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Lot Essay
The present painting repeats the original model by Murillo, which was one of a series of nine large canvases for the Church of the Convent of the Capuchinos in Seville, painted in 1665-1670, and now in the Museo de Bellas Artes, Seville.
The Immaculate Conception of the Virgin was a theme closely associated with Murillo, the artist who popularized and ultimately produced its standard representation. Spanish political pressure lay behind the original papal injunction of 1616 against those who doubted the Virgin's Immaculate Conception and the papal brief of 1662 affirming belief in it. While in the rest of Europe the cult of the Immaculate Conception was controversial, in Spain and particularly in Seville, the papal declarations resulted in public rejoicing. Murillo's vision of the Immaculate Conception as a young adolescent girl dressed in the purest white and blue, standing on a sliver of moon lifted heavenwards by a host of playful cherubs became the archtypal image of a complex and abstract theological concept.
Curtis (op. cit.) describes the present painting as 'as excellent repetition' of the Seville painting, while Professor Valdivieso, in a letter dated 19 April 2000, and based on a photograph, believes the painting to be by Murillo with the participation of his studio.
The Immaculate Conception of the Virgin was a theme closely associated with Murillo, the artist who popularized and ultimately produced its standard representation. Spanish political pressure lay behind the original papal injunction of 1616 against those who doubted the Virgin's Immaculate Conception and the papal brief of 1662 affirming belief in it. While in the rest of Europe the cult of the Immaculate Conception was controversial, in Spain and particularly in Seville, the papal declarations resulted in public rejoicing. Murillo's vision of the Immaculate Conception as a young adolescent girl dressed in the purest white and blue, standing on a sliver of moon lifted heavenwards by a host of playful cherubs became the archtypal image of a complex and abstract theological concept.
Curtis (op. cit.) describes the present painting as 'as excellent repetition' of the Seville painting, while Professor Valdivieso, in a letter dated 19 April 2000, and based on a photograph, believes the painting to be by Murillo with the participation of his studio.