La Inmaculada Concepción de los Venerables (THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION OF LOS VENERABLES) By Bartolomé Esteban Murillo

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THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION OF LOS VENERABLES By Bartolomé Esteban Murillo

The Immaculate Conception is a Catholic belief that Virgin Mary was conceived free from original sin. The Immaculate Conception was a popular subject in Spanish art and Murillo, the most famous Spanish painter at the time, created a highly successful formula for representing the theme. He presented Mary, dressed in blue and white, in a celestial space filled with light, clouds and angels. Over the course of his career, he created more than two dozen paintings on the subject. This is perhaps the last one of them and the best known. Probably the most famous depiction of the Immaculate Conception, the painting is also known as Inmaculada de Soult as it was brought to France in 1813 during the War of the Spanish Independence by French commander Jean de Dieu Soult.