Immaculate Conception
Historical Context
Zurbarán painted the Immaculate Conception around 1632, one of his treatments of the doctrine of the Virgin's conception without original sin — a subject of particular importance to Seville, where the Franciscan and Dominican orders contested the doctrine with fervor in the preceding decades. His treatment draws on the standard iconography established by Juan de Juanes and later Francisco Pacheco: the Virgin stands on a crescent moon surrounded by the symbols of the litany of Loreto — sun, stars, flowers, fountains — derived from the Book of Revelation's woman clothed with the sun. Zurbarán renders the young Virgin with his characteristic combination of physical stillness, intense spiritual absorption, and the meticulous textures of her blue and white garments.
Technical Analysis
Zurbarán depicts the Virgin as a young girl standing on the crescent moon surrounded by angels, with the deep blue mantle and white robe rendered in his characteristically sculptural manner.
