Spanish school, XVIII century.

Spanish school, XVIII century.
"Immaculate Conception".
Oil on canvas.
Relined.
Measurements: 56 x 43 cm; 69 x 56 cm (frame).
In this eighteenth-century canvas the Virgin is represented framing only her face. The curly and abundant hair appears clouded by a halo. The author transmits beatitude in the countenance. In spite of the lack of iconographic attributes, the golden light of the name indicates that it is the invocation of the Virgin as the Immaculate Conception. Medieval Christianity passionately debated the belief that Mary was conceived without stain of original sin. Some universities and corporations swore to defend this privilege of the Mother of God, several centuries before the First Vatican Council defined the dogma of faith in 1854. At the end of the Middle Ages the need to give iconographic form to this idea was born, and the model of the Apocalyptic Woman of St. John was taken, maintaining some elements and modifying others (the Apocalyptic Woman is pregnant, but not the Immaculate). The definitive image came to fruition in the 16th century, apparently in Spain. Following a Valencian tradition, the Jesuit Father Alberro had a vision of the Immaculate Conception and described it to the painter Juan de Juanes so that he could capture it as faithfully as possible. It is an evolved iconographic concept, sometimes associated with the theme of the Coronation of the Virgin.