Two women at a window

Murillo was an expert in giving his works an aura of charm, nostalgia, and mischief, of which this work is a great example. It features two young women looking out of a window, in the center and fully illuminated, one of them looks at the viewer with an enigmatic and calm smile. Behind her, in half-light, the other young woman covers her eager laughter with a handkerchief. The clothing of both, typical Spanish of the time, indicates an upper-middle-class stratum. The dimensions of the characters are 1:1 scale, intentionally made so that the painting has more impact as it more closely resembles an authentic window with the girls looking out. This same pictorial resource is commonly found in the Flemish school of the 17th century, for example in: Jan van Eyck, Rembrandt, or Rubens.