José María Murillo Bracho

JOSE MARIA MURILLO BRACHO (Seville, 1827 - Malaga, 1882).
"Still life".
Oil on canvas. Relined.
Presents faults in the frame.
It has a frame of the nineteenth century.
Measurements: 53 x 37 cm; 73 x 56 cm (frame).
This still life is inscribed in the solid tradition of the Spanish painting of still lifes, a genre that Murillo Bracho approaches from a refined and clearly pictorial sensibility. The work displays a rich and carefully balanced composition, where the protagonism falls on an exuberant floral arrangement arranged on a surface covered by fabrics of warm and deep tones.
Murillo Bracho demonstrates here a remarkable mastery of color and pictorial matter. The flowers, roses, carnations and other varieties, are treated with a loose but precise brushstroke, combining attention to detail and expressive freedom. The light, sifted and enveloping, enhances the textures of the petals and creates a dialogue between the volumes, the dark background and the decorative elements, such as the golden frame and the small devotional image in the background.
Trained at the Academy of Santa Isabel de Hungría in Seville and disciple of Antonio María Esquivel, Murillo Bracho developed a solid teaching career in Cadiz, Jerez and Malaga, combined with an intense exhibition activity at national and international level, including the Universal Exposition in Paris. His painting, based on compositional balance, technical precision and an elegant chromatism, connects with the great tradition of the Spanish still life, reinterpreted from the nineteenth-century academic sensibility.