The Immaculate Conception

Spanish artist Diego Velázquez painted this image of the Virgin Mary as the Immaculate Conception during his early career in Seville, around 1618-1619. The young Madonna stands on a crescent moon against a luminous golden sky, her hands joined in prayer, surrounded by traditional symbols of her purity including roses and lilies. The earthbound naturalism of her youthful face shows Velázquez already developing his distinctive realistic approach.

Spain was the leading promoter of the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception (that Mary was conceived without original sin), making it a popular subject for Spanish Baroque painters. Velázquez painted this as a young man before leaving Seville for Madrid, where he would become court painter to Philip IV and one of the most influential painters in Western art. His naturalistic treatment of the Virgin, shown as a real young woman rather than an idealized figure, anticipated his later portrait major works. The painting now hangs at the National Gallery in London.