A Murillo Painting Hiding in France Since 1764

In 1665, Don Justino de Neve opened the freshly renovated Santa María la Blanca Church in Seville to the public. On prominent display was The Infant Christ as the Good Shepherd and The Young John the Baptist with a Lamb by Bartolomé Esteban Murillo (1617-1682), of whom the priest was an avid collector. In 2012, the Prado Museum and the Dulwich Picture Gallery held an exhibition about the fertile relations between the passionate patron and Murillo, whose works are in the Prado, the National Gallery in London and the Louvre. The Infant Christ as the Good Shepherd , from the Charles Lane Collection, currently on deposit at Oxford, and The Young John the Baptist with a Lamb in the National Gallery in London, are believed to have been a matching pair presented by Justino de…