Bartolomé Esteban Murillo

Closely based on Murillo’s London self-portrait, this ambitious engraving was the first to disseminate Murillo's image across Europe. It was commissioned by his friend and patron Nicolás Omazur and was signed and dated by Richard Collin, royal engraver to King Charles II of Spain. Collin lived in Brussels after 1678 and must have used a drawing after the self-portrait, presumably sent from Seville to Flanders, to create the print. Executed soon after Murillo’s death, the engraving was intended to memorialize the painter.