The Immaculate Conception

The Immaculate Conception — the doctrine that Mary herself was conceived without original sin — became one of colonial Spanish America's most heavily promoted devotional images, distinct from the shrine-specific pilgrimage Virgins in that it depicts a theological claim rather than a located miracle-working statue: Mary alone, crowned, often ringed with stars or a crescent moon underfoot. Cusco workshops painted the type constantly, applying the same brocateado gold technique used for the pilgrimage Virgins to a subject with no specific hometown at all.

Maker

Cusco School (anonymous)

Date

18th century

Medium of the original

Oil on canvas

Original held by

New Orleans Museum of Art

Credit

New Orleans Museum of Art

Rights

Public domain, verified

Catalogue number

PA-00159