The Virgin and Child

In 1788 this canvas was bought for the Casita del Príncipe, the lodge at El Escorial belonging to the prince who became Carlos IV later that same year. Spanish court taste was turning hard towards Murillo just then, and a Virgin and Child on this scale was what a private wall wanted. Murillo came back to the subject around 30 times, and in most of those versions the Child stands, presented to whoever is looking. Here he is sitting, on his mother's right thigh, and her hair is long and loose, falling partly in front of her shoulder. The museum reads that small change as a quieter, more domestic mood. Both figures are life-size or a little over, set against a dark ground that pushes them forward. By 1818 the picture hung in the ladies' room at the palace of Aranjuez, and it still carries three numbers written by hand at the lower left of the painted surface, 271 in orange, 278 and 309 in white.