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Look for the thin crescent moon under Mary’s feet, then at the children around her carrying a lily, roses and a palm branch.
Spanish Catholics of the 1600s were intensely devoted to the Immaculate Conception, the belief that Mary was conceived free from sin, though it became official Church doctrine only in 1854. Painters had to invent imagery for so abstract an idea, borrowing, for example, the moon under the woman’s feet from the Book of Revelation. Murillo painted many versions, and this one dates from about 1680, a couple of years before his death.
oil on canvas · Framed: 246.3 x 152.7 x 8 cm · Cleveland Museum of Art · Baroque
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Details and source
- Museum title
- The Immaculate Conception
- Artist
- Bartolomé Esteban Murillo (Spanish, 1617–1682)
- Date
- c. 1680
- Medium
- oil on canvas
- Dimensions
- Framed: 246.3 x 152.7 x 8 cm (96 15/16 x 60 1/8 x 3 1/8 in.); Unframed: 220.5 x 127.5 cm (86 13/16 x 50 3/16 in.)
- Credit line
- Leonard C. Hanna Jr. Fund
- Image license
- CC0 1.0 · Public domain
- Museum record
- Cleveland Museum of Art
Baroque c. 1600–1750
View in the AtlasGaller’s rooms and hanging scale are imagined. The image is the museum’s original digital reproduction.