France; some were returned to Spain, but not to the hospital.

The convent of the Capuchins at Seville at one time possessed twenty
pictures by this master. The larger part of them are now in the Museum of
Seville, and form the finest existing collection of his works. This museum
was once a church, and the statue of Murillo is placed in front of it.
Although the lighting of this museum is far inferior to that of Madrid and
many others, yet here one must go to realize fully the glory of this
master. Among the pictures is the "Virgen de la Sevilleta," or Virgin of
the Napkin. It is said that the cook of the convent had become the friend
of the painter, and begged of him some memento of his good feeling; the
artist had no canvas, and the cook gave him a napkin upon which this great
work was done.

[Illustration: FIG. 66.--THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION. _By Murillo. In the
Louvre._]

Murillo's representation of that extremely spiritual and mystical subject
called the Immaculate Conception, has so far excelled that of any other
artist that he has sometimes been called "the painter of the Conception."
His attention was especially called to this subject by the fact that the
doctrine it sets forth was a pet with the clergy of Seville, who, when
Pope Paul V., in 1617, published a bill making this doctrine obligatory,
celebrated the occasion with all possible pomp in the churches; the nobles
also gave entertainments, and the whole city was alive with a fervor of
religious zeal and a desire to manifest its love for this dogma. The
directions given by the Inspector of the Holy Office for the
representation of this subject were extremely precise; but Murillo
complied with them in general effect only, and disregarded details when it
pleased him: for example, the rules prescribed the age of the Virgin to be
from twelve to thirteen, and the hair to be of golden hue. Murillo
sometimes pictured her as a dark-haired woman. It is said that when he
painted the Virgin as very young his daughter Francesca was his model;
later the daughter became a nun in the convent of the Madre de Dios.

The few portraits painted by Murillo are above all praise; his pictures of
humble life, too, would of themselves have sufficed to make him famous. No
Spanish artist, except Velasquez, has painted better landscapes than he.
But so grand and vast were his religious works that his fame rests
principally on them. It is true, however, that in England and in other