After Bartolomé Esteban Murillo, Spanish 1618-1682-... Lot 20

After Bartolomé Esteban Murillo, Spanish 1618-1682- The Birth of the Virgin; oil on canvas, 25.5 x 40.5 cm. (unframed). Provenance: Private Collection, UK. Note: The present work is an early 19th-century copy of the much larger painting which Murillo conceived for the Chapel of the Immaculate Conception in Seville Cathedral in 1660 (today housed in the Louvre, Paris). During the French occupation of Seville, Murillo’s painting was moved to Paris, where this copy was probably produced in the early 1800s. The painting treats the theme of Virgin Mary’s infancy: she is portrayed as a new-born baby in a domestic setting, being taken out of the bath. Several women and angels gaze affectionately at the her whilst angels descend from heaven – two are already on the ground, removing a towel from a basket. The Virgin’s mother, Saint Anne, lies in a canopied bed and her father, Saint Joachim, is seated nearby. Please refer to department for condition report