Immaculate Conception

In 17th-century Spain the Immaculate Conception was more than a doctrine, it was almost a national cause. The crown pressed Rome for years to make it official Church teaching, and painters were asked again and again to give the idea a face: the Virgin young, crowned with stars, lifted above the world and untouched by sin. Antonio de Pereda worked in Madrid through those decades, a court painter under Philip IV. Today he is remembered mostly for his vanitas still lifes, those sober tables of skulls, clocks and guttering candles. Here he turns instead to the theme every Spanish patron wanted, and you can still see the warm, Venetian colour he admired in the Titians of the royal collection.