Bartolome Esteban Murillo (31 Dec 1617 - 03 Apr 1682) was born in Seville. He was the youngest of 14 children born to María Perez and Gaspar Esteban, a barber-surgeon. The family was financially stable and had a respectable social standing in the town of Seville. Unfortunately, both of Murillo's parents died within only a few months of each other in 1627 and 1628, when he was only 10 years old. He then went to live with his older sister Ana. Murillo was born into a family of artists. His uncle Antonio Pérez was a painter married to the daughter of another artist called Vasco de Pereira. Murillo thus must have been exposed to the visual arts from a very young age. In around 1630, when Murillo was about twelve years old, he was apprenticed to Juan de Castello, who was a local painter.
Murillo got his start as a professional artist by creating artworks for export to the Indies and by painting decorations for festivals. Some accounts suggest that Murillo may also have visited Madrid, which would have proved very inspirational for his artwork. The turning point for Murillo came in the year 1645. It is in this year that he married Beatriz Cabrera y Villalobos and also received his first important commission for a Franciscan convent. This comprised a series of paintings to illustrate the miracles that were performed by the Franciscan order saints. This commission opened the door for many more. Over the course of the decade, he would quickly grow to beat older rival Zurbarán as the most popular painter of Seville.
