Spanish school; first half of the XVIII century.... Lot n° 33

Spanish school; first half of the XVIII century. "Immaculate Conception". Carved and polychrome wood. It presents faults in the carving and polychrome. Measurements: 65 x 48 x 27 cm. Sculpture carved on the front, full body, representing the Virgin Mary in her invocation as the Immaculate Conception. Although devoid, in this case, of the pedestal with crescent moon and dragon subdued that characterize its iconography, it is probable that in origin it was accompanied by it. The Virgin appears dressed in tunic and mantle, both folded with naturalistic draperies that imprint a contained dynamism to the figure. It is an image anchored in the baroque aesthetics that is reflected in the movement of the fabrics, wide and chiaroscuro, worked in relief. The face, unlike the clothes, tends to idealization. The thin lips and almond-shaped eyes are softly inscribed in an oval of rounded features. The long hair falls in rhythmic meanders on each side of the neck, disappearing behind the shoulders. Medieval Christianity passionately debated the belief that Mary had been conceived without stain of original sin. Some universities and corporations swore to defend this privilege of the Mother of God, several centuries before the First Vatican Council defined the dogma of faith in 1854. At the end of the Middle Ages the need to give iconographic form to this idea was born, and the model of the Apocalyptic Woman of St. John was taken, maintaining some elements and modifying others (the Apocalyptic Woman is pregnant, but not the Immaculate). The definitive image came to fruition in the 16th century. Following a Valencian tradition, the Jesuit Father Alberro had a vision of the Immaculate Conception and described it to the painter Juan de Juanes so that he could capture it as faithfully as possible. It is an evolved iconographic concept, sometimes associated with the theme of the Coronation of the Virgin.