Novohispanic School; XVIII century.

Novohispanic School; XVIII century.
"Immaculate".
Oil on copper.
Signed: J. Francisco A.
Measurements: 29 x 21 cm, 42 x 34 cm (frame).
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, December 8, 1854. However, Spain and all the kingdoms under its political dominion defended this belief before. 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 prayed after the rosary and containing epithets of Mary taken from the Song of Songs of King David. Joining both texts and after an evolution that already begins at the end of the Gothic period, we arrive at a very simple and recognizable typology that presents the Virgin on the lunar quarter, with the stars on her head and dressed in light (with a halo on the head only or on the whole 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 with the Passion), her hands on her chest almost always and represented young as a general rule.
It is worth mentioning that during the Spanish colonial domination, a mainly religious painting was developed, aimed at Christianizing the indigenous peoples. The local painters were modeled on Spanish works, which they followed literally in terms of types and iconography. The most frequent models were the harquebusier angels and the triangular virgins, however, in the early years of the 19th century, already in times of independence and political opening of some of the colonies, several artists began to represent a new model of painting with its own identity, as in this particular case. Since in this work we can appreciate different images in which popular types are represented, who develop tasks related to the local tradition.