Bartolome Esteban Murillo was born on 31st December 1617 in Seville. He was born to María Perez and Gaspar Esteban, a barber-surgeon. Both of Murillo's parents died within only a few months of each other in 1627 and 1628, when he was only 10 years old. He then went to live with his older sister Ana. Luckily, Murillo was born into a family of artists. His uncle Antonio Pérez was a painter and was married to the daughter of Vasco de Pereira, another successful Sevillian artist. All the daughters of this couple also went on to marry artists. It follows that Murillo must have been exposed to the visual arts from a very young age, and probably around 1630, he was apprenticed to the local painter Juan de Castello when he was about twelve years old.
Murillo got his start as a professional artist by creating artworks for export to the Indies and by painting decorations for festivals. He may have visited Madrid, which would have proved very inspirational for his artwork. In 1645, Murillo married Beatriz Cabrera y Villalobos, and it was also in the same year that he received his first important commission for a Franciscan convent. This comprised a series of paintings to illustrate the miracles that were performed by the Franciscan order saints. Over the course of the decade, he would quickly grow to beat older rival Zurbarán as the most popular painter of Seville. Murillo remained one of the most popular and admired of all European artists in the 18th and early 19th centuries. Ready to mount Bartolome Esteban Murillo art are now available for both private and corporate collectors.