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Saint Thomas of Villanueva Giving Alms to the Poor
1665-1670
Bartolomé-Esteban Murillo (Spanish, 1617-1682)
On View

Bartolomé-Esteban Murillo imbued his many religious paintings with a simple piety and serene beauty. The artist’sconception and treatment of sacred themes, particularly his employment of a cool palette and feathery brushwork, attracted local and foreign patrons alike. Long before his canonization, the Augustinian friar St. Thomas de Villanueva (1488-1555), was venerated for his many acts of charity. This painting formed part of an altarpiece, representing scenes from the life of the Saint, commissioned by the Monastery of St. Augustin. Surviving pictures from this altarpiece include St. Thomas Healing the Cripple, Munich, Alte Pinakothek; The Youthful St. Thomas Distributing Alms, Cincinnati Art Museum; and St. Thomas Receiving the News of his Impending Death, Seville, Museo Provincial de Bellas Artes.

Saint Thomas of Villanueva Giving Alms to the Poor
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Details

  • Artist Name: Bartolomé-Esteban Murillo (Spanish, 1617-1682)
  • Title: Saint Thomas of Villanueva Giving Alms to the Poor
  • Date: 1665-1670
  • Medium: Oil on canvas
  • Dimensions: 52-1/8 x 30 in. (132.4 x 76.2 cm)
  • Credit Line: The Norton Simon Foundation
  • Accession Number: F.1972.47.2.P
  • Copyright: © The Norton Simon Foundation

Object Information

Commissioned August 30, 1664 by the Capuchin Monastery of St. Augustin for the Cavalieri Chapel dedicated to St. Thomas Villanueva, Seville; expropriated in 1835 (the “desamortización;”)
[Baron Taylor (and Adrien Dauzats?)] for;
King Louis Philippe, Galerie Espagnole, Paris, by 1838 (sale, London, Christie’s, 21 May 1853, lot 498 for gs. 710 to);
Graves, for[?];
Thomas Baring (uncle of Lord Northbrook); by descent in the
Northbrook collection, London, by 1889, sold sometime between 1919 and 1926.
[Ehrich Gallery, New York, by 1931].
Dr. Philip O. Cole;
Parlex Corporation, New York.
[Frederick Mont, New York, sold 7 November 1972 to]
Norton Simon Foundation

[on loan]

  • London, British Institution, 1853 to 1853

[on loan]

  • London, Royal Academy, 1872 to 1872

Exhibition of Spanish Art

  • London, New Gallery, 1895 to 1896

Spanish Old Masters

  • London, Grafton Galleries, 1913-10 to 1914-01

Old and Modern Masters in the New York Market from the Collections of Leading New York Dealers

  • New York, Anderson Galleries, 1931-03-15 to 1931-04-04

Reinstallation of Galleries: Art History of the 17th and 18th Century Gains Fresh Dimension

  • Norton Simon Museum, 1993-09-02 to 1995-08-13

All Consuming: Art and the Essence of Food

  • Norton Simon Museum, 2023-04-14 to 2023-08-14
  • Iniguez, A., Murillo, no. 58
  • Young, Eric, The Connoisseur, pp. 176-185
  • Lefort, Paul, Gazette des Beaux-Arts, pp. 327-328
  • Gaya Nuño, J., La Pintura Española fuera de España, no. 1969 pp. 252-253
  • Ponz, A., Viaje de España, 1777, p. 798
  • Augustin Cean-Bermudez, Juan, Diccionario histórico de los más ilustres profesores de las Bellas Artes en España, 1800, vol. II p. 60
  • Gonzalez de Leon, F., Noticia artistica y curiosa de todos los edificios públicos sagrados y profanos de esta ciudad de Sevilla y de muchas de sus casas particulares, 1844, p. 282
  • Ford, R., The Athenaeum, 1857, p. 655
  • Blanc, Charles, et al., Histoire des Peintres de toutes les Ecoles: Ecole Espagnole, 1869, pp. 15-16
  • Curtis, Charles B., Velazquez and Murillo, 1883, no. 398
  • Alfonso, L., Murillo, El Hombre, El Artista, Las Obras, 1886, p. 188
  • Weale, J. and J. Richter, Catalogue of the Collection of the Earl Of Northbrook, 1889, no. 229 pp. 175-176
  • Stirling-Maxwell, William, Annals of the Artists of Spain, 1891, Vol. III, p. 1438; Vol. IV, p. 1631
  • Jameson, Anna, Legends of the Monastic Orders, 1895, p. 222
  • Gowans and Gray, Ltd., The Masterpieces of Murillo, 1916, p. 60
  • A. Iniguez, A., Archivo Espagnol de Arte, 1973, pp. 71-75
  • Brown, J., Murillo and His Drawings, 1976, under no. 169 p. 153
  • Gaya Nuño, J., L'opera completa de Murillo, 1978, no. 128 p. 98
  • Morse, John D., Old Master Paintings in North America, 1979, p. 201
  • Baticle, J.; and C. Marinas, La Galerie espagnole de Louis Philippe au Louvre 1838-1848, 1981, no. 175 pp. 125-126
  • Mayer, August L., Murillo, 1981, no. 163 p. 288
  • Sullivan, Edward J. and Nancy A. Mallory, Painting in Spain 1650-1700 from North American Collections, 1982, fig. 51
  • Masterpieces from the Norton Simon Museum, 1989, p. 45
  • Kimbell Art Museum, Bartolomé Esteban Murillo (1617-1682): Paintings from American Collections, 2002, fig. 2 p. 152
  • Valdivieso, Enrique, Murillo: Catalogo Razonado de Pinturas, 2010, Fig. 176 p. 386
  • Campbell, Sara, Collector Without Walls: Norton Simon and His Hunt for the Best, 2010, cat. 882 p. 348
  • Carnegie Museum of Art, Northbrook Provenance, 2018,

Additional Artwork by Artist

The Birth of Saint John the Baptist Bartolomé-Esteban Murillo c. 1655

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