Bartolomé Esteban Murillo
XVIII century. Oil on canvas.Not on display
This high-quality imitation depicts the Sevillian painter half-length in an oval frame and places the figure in an illusionist setting with trompe l’oeil effects.
Tobar rendered portraits of important figures of the court within Isabella Farnese’s inner circle. These portraits were outstanding for their excellent treatment of expression and demonstrated the artist’s ability to capture expression in an energetic manner. He was then considered one of the best portraitists of that era in Seville. Upon the court’s return to San Ildefonso in 1733, Tobar was appointed court painter after Teodoro Ardemans left the position vacant, and he received a salary of 36,000 reales de vellón (Spanish copper reales) per year.
Tobar based this work on one of Murillo’s self-portraits that he painted as an adult for his children and that was later acquired by Nicolás de Omazur and then owned by the Earl Spencer (Althorp House). It measures 1.25 x 1.07 m and is currently in the National Gallery in London. There are also other imitations of Murillo’s original self-portrait, including a version in the Prado (P2912) that seems not to have been inspired by the original piece in the National Gallery, but instead by the engraving that Omazur commissioned from Richard Collin in 1682, for which he had the portrait sent to Antwerp.
