"The Immaculate Conception."

MURILLO, 1618-1682. THE LOUVRE, PARIS.

This mysterious theme was one of the most popular subjects for the painters of the Spanish and Italian schools during the seventeenth century. Murillo was par excellence the painter of the "Conception," having executed more than twenty representations of it. This picture in the Louvre is a replica of the colossal picture called "The Great Conception of Seville," and was painted for the Church of the Venerables in that city in 1678. The French government bought it at the sale of Marshal Soult's collection in 1852, for the enormous sum of $120,000, while Murillo received only $500 or less for his own work. He is said to have taken his daughter Francisca as the model. In a flood of divine light, the Virgin, enveloped in a simple blue mantle over a flowing white robe, is borne aloft upon clouds, attended by more than twenty cherubs, while her longing eyes seem to outrun her body in the heavenward ascent. The idea for the picture of the "Conception" is taken from Rev. XII., I.--"And there appeared a great wonder in heaven, a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars."

The earliest authority for the proper treatment of this subject in art was the Spaniard Pacheco, who laid down rules for it in his "Arte de la Pintura," published in 1649. His rules have been generally, though not always, exactly followed. "The Virgin is to be portrayed in the bloom of youth, with grave, sweet eyes, her hair golden, her features all the beauty that painting can express, her hands folded on her bosom or clasped in prayer. The sun is to be expressed by a flood of light around her. The moon under her feet is to have the horns pointing downward, and the twelve stars are to form a crown over her head. The robe must be of spotless white, the mantle or scarf of blue. Round her are to hover cherubim." The head of the bruised and vanquished dragon may also be under her feet. All these accessories are not required. The dogma that the Blessed Virgin came into the world as unspotted by the taint of original sin as her divine son, arose in the fifth century. Yet this idea was not promulgated as a doctrine until the seventeenth century. From the time that the heresy of Nestorius was condemned and the dignity of the Virgin as the mother of Divinity became a point of doctrine, it was contended that she came into the world absolutely pure and immaculate. From the seventh to the eleventh century, the idea gained ground, from 1500 to 1600 the controversy was at its height, being mainly between the Dominican and the Franciscan orders of monks. In 1617, Pope Paul V. issued a bull forbidding the teaching or preaching of anything contrary to this doctrine. "Seville flew into a frenzy of joy." The Archbishop performed a solemn service in the cathedral. Cannon were fired, and bull fights, tournaments and banquets celebrated the triumph of its partisans.

In spite of Pacheco's direction that the horns of the moon be painted "pointing downward," Murillo in this work has painted them turned upward. Indeed this is his favorite style. The crescent moon beneath the feet of the apocalyptic woman must always have been welcome to Spanish eyes. For seven centuries Spaniards were in an internecine conflict with the Saracen Crescent. Never could they tire of seeing the Madonna trampling on that banner.