Bartolomé Esteban Murillo was a Spanish Baroque painter born in Seville in late December 1617. While many of his contemporaries left their native lands to seek commissions elsewhere, Murillo remained faithful to his roots and remained in Seville for most of his life, with the exception of two short stays in Madrid: one from 1642 to 1645 and the other for several months in 1658. Although these excursions – especially the first – played a notable role in the developing his personal style, Murillo ultimately chose to found his own Painting Academy in his hometown. Murillo was a prolific and talented painter who acquired numerous followers and international recognition during his artistic career. He is best known for his religious works, which offer intimate and tender depictions of important biblical subjects. On the contrary, he paints the faces of young street urchins and greengrocers with the same softness and delicacy of the Virgin Mary or the Christ Child. In an art-historical context, Spain has been described as “the classic land of brutal observation, of the 'slice taken from life' served raw and bloody”. His immediate predecessors, including masters such as Diego Velázquez and Francisco Zurbarán, embraced this idea, describing hardship with a harsh and unsympathetic realism. In contrast, Murillo brings a delicate beauty to such scenes, using “Two Women at the Window” (1655/60) and “Four Figures on a Step” (1655/60) as prime examples, this essay seeks to explore depth and compassion with which Murillo represents the common people of Seville. Murillo's origins are humble. He was the youngest of fourteen children, the son of a surgeon named Gaspar Esteban. In the Spanish tradition, Murillo carried the last……half of the card……is Esteban Murillo.” Wikisource, the free library. Last updated October 17, 2010. http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Catholic_Encyclopedia_(1913)/Bartolomé_Esteban_MurilloHaraszti-Takács, Marianna. Spanish genre painting in the 17th century. Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 1983.Íñiguez, Diego. Murillo. 2, Critical catalogue. Madrid: Espasa-Calpe, 1981. Lubbock, Tom. "Murillo, Bartolomé Esteban: Two Women at the Window (c1655)." The Independent. 21 July 2006. http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/art/great-works/murillo-bartolom-esteban-two-women-at-a-window-c1655-795371.html“Murillo: Biography and works. The Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Museum. Accessed 10 November 2011. http://www.museothyssen.org/en/thyssen/ficha_artigianato/426Stratton, Suzanne L. and Jonathan Brown. Bartolome Esteban Murillo: Paintings from American Collections. Harry N. Abrams: New York, 2002.