Lot 196
Spanish Colonial, Mexico, ca. 1775 CE. A colossal framed oil on canvas painting depicting the Virgin Inmaculada Concepcion (also known as the Purisima Concepcion). Here we see the Virgin as a young woman dressed in a flowing white robe with a star-patterned cerulean blue cloak with a wine red/brown liner, a pink ribbon tied in a bow around her waist (possibly a variant of the Franciscan brown girdle with three knots), wearing a radiant rose-hued resplendor/crown of twelve stars, her hands touching in prayer, her beautiful visage gazing upward, and the moon beneath her feet, as ethereal seraphim and winged angels carrying tributes surround her in the heavenly realm. Framed in a custom-made 22 karat gold with gesso relief frame from Goldleaf, Santa Fe, New Mexico. Size: painting measures 51" L x 37.25" W (129.5 cm x 94.6 cm); 58.5" L x 44.25" W (148.6 cm x 112.4 cm) framed
The term Immaculate Conception refers not to the conception of Christ in the womb of Mary (this is represented in the Annunciation), but rather to the conception of Mary herself in the womb of her mother Anne. James Hall writes, "According to that doctrine, since the Virgin was chosen - was indeed fore-ordained from the beginning of time - to be the vessel of Christ's Incarnation, she must herself be stainless (hence her title 'Purissima'); more specifically she alone of mankind was free from the taint of Original Sin: that is, she herself was conceived 'without concupiscence.'" (Hall, Dictionary of Subjects and Symbols in Art, Harper & Row, 1979, p. 326)
The art of 17th century Spain, motivated by the Counter-Reformation, saw passionate veneration of the Virgin and led to a new vision of the Immaculate Conception. The parameters were codified by Spanish painter Francisco Pacheco in his "Art of Painting" (1649). The fundamental features were based on the pregnant 'Woman of the Apocalypse' who was "robed with the sun, beneath her feet the moon, and on her head a crown of twelve stars" (Rev. 12:1, see Apocalypse 15). Pacheco wrote that the Virgin should be depicted as a youthful female of 12 to 13 years old, wearing a white robe and a blue cloak and the Franciscan girdle around her waist with the three knots, with her hands either folded upon her breast or pressed together in a prayerful gesture. There are several additional dictates, and the image has had many variations on the theme. For example, in this example, the Franciscan tie does not show three knots.
Provenance: private Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA collection
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#124534
- Condition: Canvas relined at perimeter. New stretcher bars. Painting shows surface wear and areas of paint loss commensurate with age. On verso are eight patches indicative of repairs. The back of the canvas itself has darkened with age and shows some staining. Frame shows some losses to gilt and gesso with inactive insect holes visible in these areas.
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