Andalusian school; second half of the XVII century.

Andalusian School; second half of the seventeenth century.
"Immaculate Conception".
Oil on canvas. Relined.
Measurements: 137 x 92 cm; 155 x 110 cm (frame).
As usual in the representation of this religious theme, we are faced with a monumental representation of the Virgin, especially visible thanks to the strict frontality of the protagonist and its central arrangement, corresponding to aesthetic concepts inherited from the Baroque. Thus, we see an Immaculate Conception that adheres to the outlines of the previous century, with a figure that is inscribed in a break of glory of scenographic conception supported by chromatisms of ochre tones that enhance the corporeality of Mary's body.
The theme of the Immaculate Conception, very frequent in the Spanish art of the 17th century, became one of the national identity signs of Spain as a Catholic country. It is one of the most genuinely local themes of Spanish Baroque painting, since our country was the main defender of this mystery, and the one that fought most insistently to make it a dogma of faith. In this context, numerous artists and intellectuals worked to build a clear iconography that would help the diffusion of the Immaculate Conception, bringing together symbolism and popular fervor. Based on the previous advances of painters such as Juan de Juanes, it was Murillo who built the definitive image of the Immaculate Conception, finding a formula that allowed him to bring together in one image all the necessary features. Thus, he created a new typology where Mary is no longer the child of the works of Zurbarán and Velázquez, and is free from the overload of iconographic and symbolic elements and attributes of the previous versions. Thus, the allusions to the Litany, basic in the previous iconography, disappear and the image is reduced to the essential elements: the Virgin, splendorous in her ascent to heaven, stepping on the crescent moon that alludes to the chastity of Diana and surrounded by angels, clouds and golden light. In this way, in fact, it is combined with the theme of the Assumption, without losing the strength of the message. This new conception soon becomes the purest formula for representing Mary's glory, transcending the original intention of creating a new immaculist iconography.