Immaculée Conception

When Tiepolo delivered this altarpiece in 1733 to the church of Santa Maria in Araceli in Vicenza, the Immaculate Conception was not yet dogma. The belief that Mary was conceived free of original sin had been argued between Franciscans and Dominicans for centuries, and Rome only defined it in 1854. Tiepolo gives her the attributes from the Book of Revelation, clothed in the sun, the moon beneath her feet, twelve stars around her head, and the small angels below hold lilies that have gone limp. The canvas stands close to 4 metres tall. On the altar facing it hung an Ecstasy of Saint Francis by Piazzetta, whose deep shadow Tiepolo had been following and was now leaving for clearer, brighter colour. Analysis of the paint turned up Prussian blue, a new pigment then and an early sighting of it in Venetian painting.