Spanish School of the 18th century

Spanish school of the 18th century.
"Immaculate Conception".
Oil on canvas.
Needs restoration.
Measurements: 110 x 87 cm.
The author collects in this work the figure of the Virgin according to the advocation of the Immaculate Conception, theory that is based on the presence of the half moon under the feet of the Virgin and in the appearance of the flowers that are arranged in the inferior zone of the canvas. It is true that in this case the artist has not included all the litanies associated with the presentation of the Immaculate Conception. However, he has opted for a sober composition, eliminating any detail that might distort the viewer's vision. The dogma of the Immaculate defends that the Virgin was conceived without Original Sin, and was defined and accepted by the Vatican in the Bull Ineffabilis Deus of 8 December 1854. However, Spain and all the kingdoms under its political dominion defended this belief earlier. Iconographically, the representation takes texts both from the Apocalypse (12: "A great sign appeared in heaven, a woman wrapped in the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars") and from the Lauretan Litany recited after the rosary and containing epithets of Mary taken from King David's Song of Songs. Combining the two texts, and following an evolution that began at the end of the Gothic period, we arrive at a very simple and recognisable typology that presents the Virgin on the lunar quarter, with the stars on her head and dressed in light (with a halo on her head only or all over her body), normally dressed in white and blue in allusion to purity and eternity (although she can also appear in red and blue, in relation then to the Passion), her hands almost always on her breast and generally depicted as a young woman.