Murillo and Velazquez the immaculate conception
Within the Seventeenth Century Spanish painting The Immaculate Conception of Mary was a popular subject, especially in Seville, but it was not an article of faith at this time, the dogma of Mary’s freedom of sin was not defined until 1854. Two artists that have had a profound influence over the portrayal of The Immaculate Conception were Diego Velazquez and Bartolome Murillo; both artworks have great differences yet hold many similarities between the two. ... A pair of single featured religious artworks was commissioned to have been created by Velazquez in 1618, being The Immaculate Conception and Saint John writing the apocalypse. ... The Carmelites were particularly dedicated to The Immaculate Conception, more so than other Spanish religious orders. ... Velazquez’s portrayal shows the virgin herself appearing to us in a vision that depicts her to be pure, arriving on the earth without the strain of original sin, this was his intention not Christ being conceived in the Virgin’s womb. ... This artwork is one of the earliest representations of The Immaculate Conception in Spanish art and also one of Velazquez’s earliest works. Many of Pacheco’s ideas are embodied within Velazquez’s treatment of the image, some of which were cumbersome because they gratified the painter to use archaic motifs little suited to the artistic norms of the seventeenth century. “The virgin seen in what had become the traditional way of showing her immaculate conception, as the woman of the apocalypse”.