countries out of Spain he was first made famous by his beggar boys and
kindred subjects.

Murillo and Velasquez may be said to hold equivalent positions in the
annals of Spanish Art--Murillo as the painter for the church, and
Velasquez as that of the court. As a delineator of religious subjects
Murillo ranked only a very little below the greatest Italian masters, and
even beside them he excels in one direction; for he is able more generally
and fully to arouse religious emotions and sympathies. This stamps his
genius as that of the first order, and it should also be placed to his
credit, in estimating his native talent, that he never saw anything of all
the Classic Art which was such a source of inspiration to the artists of
Italy. Stirling says: "All his ideas were of home growth: his mode of
expression was purely national and Spanish; his model--nature, as it
existed in and around Seville."

While painting a marriage of St. Catherine for the Capuchin Church of
Cadiz, Murillo fell from the scaffold, and soon died from his injuries: he
was buried in the Church of Sta. Cruz, and it is a sad coincidence that
this church and that of San Juan, at Madrid, in which Velasquez was
interred, were both destroyed by the French under the command of Soult.

The character of Murillo was such as to command the greatest respect, and
though he was not associated with as many royal personages as Velasquez,
he was invited to court, and received many flattering acknowledgments of
his genius. His fame was not confined to his own country, and his portrait
was engraved in Flanders during the last year of his life. He had many
strong personal friends, and his interest in the academy and his
generosity to other artists prove him to have been above all mean
jealousies: he loved Art because it was Art, and did all in his power for
its elevation in his own country. It is probable that since his death more
money has been paid for a single picture by him than he received for the
entire work of his life. The Immaculate Conception, now in the Louvre, was
sold from the Soult collection for six hundred and fifteen thousand three
hundred francs, or more than one hundred and twenty-three thousand
dollars. At the time of its sale it was believed to be the largest price
ever paid for a picture.

SEBASTIAN GOMEZ (about 1620) was a mulatto slave of Murillo's, and like
Pareja he secretly learned to paint. At last one day when Murillo left a
sketch of a hea