''The Immaculate Conception of Los Venerables'' or ''The Immaculate Conception of Soult'' (original titles ' or ') is an

oil painting Oil painting is a painting method involving the procedure of painting with pigments combined with a drying oil as the Binder (material), binder. It has been the most common technique for artistic painting on canvas, wood panel, or oil on coppe ...

by the

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

artist

Bartolomé Esteban Murillo Bartolomé Esteban Murillo ( , ; late December 1617, baptized January 1, 1618April 3, 1682) was a Spanish Baroque painter. Although he is best known for his religious works, Murillo also produced a considerable number of paintings of contempor ...

. It was painted 1678 and measures . Looted by Marshal

Jean-de-Dieu Soult Marshal General Jean-de-Dieu Soult, 1st Duke of Dalmatia (; 29 March 1769 – 26 November 1851) was a French general and statesman. He was a Marshal of the Empire during the Napoleonic Wars, and served three times as President of the Council of ...

in 1813 and taken to France, it was bought by the

Louvre The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is a national art museum in Paris, France, and one of the most famous museums in the world. It is located on the Rive Droite, Right Bank of the Seine in the city's 1st arrondissement of Paris, 1st arron ...

in 1852. It has been held by the

Museo del Prado The Museo del Prado ( ; ), officially known as Museo Nacional del Prado, is the main Spanish national art museum, located in central Madrid. It houses collections of Art of Europe, European art, dating from the 12th century to the early 20th ce ...

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

, since 1941.

Provenance

According to

Juan Agustín Ceán Bermúdez Juan Agustín Ceán Bermúdez (17 September 1749 in Gijón3 December 1829 in Madrid) was a Spanish writer on art. Biography Bermúdez was born in Gijón, Asturias. He founded an art academy at Seville, and was given responsibility to order the Ar ...

, the work was commissioned from

by Justino de Neve (1625–1685). De Neve was a

canon Canon or Canons may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Canon (fiction), the material accepted as officially written by an author or an ascribed author * Literary canon, an accepted body of works considered as high culture ** Western canon, th ...

Seville Cathedral The Cathedral of Saint Mary of the See (), better known as Seville Cathedral (), is a Catholic cathedral and former mosque in Seville, Andalusia, Spain. It was registered in 1987 by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site, along with the adjoining Alc� ...

and ecclesiastical president of the Hospital de los Venerables in

Seville Seville ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Spain, Spanish autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the Guadalquivir, River Guadalquivir, ...

. He commissioned the painting for his personal collection, and donated it to the chapel at the hospital in 1686. Belief in the

Immaculate Conception The Immaculate Conception is the doctrine that the Virgin Mary was free of original sin from the moment of her conception. It is one of the four Mariology, Marian dogmas of the Catholic Church. Debated by medieval theologians, it was not def ...

had been on the rise in Spain since the 16th century and the country became its main defender, even fighting for it to be recognized as an official

dogma Dogma, in its broadest sense, is any belief held definitively and without the possibility of reform. It may be in the form of an official system of principles or doctrines of a religion, such as Judaism, Roman Catholicism, Protestantism, or Islam ...

of the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

, a goal that was eventually realized in 1854. The Immaculate Conception became a very important cultural symbol during this period, featured in many works of art. In 1813, during the

Peninsular War The Peninsular War (1808–1814) was fought in the Iberian Peninsula by Kingdom of Portugal, Portugal, Spain and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom against the invading and occupying forces of the First French ...

, the painting was looted by Marshal

and taken to France. Soult left behind the painting's frame which remains in the hospital to this day. The painting remained in Soult's possession until his death in 1851; the painting's alternative name is derived from his. The painting was auctioned in 1852, and acquired by the

Louvre Museum The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is a national art museum in Paris, France, and one of the most famous museums in the world. It is located on the Rive Droite, Right Bank of the Seine in the city's 1st arrondissement of Paris, 1st arron ...

for 615,300

francs The franc is any of various units of currency. One franc is typically divided into 100 centimes. The name is said to derive from the Latin inscription ''francorum rex'' ( King of the Franks) used on early French coins and until the 18th centur ...

; reputedly the largest sum ever paid for a painting at that time. It was exhibited there until 1941, during which time Murillo's art fell out of fashion; as a result the

Vichy Regime Vichy France (; 10 July 1940 – 9 August 1944), officially the French State ('), was a French rump state headed by Marshal Philippe Pétain during World War II, established as a result of the French capitulation after the defeat against ...

agreed to return it to Spain's

Francisco Franco Francisco Franco Bahamonde (born Francisco Paulino Hermenegildo Teódulo Franco Bahamonde; 4 December 1892 – 20 November 1975) was a Spanish general and dictator who led the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalist forces i ...

in an exchange of artwork, along with the ''

Lady of Elche The ''Lady of Elche'' (, Valencian: ) is a limestone bust that was discovered in 1897, at ''La Alcudia'', an archaeological site on a private estate two kilometers south of Elche, Spain. It is now exhibited in the National Archaeological Mu ...

'' and several pieces of the

Treasure of Guarrazar The Treasure of Guarrazar, Guadamur, Province of Toledo, Castile-La Mancha, Spain, is an archeological find composed of twenty-six votive crowns and gold crosses that had originally been offered to the Catholic Church by the Kings Visigot ...

. In exchange, Spain's Museo del Prado gave the Louvre the '' Portrait of Mariana of Austria'' by

Diego Velázquez Diego Rodríguez de Silva y Velázquez (baptised 6 June 15996 August 1660) was a Spanish painter, the leading artist in the Noble court, court of King Philip IV of Spain, Philip IV of Spain and Portugal, and of the Spanish Golden Age. He i ...

. In 1981, the Prado's restoration specialist, Antonio Fernández Sevilla, carried out a careful superficial restoration of ''The Immaculate Conception of Los Venerables'', in preparation for an exhibition dedicated to Murillo. A more in-depth restoration was carried out in 2007.

Description

Murillo painted around two dozen versions of the Immaculate Conception, possibly the most of any Spanish painter at that time. In the majority, the

Virgin Mary Mary was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Saint Joseph, Joseph and the mother of Jesus. She is an important figure of Christianity, venerated under titles of Mary, mother of Jesus, various titles such as Perpetual virginity ...

appears dressed in a white robe with a blue mantle, her hands crossed over her chest, with a crescent moon at her feet, and eyes upraised towards

Heaven Heaven, or the Heavens, is a common Religious cosmology, religious cosmological or supernatural place where beings such as deity, deities, angels, souls, saints, or Veneration of the dead, venerated ancestors are said to originate, be throne, ...

. He
contrapposto
stance, with her right knee bent and her weight shifted to her left leg, adds to the undulating rhythm of the composition. A delicate sliver of a crescent moon is set at an angle for visual interest, and it encircles her foot, which is concealed for the sake of decorum beneath the pooling layers of white fabric.3 ''The Immaculate Conception of Los Venerables'' stands out from Murillo's others due to its triumphant tone. This effect is achieved through Murillo's use of light which creates a sense of movement from the bottom right to the top left of the painting. This upward movement, and the symbolism associated with the clouds and angels surrounding the principal figure, create a visual reference to the

Assumption Assumption, in Christianity, refers to the Assumption of Mary, a belief in the taking up of the Virgin Mary into heaven. Assumption may also refer to: Places * Assumption, Alberta, Canada * Assumption, Illinois, United States ** Assumption Town ...

, connecting Mary's purity with her status as Christ's mother. In this composition, Murillo did not include several traditional elements of the Virgin's iconography—such as the

Tower of David The Tower of David (), also known as the Citadel (), is an ancient citadel and contemporary museum, located near the Jaffa Gate entrance to the Old City of Jerusalem, Old City of Jerusalem. The citadel that stands today dates to the Mamluk Sult ...

, the sealed fountain, or palm and cypress trees—possibly because these symbols were already featured in the painting's original frame in the Los Venerables Hospital, as described by in the 18th century.

References

External links

* *
The Immaculate Conception of Los Venerables
' at

* smart history
Bartolomé Esteban Murillo, The Immaculate Conception of Los Venerables
{{DEFAULTSORT:Immaculate Conception Of Los Venerables, The 1678 paintings Angels in art Paintings by Bartolomé Esteban Murillo in the Museo del Prado Los Venerables