Museum of London discovered an unknown painting by Murillo

Representatives of the Dulwich art gallery announced that they had found in their collection the previously unknown painting The Adoration of the Magi (1660-1665) by the great Spanish artist Bartolomé Esteban Murillo (1617 - 1682) by the British The Guardian.

Initially, museum experts considered this canvas the work of one of Murillo’s students. In the 1970s, the picture was almost sold, but at the last moment the gallery management canceled the deal. During the restoration, which was completed recently, several layers of paint were removed from the canvas. After that, it became obvious that the painting belonged to the brush of Murillo himself, and its cost automatically increased from 5 to 100 thousand pounds, but so far the museum does not intend to sell it.

The Dulwich Art Gallery was founded in 1811 and is the first UK art museum to provide the general public with access to painting masterpieces. According to the creators of the museum, in his collection were 11 original works by Murillo, but in 1970, experts decided that only four of them can undoubtedly be attributed to the artist.

The painting "The Adoration of the Magi" will be shown at the exhibition Murillo & Justino de Neve: The Art of Friendship, which will be held in the gallery from February 6 to May 19, 2013. The Prado Museum in Madrid and the Focus-Abengoa Foundation from Seville, Murillo’s hometown, take part in the preparation of the exposition. The insert itself will be devoted to the relationship between the artist and his patron, don Justino de Neve, on whose funds, in particular, the Cathedral of San Antonio in Seville (San Antonio, Catedral de Sevilla) was built.

In addition to the newly discovered work of Murillo, this exhibition will show another of his paintings with an interesting fate - “The Penitent Saint Peter” (Penitent Saint Peter, 1670). For more than fifty years she was considered dead, only her black and white photographs are preserved in the archives. Also, fans of the great artist of the Baroque era will be able to see his masterpiece "The Baptism of Christ" (The Baptism of Christ, 1667 - 1668), measuring 283 x 210 cm. The painting will be specially delivered to the museum from the Cathedral of San Antonio. In the gallery for her, part of the interior of the cathedral, in which the picture hangs constantly, will be recreated. In total, the exposition will consist of more than 30 works.

Anna Sidorova