Provenance
Pedro Francisco Luján y Góngora, Duque de Almodóvar del Rio, Madrid;[1] his heirs; sold 1823 to William A'Court, later 1st baron Heytesbury [1779-1860], Heytesbury, Wiltshire;[2] by descent to his eldest son, William Henry Ashe, 2nd baron Heytesbury [1809-1891]; by descent to his grandson, William Frederick Ashe, 3rd baron Heytesbury [1862-1903]; sold 1894 to (Stephen T. Gooden, London);[3] purchased 3 December 1894 by Peter A. B. Widener [1834-1915], Elkins Park, Pennsylvania;[4] inheritance from the Estate of Peter A. B. Widener by gift through power of appointment of Joseph E. Widener [1860-1943], Elkins Park.[5]
[1] For this provenance see William Stirling-Maxwell, _Annals of the Artists of Spain_, 3 vols., London, 1848: 2:920 n. 2, who presumably had the information from Baron Heytesbury (d. 30 May 1860). Heytesbury was ambassador extraordinary in Madrid in 1822-1823. Pedro Francisco Luján y Góngora, Duke of Almodóvar del Rio (1728-1794) was a Spanish diplomat and man of letters. The ownership is established by the inscription on an undated print after the painting by Joaquín Ballester, which employs the present tense: "Quadro original de Bartolomé Murillo que posee el Excmo. Sr. Duque de Almodóvar," reproduced in Diego Angulo Iñiguez, "Quelques tableaux de Murillo. Les femmes a la fenêtre de Murillo, de la Galerie Nationale de Washington," _Evolution générale et developpements regionaux en histoire de l'art_, Budapest, 1972: fig. 2. Gustav F. Waagen, _Galleries and Cabinets of Art in Great Britain_, 3 vols. and supplement, London, 1857: 389, mistakenly gives the provenance as the family of the count of Altamira. Duncan Kinkead, "The Picture Collection of Don Nicolas Omazur," _Burlington Magazine_ 128 (1986): 353, posits that the picture is identical to one in the 1703 inventory of the Sevillian painter, Matías Arteaga. However, the entry does not give the name of the artist and mentions only a single woman--"Un lienzo de vara y medio de alto de una mujer asomada a ventana" ("A canvas is a vara and a half high of a woman looking out of a window"). In a 7 September 1986 letter to unknown recipient, Professor Kinkead states that the same picture is mentioned in Arteaga's _capital_ (possessions of husband at marriage) of 1680, where the estimated value, in his opinion, "is simply too low for it to have been an original by Murillo."
[2] _Burke's Peerage_, London, 1967: 1247-1248.
[3] Gooden's name is found in the manuscript copy of the Widener catalogue.
[4] Records from Edith Standen's (Widener's secretary) Lynnewood Hall card file, NGA curatorial files.
[5] _Paintings in the Collection of Joseph Widener_ (1923), n.p.
Accession Number
1942.9.46
Medium
oil on canvas
Dimensions
overall: 125.1 x 104.5 cm (49 1/4 x 41 1/8 in.) | framed: 182.3 x 160.3 cm (71 3/4 x 63 1/8 in.)
Classification
Painting
Credit Line
Widener Collection
Tags
Painting Baroque (1600–1750) Oil Painting Canvas Spanish Color: Orange Color: Brown
Background & Context
Background Story
Two Women at a Window is one of Murillo's most famous genre paintings, depicting two women leaning out of a window—one young and smiling, the other older and seemingly amused by someone or something below. The painting's charm and accessibility have made it one of the most popular works in the Wallace Collection, but its subject matter has been debated: are the women respectable citizens observing the street, or are they prostitutes soliciting customers? The ambiguity is characteristic of Murillo's genre paintings, which present working-class Sevillian life with a warmth and dignity that refuses to judge or moralize.
Cultural Impact
Two Women at a Window is Murillo's most celebrated genre painting and one of the most discussed works in the history of Spanish art. The debate over the women's identity—respectable or not—reflects the larger debate over Murillo'sgenre paintings: are they sympathetic documents of working-class life or moralizing illustrations of vice? The painting's refusal to resolve this ambiguity is its greatest strength.
Why It Matters
Two Women at a Window is Murillo's genre painting at its most ambiguous and most charming: two women leaning out of a window, one smiling at someone below, the other watching with amusement. Are they respectable or not? The painting refuses to say, and its refusal is its point—Murillo painted Sevillian women with dignity, whatever their occupation.