Updated 14 April 2025
On Display Special Exhibition Wing
On Display
Special Exhibition Wing
St. Justa and St. Rufina
| Date | c. 1665-66 |
|---|---|
| Materials and Techniques | oil on canvas |
| Size（cm） | 32 x 24 |
| Credit Line | Purchased |
| Standard ref. | Nuño 115 |
| Category | Paintings |
| Collection Number | P.1969-0003 |
In 1665-66 Murillo created a large series of works including the altarpiece The Portiuncula Indulgence (Wallraf-Richartz Museum, Köln) for the chapel of a Capuchin order in Seville. This small work is an oil sketch for one of these works, St. Justa and St. Rufina now in the Seville Museum. Except for several discrepancies in the pottery at the feet of the saints, this painting presents almost exactly the same composition as that of the completed work. The work depicts the two patron saints of Seville, holding the hemp leaves symbolic of their martyrdom in their hands, and supporting a miniature of the city's symbol, the Giralda Tower. The completed work is from the artist's most accomplished period in the 1660s, showing his mature figural style amidst a light-filled sky. While this work is simply a study and hence we cannot expect to find Murillo's typical elements here, instead it provides us with a direct reflection of the artist's ideas and aesthetic sentiments. A sketch of almost exactly the same composition is now in the collection of the Bonnat Museum in Bayonne in southern France. St. Justa and St. Rufina were sisters and Christians famous for their pottery who lived in Seville during the Roman Empire. When they refused the order for pagan ritual implements from a Roman priest, they were martyred in Seville sometime around the year 286. Pottery became the symbol for the two saints, and the Giralda Tower is frequently shown in works depicting the two sisters. This inclusion of the tower is based on the tradition that the sisters descended from heaven in 1504 and embraced the tower to protect it from a great earthquake. (Source: Masterpieces of the National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, 2009, cat. no.45)
Provenance
Retamoso; J. Stirling Maxwell; Frederick Mont, New York.
Exhibition History
- 1990
- Il mondo delle torri : da Babilonia a Manhattan, Milano, Palazzo Reale, 15 June 1990 - 9 September 1990, p. 193, col. repr.
- 2017
- [Traveling Exhibitions Presenting National Art Museum Collections, Fiscal 2017] Muse: Women before the Artists' Eyes: From the Collection of the National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, Fukushima Prefectural Museum of Art, 22 April 2017 - 2 July 2017, Akita Museum of Modern Art, 15 July-18 September, cat. no. 21
Bibliography
- 1964
- Iñiguez, D. Angulo. Murillo: El retrato de Nicolás Omazur adquirido por el Museo del Prado. Varios bocetos. La 'Adoración' de Leningrado. Archivo Español de Arte. tomo 37, no. 148, October/December 1964, pp. 278-279, fig. 9.
- 1971
- Annual bulletin of the National Museum of Western Art. No. 4 (1969), 1971, Yamada, Chisaburoh F. [On the New Acquisitions]. p. 4. Catalogue of the New Acquisitions. pp. 10-11. no. P-376. repr.
- 1971
- Les cent chefs-d'œuvre du Musée National d'Art Occidental. Tokyo, The National Museum of Western Art, 1971 (Japanese), no. 59, repr.
- 1975
- Les cent chefs-d'œuvre du Musée National d'Art Occidental. Tokyo, The National Museum of Western Art, 1975 (Japanese), no. 12, repr.
- 1976
- Brown, Jonathan. Murillo & His Drawings (exh. cat). Princeton, Princeton University Press, 1976, p. 35, fig. 11, p. 111, Appendix 2, preliminary checklist of oil sketches, p. 189, no. 19.
- 1978
- Gaya Nuño, Juan Antonio. L'opera completa di Murillo. Milano, 1978, p. 97, no. 115, repr.
- 1978
- Masterpieces of the National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo. Tokyo, The National Museum of Western Art, 1978 (Japanese, preface in Japanese and English), no. 12, repr.
- 1979
- The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo: Catalogue of paintings. Tokyo, The National Museum of Western Art, 1979, no. 204, repr.
- 1990
- Il mondo delle torri: da Babilonia a Manhattan (exh. cat.). Farina, Paolo; Rovero, Giuliana; Tommasi, Marcello, eds. Milano, Mazzotta, 1990, pp. 173, 193, 257, col. repr.
- 2006
- Masterpieces of The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo. Tokyo, The National Museum of Western Art; Tokyo, The Western Art Foundation, 2006 (Japanese, preface in Japanese and English), no. 45, col. repr.
- 2009
- Masterpieces of The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo. Tokyo, The National Museum of Western Art; Tokyo, The Western Art Foundation, 2009, no. 45, col. repr.
- 2013
- Masterpieces: The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo. Tokyo, The Western Art Foundation, 2013 (Japanese, preface in Japanese and English), no. 57, col. repr.
- 2017
- Muse: Women before the Artists' Eyes: from the Collection of the National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo: Traveling Exhibitions Presenting National Art Museum Collections, Fiscal 2017 (exh. cat.). Nakada, Asuka, ed. Tokyo, The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, 2017, pp. 46, 139, cat. no. 21, col. repr.