Spanish school; second half of the 18th century.

Spanish school; second half of the 18th century.
"Immaculate Conception".
Carved wood, polychrome and gilded.
It has eyes of vitreous paste.
Measurements: 92 x 41 x 28 cm.
In this devotional carving, the Virgin in her invocation of Immaculate has been represented in round bulk. Wrapped in a mantle that is agitated with achieved dynamism, printing voluptuous draping. The virgin is worked in full body, resting her feet on a pedestal formed by a cloud through which the heads of seraphim and a serpent (in allusion to Satan) appear. He joins his hands in prayer at chest level and bows his head slightly upward in a gesture of humility.
It is an image anchored to the baroque models, which can be seen in the folds of the canvases, wide and chiaroscuro, worked with a lot of relief. The sculptor has also taken great care to reflect the expression of mystical serenity of the beautiful face of Mary. The Immaculate Virgin is assimilated to the bride of the "Song of Songs", and to her are associated various symbols popularized by the "Litany of the Virgin of Loreto" (whose present form dates from 1576). It is the baroque art of the 17th century that creates the definitive type of the Immaculate Conception, in fact this sculpture follows the aesthetic models of this century. Free from all the symbols of the Litany with which the theologians had overloaded her, surrounded only by angels, she floats in a mandorla on a crescent moon. Sometimes, to recall her victory over original sin, her feet, resting on the globe, crush the head of the tempting serpent.