MURILLO VIRTUOSO DRAFTSMAN

Known primarily as a great painter, Bartolomé Esteban Murillo (1617-1682) was also one of the best draftsmen of the 17th century. Al though his devotional paintings seem to have been created effortlessly, they are the result of careful thought and study, a process that comes alive in the preparatory drawings. Murillo used a variety of techniques, favoring pen and ink and brown wash and red-and- black chalk. Like painters schooled in Italian Renaissance practice, the Spaniard developed his paintings in stages, starting with s ketches o...[Read more]