Autoportrait

Murillo painted this in Seville around 1670, in his early fifties, his hairline going back and his moustache greying. The Latin line at the bottom says plainly why: he made it to satisfy the wishes and prayers of his children, four of his nine still living at the time. He set himself inside a painted stone frame, as if in a carved oval on a wall, then broke the illusion by letting his right hand come forward over the edge of the stone, into our space. On the ledge below he laid out the tools of his trade, a palette and brushes, a red chalk drawing, a ruler and compass. He died in Seville in 1682, and the portrait passed down through his family before eventually leaving Spain.