  inspiration to the little ones4    
,we have several examples of this       
branch of his art in and round ,london4 
,the ,national ,gallery holds the       
,drinking ,boy1 while ,dulwich has      
several groups of beggar children and   
the delightful ,flower ,girl4  ,one may 
remark in passing that it is a  thousand
 pities that the beauties of the        
,dulwich ,collection are so  little     
known to the general body of picture    
lovers4  ,it can be reached  on foot in 
two hours from the ,bank of ,england1   
and is served by bus and  train4        

,nearly all the ,murillos are early     
ones1 and the ,velazquez  7,philip      
,,iv47 is not altogether above          
suspicion1 but the collection is a      
remarkable one1 and sadly neglected by  
the public4  ,it has often been  urged  
against the ,murillo children at        
,dulwich that they exhibit the          
painter's sin of theatrical posing in a 
very glaring light1 but surely  those   
who make this charge have overlooked the
 extraordinary  self-consciousness of   
the ,spanish beggar be he old or young4 
,for once  ,murillo is justified4       
,among the beggars of ,spain1 rags that 
only hold  together by grace of         
,providence are worn as though they were
 purple and  fine linen2 and the writer 
has seen the outcast1 whose only        
possession  beyond his rags was the     
cigarette that had just been given him1 
swagger  along a dusty country high-road
 as though he were a grandee in electric
  motor passing through the ranks of his
 friends in the ,park by the ,prado     

when ,madrid is in full season4  ,there 
is much justification for the  pose of  
the beggar children1 the serious blame  
that attaches to the  painter is for    
treating his divinities and saints as   
though they were  no whit better than   
the exquisites of ,sierpes or the       
beggars of the  ,macarena4  ,even his   
lambs are profoundly conscious that they
 are  sitting for their portrait1 and   
have made up their mind that if they    
are spared to grow up and become sheep  
they will be worthy of their  pastures4 
,the painter was not justified in this1 
although we must  never forget1 if we   
would do him justice1 that the ,church  
kept a  watchful eye on everything he   
did1 and spoke to him with an authority 
he would have been the last to          
disregard4  ,the ,catholic ,church is   
essentially spectacular in its worship1 
and surely the high dignitaries  of the 
seventeenth-century ,church would never 
have suffered ,murillo to  go unrebuked 
had he presented his figures in simpler 

pose and without  any ostentation in    
their attitude4  ,as things were he had 
brought the  ,godhead dangerously close 
to earth4    ,our entire conception of  
the province of art has altered beyond  
recognition since ,murillo lived and    
died4  ,the modern artist1 whether  he  
work with paint or words1 keeps his     
morality and his art distinct  from one 
another4  ,art1 he says1 is not         
concerned with a rule of life1  it is   
essentially non-moral4  ,murillo1 on the
 other hand1 accepted the  theory that  
art is the handmaiden of the ,church1   
that only the handling  of the chosen   
picture is the affair of the painter4   
,where faith was  concerned he was not  
far removed from ,beato ,angelico1 and  
those who  like to compare the products 
of an age in different countries1 may   
remember that ,carlo ,dolci1 the        
,florentine painter of cardinal virtues1
  was born about the same time as       
,murillo4  ,the ,church did for him in  
,italy what it did for ,murillo in      

,spain1 but the latter artist was made  
of sterner stuff1 and had infinitely    
more brains and talent than his         
,florentine contemporary4  ,but between 
,carlo ,dolci's best work and           
,murillo's worst1 there is a measure of 
resemblance that justifies one  in      
remembering that they were born within a
 year of each other1 and  that both     
passed in the penultimate decade of the 
seventeenth century4    ,in conclusion  
it may be said for ,murillo that1 quite 
apart from his  merits as a man1 he may 
claim the admiration of the unbiassed   
critic of  all time for some of his     
finest pictures4  ,there were occasions 
when he  painted figures that neither   
,velazquez nor ,titian would have felt  
ashamed to own1 there were times when   
his saints and ,redeemer were  expressed
 with exquisite dignity and restraint4  
,judged by the light of  modern         
criticism1 he was uneven in his work1   
but that criticism has no  reason to    
believe that its arguments would have   

conveyed anything to  ,murillo himself4 
,his entire output suggests that he knew
 what his  message was to be1 and       
delivered it as he received it4  ,we can
 find  pictures in which the proportions
 of the figures are bad1 and the        
outlines are hard and unpleasing1 there 
are a few in which the colour  scheme is
 poor and ineffective4  ,but if against 
his worst moments we  are content to put
 his best1 the artist has not much to   
fear4  ,apart  from the value of his    
labours on purely artistic grounds1 let 
us  remember that he brought the        
,madonna and ,infant ,christ from the   
,heaven  in which they had been         
inaccessible to the rank and file of    
,spain1 to  the earth where they might  
be seen and known1 by those who walk in 
darkness4          ,the plates are      
printed by ,,bemrose  ,,sons1 ,,ltd41   
,derby and ,london    ,the text at the  
,,ballantyne ,,press1 ,edinburgh        
,,masterpieces ,,in ,,colour ,,series   
,,artist4                  ,,author4    

,,velazquez4               ,s4 ,l4      
,bensusan4    ,,reynolds4               
,s4 ,l4 ,bensusan4    ,,turner4         
,c4 ,lewis ,hind4    ,,romney4          
,c4 ,lewis ,hind4    ,,greuze4          
,alys ,eyre ,macklin4    ,,botticelli4  
,henry ,e4 ,binns4    ,,rossetti4       
,lucien ,pissarro4    ,,bellini4        
,george ,hay4    ,,fra ,,angelico4      
,james ,mason4    ,,rembrandt4          
,josef ,israels4    ,,leighton4         
,a4 ,lys ,baldry4    ,,raphael4         
,paul ,g4 ,konody4    ,,holman ,,hunt4  
,mary ,e4 ,coleridge4    ,,titian4      
,s4 ,l4 ,bensusan4    ,,millais4        
,a4 ,lys ,baldry4    ,,carlo ,,dolci4   
,george ,hay4    ,,gainsborough4        
,max ,rothschild4    ,,tintoretto4      
,s4 ,l4 ,bensusan4    ,,luini4          
,james ,mason4    ,,franz ,,hals4       
,edgcumbe ,staley4    ,,van ,,dyck4     
,percy ,m4 ,turner4    ,,leonardo ,,da  
,,vinci4       ,m4 ,w4 ,brockwell4      
,,rubens4                  ,s4 ,l4      
,bensusan4    ,,whistler4               

,t4 ,martin ,wood4    ,,holbein4        
,s4 ,l4 ,bensusan4    ,,burne-,,jones4  
,a4 ,lys ,baldry4    ,,vig,e ,,le       
,,brun4           ,c4 ,haldane ,macfall4
    ,,chardin4                 ,paul ,g4
 ,konody4    ,,fragonard4               
,c4 ,haldane ,macfall4    ,,memlinc4    
,w4 ,h4 ,j4  ,j4 ,c4 ,weale4            
,,constable4               ,c4 ,lewis   
,hind4    ,,raeburn4                    
,james ,l4 ,caw4    ,,john ,s4          
,,sargent4         ,t4 ,martin ,wood4   
,,lawrence4                ,s4 ,l4      
,bensusan4    ,d,,rer4                  
,h4 ,e4 ,a4 ,furst4    ,,millet4        
,percy ,m4 ,turner4    ,,watteau4       
,c4 ,lewis ,hind4    ,,hogarth4         
,c4 ,lewis ,hind4    ,,murillo4         
,s4 ,l4 ,bensusan4    ,,watts4          
,w4 ,loftus ,hare4    ,,ingres4         
,a4 ,j4 ,finberg4      ,others in       
,preparation4