The Immaculate Conception (Tiepolo)

The Immaculate Conception
The Immaculate Conception
Artist	Giovanni Battista Tiepolo
Year	1767–1768
Medium	Oil on canvas
Dimensions	115 cm × 170 cm (3' 10" × 5' 5" )
Location	Prado Museum, Madrid

The Immaculate Conception is a painting by Italian painter Giovanni Battista Tiepolo (1696–1770). The painting was one of seven altarpieces commissioned in March 1767 from Tiepolo by King Charles III of Spain for the Church of Saint Pascual in Aranjuez, then under construction. This was originally an Alcantarine (Franciscan) monastery that was later assigned to the Conceptionist nuns.

The painting was commissioned in 1767, at a time when the Immaculate Conception was already a common theme in Ecclesiastical art, the Feast of the Immaculate Conception (8 December) having been restored to the Calendar of Saints in 1708, though its theology would not be definitely settled as dogma until Pope Pius IX's declaration in 1854.^[1] It represents the Immaculate Conception, a tradition of the Catholic Church stating that the Virgin Mary was conceived without original sin.^[2] It depicts the Virgin Mary, surrounded by angels and crowned with the circle of stars.^[1] She is shown trampling a snake, representing her victory over the devil. The lilies and the rose are references to hortus conclusus ("enclosed garden"), and symbolize Mary's love, virginity and purity. The painting is now in the Prado Museum, Madrid.^[3]^[4]^[5]

Tiepolo's altarpieces were transferred to the adjoining convent soon after they were installed in the church. They were replaced by an identically themed set by Anton Raphael Mengs, whose neo-classicism was more to Charles III's taste. Finally The Immaculate Conception was transferred to the Prado Museum in 1827.^[5]

^ ^a ^b Keith Christiansen, ed. (1996). Giambattista Tiepolo, 1696-1770. Metropolitan Museum of Art. p. 246. ISBN 978-0-87099-812-6.
^ "Immaculate Conception". BBC.
^ "The Immaculate Conception". Prado Museum.
^ Christiansen, Keith, ed. Giambattista Tiepolo, 1696–1770. Exhibition catalogue - No. 40b pp. 242-7. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1996.
^ ^a ^b Seydl, Jon L. (2005). Giambattista Tiepolo: Fifteen Oil Sketches. Getty Trust Publications: J. Paul Getty Museum. pp. 58–63. ISBN 978-0-89236-812-9.

[MetMusArt-1] Keith Christiansen, ed. (1996). Giambattista Tiepolo, 1696-1770. Metropolitan Museum of Art. p. 246. ISBN 978-0-87099-812-6.

[2] "Immaculate Conception". BBC.

[Prado-3] "The Immaculate Conception". Prado Museum.

[Christiansen-4] Christiansen, Keith, ed. Giambattista Tiepolo, 1696–1770. Exhibition catalogue - No. 40b pp. 242-7. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1996.

[Seydl-5] Seydl, Jon L. (2005). Giambattista Tiepolo: Fifteen Oil Sketches. Getty Trust Publications: J. Paul Getty Museum. pp. 58–63. ISBN 978-0-89236-812-9.

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