Dispute over the Immaculate Conception

When Carlo Portelli signed and dated this altarpiece in 1566, the belief it celebrates was not yet Catholic dogma. The Immaculate Conception holds that Mary was conceived free of original sin. The Franciscans and the Spanish court pressed for it, while the Council of Trent, 20 years earlier, had left the question open. The panel was made for the Conception altar in Ognissanti, a Franciscan church in Florence, founded by Orlando Tapia, a Spaniard in the household of the duchess Eleonora of Toledo. So the picture argues its case. Mary stands on the tree of knowledge with the serpent under her foot, while the inscriptions around her quote scripture and the Sibyls in Greek, Hebrew and Latin. Below, Eve, naked and seen from behind, points us to Adam, slumped beside the tool of his labour. Her nudity drew complaints, and in 1671 the altarpiece was taken off its altar.