Two Women at a Window
c. 1655/1660
Medium
oil on canvas
Dimensions
overall: 125.1 x 104.5 cm (49 1/4 x 41 1/8 in.) framed: 182.3 x 160.3 cm (71 3/4 x 63 1/8 in.)
Classification
Painting
Department
CIS-B
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Widener Collection
Accession Number
1942.9.46
Art Historical Context
Bartolomé Esteban Murillo’s *Two Women at a Window*, painted around 1655–1660, offers a charming glimpse into everyday life in 17th-century Seville. The Spanish Baroque master, celebrated for both religious works and intimate genre scenes, captures two women leaning from an open window—one veiled and holding a fan, the other smiling warmly outward. Rendered in oil on canvas with Murillo’s signature soft modeling and luminous warmth, the composition invites viewers to share in a fleeting moment of curiosity and connection. This painting reflects the growing interest in secular subjects during ...
About the Artist
Bartolomé Esteban Murillo · 1618–1682
Son of Gaspar Esteban, a barber-surgeon, and María Pérez. He was orphaned at the age of ten and brought up by his maternal uncle, who placed him as an apprentice with his relative Juan del Castillo, a painter in the Italian manner. He adopted the surname of his maternal grandmother, Elvira Murillo, and rarely signed or used that of his father. Comment on works: History; Portraits; Religious