Castilian or Madrid School. Second half of the 17th century. "Our Lady Immaculate" Oil on canvas. Relined. 207,5 x 160 cm. The emergence of the iconography of Our Lady Immaculate in Spain has two big milestones: the years 1622 and 1661. In the first of these, and specifically on the 3rd November 1622, Pope Gregory V awarded Seville a papal brief, thanks to which the worship of the Immaculate Conception was permitted, which meant the virtual establishment of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception. On the 8th December 1661, Pope Alexander VI definitively promulgated the dogma, being influenced by King Philip IV, who knew the fervour his subjects professed for Our Lady Immaculate. The painting that concerns us, which is full and detailed, meaning it was painted closer to the second of these dates, shows us a fully baroque exaltation in which the Virgin Mary, despite the calmness of her figure, is surrounded by a whirlwind composed of an infinity of angels of diverse classes and forms, some of them are daringly foreshortened or posturing. The small angels in the upper part, with chubby bodies only covered by a cloth hiding their private parts, bring her a crown and sceptre, accrediting her as the Queen of Heaven. Lower down is a series of adult angels as well as other more child-like ones at the bottom part who hold seven emblems of the Litany of the Blessed Virgin Mary: the Tower of David (Turris Davis cum propugnaculis, “Tower of David with bastions”), a fountain (Fons ortorum, “Fountain of orchards”), an olive branch (Oliva spcesiosa, “pleasing olive”) which perhaps refers to the Virga Jesse floruit (“Flowering of the stump of Jesse), a temple (Templum Dei, “Temple of God”), a well (Puteus aquarum viventium, “Well of living water”), and two trees: the palm and the cypress, both of which allude to triumph, victory and chastity. The painting is outstanding due to its pictorial quality and the beauty of its different components, especially the Virgin Mary, which follows the iconographical norms dictated by the painter and treatise writer Francisco Pacheco (1564-1644). According to Velázquez’s father-in-law, the Virgin Mary should be depicted as a very young woman with a serene attitude and wearing a white tunic, cinched with a violet band and an ample blue cloak – these colours symbolise purity and eternity – which, making a turn at the front, is gathered between her arms and the edge of it falls over the left arm. This curious depiction of Our Lady Immaculate, in an extremely lengthened canon with great elegance, is richly chromatic and has very rich contrasts in light, increased by the powerful, oval beam of light which is at her back. The Virgin Mary takes an oval shape, widened in the middle by her clothing – in the centre of the composition, symmetrical in spite of the perceived dynamism, she stands on a half-moon with the points facing upwards (crescent moon) which alludes to the Woman of the Apocalypse, to which the twelve-starred crown placed on her head also refers. The head, leaning and looking downwards, mixing humility and elegance, has delicate and youthful facial features, with rosy cheeks, a straight nose and an ample mane of hair which the wind blows around her back. Her hands are in prayer, with long and elegant fingers. Her silhouette stands out against a gilded background in which the aforementioned oval light at her back stands out and appears to emanate from her body itself, showing us a completely supernatural and mystical vision. We do not know who painted this picture or where it came from, but it is most certainly the work of a skillful Castilian or Madrid-based painter who was working in the second half of the 17th century. We would like to thank Javier Baladrón, doctor in History of Art, for cataloguing this piece.