Imaculada Conceição

Seville in the mid-1600s was gripped by a single idea, that the Virgin Mary had been conceived free of original sin. It would not become official Church dogma until 1854, but in Murillo's city it was already an article of civic pride, defended in sermons and celebrated in street festivals. He painted the subject more than 20 times. This is the largest, made for the Franciscan convent of San Francisco and known simply as the Colossal, over four metres tall so it could be read from far below, set high above a chapel arch. Mary rises on a swirl of cloud and drapery, carried up by playing angels, her white tunic and blue mantle turning in the wind.