Murillo, Bartolom� Esteban 1618-82
Spanish painter

He was born in Seville and spent most of his life there. He painted 11 remarkable pictures for the convent of San Francisco in 1645, which made his name. In 1660 he founded the Academy of Seville, of which he became first president. He frequently chose the Immaculate Conception or the Assumption of the Virgin as a subject, and treated them much alike. In 1681 he fell from a scaffold when painting an altarpiece at Cadiz, and died soon afterwards. His pictures naturally fall into two groups - scenes from low life, such as gypsies and beggar children (mostly executed early in his life), and religious works.