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The Immaculate Conception
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art. Free to download, adapt and use — no permission needed.
About this work
The doctrine of the Immaculate Conception maintains that the Virgin Mary was conceived free from sin, therefore ready to be the pure vessel for Christ’s birth. The Immaculate Conception enjoyed intense devotion in Spain during the 1600s, although it was only accepted as official doctrine in 1854. The abstract subject required artists to develop appropriate imagery. The crescent moon, for example, comes from the New Testament vision of Saint John the Evangelist (Revelation 12:1) of “a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet.”
Cleveland Museum of Art’s own descriptionCredit lineThe Immaculate Conception, c. 1680. Bartolomé Esteban Murillo (Spanish, 1617–1682). Oil on canvas; framed: 246.3 x 152.7 x 8 cm (96 15/16 x 60 1/8 x 3 1/8 in.); unframed: 220.5 x 127.5 cm (86 13/16 x 50 3/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Leonard C. Hanna Jr. Fund, 1959.189
