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A Knight of Alcántara or Calatrava

ca. 1650–55
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 625

This is thought to be Murillo’s earliest full-length portrait, and it captures the artist’s approach prior to his trip to Madrid in 1658, where he would see new forms of court portraiture. Rather than the softly blended technique of later works, here he uses the dramatic lighting and planar application of color associated with his older Sevillian contemporary, Francisco de Zurbarán. Earlier Spanish portraitists laboriously copied textiles, but Murillo would soon abandon this practice. By the 1650s, the interlaced pattern of the sleeves and gloves was also out of fashion, but their presence may attest to recycling, a common practice even among aristocrats for the most expensive elements of formal dress.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: A Knight of Alcántara or Calatrava
  • Artist: Bartolomé Estebán Murillo (Spanish, Seville 1617–1682 Seville)
  • Date: ca. 1650–55
  • Medium: Oil on canvas
  • Dimensions: Overall, with added strips, 77 x 43 3/4 in. (195.6 x 111.1 cm); original canvas 77 x 38 1/2 in. (195.6 x 97.8 cm)
  • Classification: Paintings
  • Credit Line: Gift of Rudolf J. Heinemann, 1954
  • Object Number: 54.190
  • Curatorial Department: European Paintings

More Artwork

More Artwork
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The Infant St. John the Baptist, Bartolomé Estebán Murillo Spanish, Pen and brown ink with brush and gray wash over black chalk underdrawing. Composition outlined with black chalk inner line and brush and gray wash outer line; framing lines ruled in pen and gray-brown ink, possibly by the artist himself
The Infant St. John the Baptist
Bartolomé Estebán Murillo
1618–82
The Nativity, Bartolomé Estebán Murillo Spanish, Pen and brown ink, brush and brown wash, over traces of leadpoint or soft black chalk
The Nativity
Bartolomé Estebán Murillo
ca. 1665–70
Standing Male Figure: Study for a Portrait, Bartolomé Estebán Murillo Spanish, Pen and brown ink over black chalk underdrawing on off-white paper (recto); black chalk (verso)
Standing Male Figure: Study for a Portrait
Bartolomé Estebán Murillo
1670–80
Virgin and Child, Bartolomé Estebán Murillo Spanish, Oil on canvas
Virgin and Child
Bartolomé Estebán Murillo
1670s
The Crucifixion, Bartolomé Estebán Murillo Spanish, Oil on canvas
The Crucifixion
Bartolomé Estebán Murillo
ca. 1675

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