MURILLO, Bartolomé Esteban
(b. 1617, Sevilla, d. 1682, Sevilla)

Virgin and Child

1675-80
Pen and brown ink with brown wash, 214 x 154 mm
Museum of Art, Cleveland

Murillo had a life-long interest in drawing. He produced drawings in almost every medium, including pen, ink and wash, and coloured chalk, sometimes mixing ink and crayon together. Among these drawings are many preliminary studies, in which he carefully planned the compositions and experimented with posing the figures.

This drawing is a preliminary study for a painting, now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.