Immaculate Conception

This Immaculate Conception is one of the finest works made by Vicente Berdusán, a leading artist of the Aragonese Baroque who was born in Ejea de los Caballeros, although he set up his studio in Tudela, Navarre. Dating from his later period (it was signed and dated in the 1690s), this style of Immaculate Conception was repeated by the artist in several works. Filled with grace and movement in the midst of an ethereal cloud, the Virgin Mary wears a white tunic, the symbol of purity, and a sky blue mantle, as she appeared in a vision to the Franciscan Conceptionist nun the Venerable Mother Mary of Jesus of Agreda. The immaculate conception of Mary, in other words, her birth free from original sin, was considered a dogma of faith by the Catholic Church in Spain. For this reason, it was the image of Mary that was most widely portrayed by Spanish painters and sculptors for devotion in churches and private homes. The generous brushstrokes, the lightness of the clouds, Mary's face and the cherubs at Mary's feet, next to the globe, carrying symbols from the Litany of the Blessed Virgin Mary match the models set by Berdusán of excellent quality, as is that of his hands, painted with brushstrokes that are still rather blended, in the style of Mengs.