An inventory of Spanish paintings in Belgian public collections led to the rediscovery of an original painting by Bartolomé Esteban Murillo (Seville, 1617-1682) in the reserves of the Wuyts-Van Campen en Baron Caroly Museum in Lier. The painting is a Virgin and Child, a work that experts lost track of in the middle of the 19th century. The article retraces the history of the painting and links its style to that of the artist’s fi rst mature period.