Bartolomé Esteban Murillo

Bartolomé Esteban Murillo, the golden boy of the Spanish Baroque, was a master of turning out soulful saints and cherubic children with a heavenly glow. His paintings were so popular, it's rumored the King of Spain himself declared them a national treasure, refusing to let them be exported. While he was busy painting ethereal Madonnas, rumor has it he was also in a fierce rivalry with fellow artist Francisco de Zurbarán, whose starker, more dramatic style was the talk of Seville before Murillo's softer touch became all the rage. One can almost imagine a 17th-century art-world gossip column: "Zurbarán's shadows are so last season! Everyone who's anyone is getting a Murillo." This master of the "vaporous" style also had a knack for painting street urchins with such charm that they looked more like candidates for sainthood than pint-sized pickpockets. It's whispered that his models were the best-fed beggars in all of Seville, paid in bread and art lessons. This, of course, is pure speculation, but it's a much more entertaining thought than simply admiring his admittedly brilliant brushwork.