– Maria Kwak*
In our digital world, the significance that the paper calendar or diary holds is losing its function to many of us, especially to the younger generation. I am a big fan of keeping a diary in old ways and one of those who are making good use of the diary made by the Diocese of Macau. The 2019 edition features one of the most graceful images of the Baroque arts, Murillo’s Immaculate Conception (1678). As the principal patroness of the Diocese of Macau, she deserves to appear on the front cover. The theme of the Immaculate Conception inspired numerous Spanish artists such as Zurbarán, Ribera and Velázquez. However, the one by Murillo stands out due to his ability to express the “grace” that the Virgin possesses. How was it possible to envision the image which he has not seen? The artist’s depiction of the Immaculate Conception is based on a vivid testimony of Beatriz da Silva.
Bartolomé Esteban Murillo (1617-1682) is described as the “quintessential artist on the theme of the Immaculate Conception.” Murillo himself painted more than two-dozen paintings of the Immaculate Conception. The one we see in the photo is known as Inmaculada Concepción de los Venerables (Immaculate Conception of the Venerables), as it was painted for the retable or altarpiece of the chapel at the Hospital de los Venerables. By the time this painting was made, Pope Alexander VII had declared that Mary was sinless (1661). This particular piece was commissioned by Don Justine de Neve (1625-1685), who was then the canon of the Cathedral of Seville. The fact that it was commissioned by the canon of the Cathedral meant that his talent was one of the best.
Seville is home to the largest cathedral in the world since the early 16th century. It was a symbol of Spain’s Catholicism. Being the centre of commercial trade between continental Europe and the New World, with the patronage of the Catholic monarchs, many great artists emerged in Seville, where the artist was born. Obviously he was a talented artist with skills but that’s not what he’s known for. There were other artists from Seville who had more fame nationally and internationally. However, the Sevillans take highest pride in Murillo because he dedicated his life to religious paintings in his hometown.
When I saw his works for the first time in Spain, I didn’t particularly find this intriguing compared to more colourful representations of the Virgin by his contemporaries. It was after I thoroughly studied his biography that I realised that his devotion to religious paintings made him deserve such title. He was an orthodox man who abide by the guidelines set by his tutor, Francisco Pacheco (1564-1644). He also was a man with virtue who was an official censor of Seville’s Inquisition. As a teacher emphasized, the precise representation of iconography. It is evident in his effort to establish the iconographic rules of the Immaculate Conception, based on the vision that Beatriz da Silva (1424-1492) claimed to have seen. She was canonized as a saint in 1976 and her feast is celebrated on August 17 in both Spain and Portugal.
Pacheco stated that the Virgin to be depicted “in the flower of her youth, as an extremely beautiful young girl of twelve or thirteen…”. His manual The Art of Painting (1649) that the Immaculate Mary should be painted “with a white tunic and a blue mantel, as this lady appeared to Dona Beatriz da Silva, the Portuguese woman, who later was taken into the Royal Monastery of Santo Domingo in Toledo, to found the religious order of the Immaculate Conception, which was confirmed by Pope Julius II in 1511”.
Believe it or not, it was not established as dogma by the universal church until 1854. The devotion to the Immaculate Conception was a subject of controversy within the church for centuries.
Pope Sixtus IV promoted the dogma through the Council of Bâle in 1439 which was instrumental in spreading the feast of December 8. He declared the doctrine of the spotless conception to be “holy, conforming both to faith and to reason.” As this dogma was questioned by the Protestants, the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception grew stronger among the Spanish. In Spain, Queen Isabella of Castile (1451-1504), also known as “Isabel the Catholic” was a passionate advocate of the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception, along with the Franciscan Order.
Consequently, many artists were commissioned to depict the theme. As I endeavour my research in the iconography of the Virgin, I have found the true value of Murillo’s Immaculate Conception. By practicing the virtue of simplicity in his creations, his works stand out among other masters of his time.
In the Canticles, Mary is described as the dove without the gall of sin, the perfect one without spot in her origin, the one conceived in grace. In the Hebrew, it reads as: “One is my entire, my immaculate one is but one, she is the only one of her mother.”
The white tunic with the drape of blue cloak together symbolize the “purity and eternity” of Our Lady. The artist earnestly executed the virtue of simplicity in his canvas, as a faithful believer in the doctrine. Murillo’s painting is inspired by his intimate connection to the mystery of the faith visioned by Beatriz da Silva.
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