Birth of the Virgin

This is the first dated work executed after Murillo’s return to Seville from Madrid. It was intended for the chapel of the Immaculate Conception in the cathedral. In this painting Murillo abandons the hard-edged technique of his youth and adopts the open, sketchy brushwork learned in Madrid. Under the glow of soft light, the figures dissolve into the ambient space, intensifying the tender sentiment of the narrative. St Anne lies in a canopied bed, attended by Joachim, while the newborn infant is removed from the bath by a rotund, matronly woman. The baby is handed for drying to a helper, with assistance from two putti, who remove toweling from a wicker basket. A young woman carrying the clothing emerges from the shadow, and two angels sweetly genuflect before the radiant child.