''Saint Elizabeth of Hungary Curing the Sick'' is an oil on canvas painting by

Bartolomé Esteban Murillo Bartolomé Esteban Murillo ( , ; late December 1617, baptized January 1, 1618April 3, 1682) was a Spanish Baroque painter. Although he is best known for his religious works, Murillo also produced a considerable number of paintings of contemporar ...

, created in 1672, commissioned by Miguel de Mañara for the church of San Jorge in the Hospital de la Hermandad de la Caridad in Seville, where it still hangs in its original position. Showing Elizabeth of Hungary pouring water on the head of a child affected by tinea capitis, it forms part of a group of Murillo works in the church on the works of pity and the exercise of charity. Jesús Cuevas García: ''Santa Isabel de Hungría curando a los tiñosos, copia de Murillo del pintor catalán Eduardo Carrio''. Laboratorio de Arte 19 (2006) 517-526. Access date 11 November 2012 It remained in its original location until Charles IV of Spain moved it to the Alcázar de Sevilla for José María Cortés to copy it, planning to send the original to the Real Museo de Madrid and placing the copy in the Hospital. However, in 1812 Marshal Soult looted the original and sent it to be displayed at the Musee Napoleon in Paris. Enrique Valdivieso: ''El expolio artístico de Sevilla durante la invasión francesa'' Three years later the

Bourbon Restoration Bourbon Restoration may refer to: France under the House of Bourbon: * Bourbon Restoration in France (1814, after the French revolution and Napoleonic era, until 1830; interrupted by the Hundred Days in 1815) Spain under the Spanish Bourbons: * ...

saw the work returned to Spain, though the Louvre's director Vivant Denon tried in vain to prevent its return. Initially hanging in the Real Academia de Bellas Artes San Fernando de Madrid, the king ordered it to be moved to the Prado Museum. The Hospital made numerous requests for the painting's return and the Real Academia Sevillana de Buenas Letras and Academia de Bellas Artes de Sevilla also sent two letters to the Ministry of Public Education to that purpose, though it was only finally returned to the Hospital in 1939.

References

{{17C-painting-stub Paintings by Bartolomé Esteban Murillo 1672 paintings Paintings of saints Paintings in Seville